Reese Witherspoon Is on New Chapter after Divorce, Working Out Every Day & in ‘No Big Rush’ to Date, Source Says

• Reese Witherspoon takes time for herself every day.
• "She wants to get out there and have fun," an insider also told a publication.
• The star's exes still speak about her in glowing terms.

Reese Witherspoon's romantic history and the speculation surrounding it have been on the public record since she was 16. And with her divorce finalized two months ago, speculation has started again.

The mother of two has been very intentional with how she spends her time, and she found a creative outlet to relax for a few minutes every day.

Going on "TODAY with Hoda & Jenna" on October 4, 2023, Witherspoon agreed with host Hoda Kotb that she was in a new chapter of her life. On how she is feeling and navigating this, the "Election" actress said:

"I am proud of the life decisions that I've made. That I've made with kindness and grace."

She explained that everyone goes through ups and downs in life, but how you deal with them matters. "I think there is only one way to be in life: kind and throw love at things. And try to understand everyone's point of view," she mused.

Whenever she converses with someone, she imagines what they were like when they were five years old to empathize with them better.

Witherspoon is highly energetic, likening her energy levels to "a squirrel who drank coffee." But even with her multiple business and acting commitments, she thinks it is "important to take care of yourself."

The "Sweet Home Alabama" star revealed she exercises every day. She also takes 30 minutes daily to do paint-by-numbers, favoring the kits of Pink Picasso, an Alabama-based women-owned company. She explained:

"You can't do anything else when you're doing this. You just focus, and you calm your nervous system, and it's been really fun."

In another interview, she gushed about how happy paint-by-numbers make her. "If somebody's going through something, you can just kind of let go," she said. "Just paint. Everything kind of fades away. "

She has completed between 50 and sixty of the paintings, all flowers, but has not devised a plan of what to do with them. Meanwhile, her paternal grandmother, Dorothea Draper, taught her how to read at four, and she now reads a book every two days on average.

Witherspoon admitted in a mid-2023 profile that she has slowed down to a certain extent. She explained how her brain had been going "nonstop" with her running a company and the "life changes" she faced, adding:

"But that's okay. I really believe creativity is infinite, and you're just looking for that next bit of inspiration, so if you go through a little slow period, that's okay."

Reese Witherspoon Did Not Feel 'Isolated' Once She Came Clean about Her Divorce

A few days shy of their 12th wedding anniversary, Witherspoon and her husband, Jim Toth, announced via social media on March 24, 2023, that they had separated. A week later, the actress filed for divorce, reportedly due to irreconcilable differences.

According to news reports, with a prenuptial agreement signed by the former couple in March 2011 in place, they came to a divorce agreement, which included a parenting plan for their 10-year-old son Tennessee, at the start of August. Per the documents, neither ex requested spousal or child support.

In July, the actress revealed it felt good to have the divorce news out, saying, "I think about how many other people are going through this experience." She continued:

"I don't feel isolated at all. I feel very connected."

The pair had married after a year of courtship in a ceremony on her Ojai, California ranch. She told a magazine in 2011 that she was "very lucky" to have found Toth, who was "wonderful" with her children.

A week after Witherspoon signed for the dissolution of her second marriage, an insider told US Weekly that the 47-year-old had a good idea of how she wanted to conduct her newly single life. They claimed:

"She wants to get out there and have fun, as opposed to diving into anything serious right off the bat."

The source said that while she was in “no big rush” to date again, she knew what she wanted in a partner, a "kindred spirit" who has "been an actor and who's been judged in the public arena."

They noted that the "Legally Blonde" actress' boyfriend before Toth, Jake Gyllenhaal, is an excellent example of the kind of man she might end up with.

Reese Witherspoon's Public Relationships

"Law & Order" actor Jeremy Sisto spilled in a 2015 Reddit AMA that he and Witherspoon had a youthful dalliance. After meeting in 1992 on the set of "Desperate Choices: To Save My Child," the co-stars had a long-distance relationship.

Sisto thought that she had broken up with him when she went away to film a movie in Africa, and he moved on with his now ex-wife, Marisa Ryan. "When [Witherspoon] returned, I found out that wasn't her intention," he recounted. "But I had already gotten involved. Felt badly. She's a great person."

At 16, the actress sparked rumors of a relationship with 22-year-old Chris O'Donnell when she accompanied him to a tribute party for Al Pacino. His reps said that they were only friends.

Ryan Phillippe came into her orbit at her 21st birthday party. The pair got to know each other better sometime later on the set of "Cruel Intentions." The actress was seven months pregnant with their daughter Eva when they wed in June 1999.

They had one more child together, Deacon, in 2003, before they announced their separation in October 2006. They co-parented their children and look to be on good terms.

While still going through her first divorce, Witherspoon met Gyllenhaal during the making of 2007's "Rendition." They had an on-again-off-again relationship for two years, with Gyllenhaal moving in with her in June 2008.

The relationship ended in November 2009. "He was great with the kids," a source said, "but she felt like he didn't get the whole scope of what that entailed." In 2016, he called her "one of the smartest, strongest people" he had met.

In April, tabloids linked Witherspoon to Tom Brady, who got divorced from supermodel Gisele Bündchen last year, but her reps shot down the rumors as "completely false."