Reese Witherspoon admits she lost roles after becoming mom at 23

Reese Witherspoon is reflecting on all the ways motherhood has affected her career.

Reese welcomed her daughter Ava in 1999 at the age of 23. The Morning Show star then welcomed son Deacon five years later. She’s also mom to Tennessee James Toth, whom she welcomed in 2012 with ex-husband Jim Toth.

Recalling how motherhood impacted her career, she told the New York Times, "There was so much I didn't know. And maybe that naïveté was good, because it's like, 'Oh, I'll just do that and have a career.' And I did have a few people say to me, 'This is going to be really hard on your career.'"

She also had to pass on some roles due to her motherly duties.

"There were roles I couldn't take. I had to have this immediate balance of family and career, being a mom and being a working actress."

The Legally Blonde star was also told not to play a mom on screen as it would make her "seem old."

She recalled people telling her, " 'Don't play a mom. No men will desire you, or nobody will want to go see that movie because nobody wants to see a movie about a mom.' "

Thankfully for the audiences, Reese Witherspoon didn’t pay mind to such suggestions and went on to play a mom in critically acclaimed projects like Walk the Line, Big Little Lies, Home Again, and more recently in Little Fires Everywhere.