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Reese Witherspoon's panic attacks after divorce and how she managed

by Heather Hawkins on Sep 11th 2007 11:17PM

Filed under: Relationships, Celebrity Relationships

In the October issue of Elle magazine, Reese Witherspoon spoke for the first time about her panic attacks after getting divorced from Ryan Phillipe nearly a year ago.

Witherspoon, 31, spoke in the interview about some lighter issues first, such as explaining a dead pet frog to her two young children. Then, the conversation turned to her divorce from Phillipe after seven years of seemingly blissful marriage.

"Right around Christmastime I was sitting in a parking lot," Witherspoon told Elle. "And I felt like I just couldn't get out of the car. It was like, I can't get out of the car."

Phillippe, 33, has recently been spotted around various Hollywood spots with 25-year-old Abbie Cornish, who he met on the set of their drama Stop Loss. In their well-publicized divorce, Phillipe's adulterous behavior with Cornish was said to be the cause of his split with Witherspoon.

However difficult it was for her, Witherspoon went on to describe how she got over her debilitating panic attacks.

"I thought, Okay, half of the parking lot has dealt with this. More than half of the parking lot has dealt with this. Okay, let's make it a little bigger. Half of this city has dealt with this. Okay, let's make it a little bigger -- half of this country, until I finally got out of the car. It was like, It's okay. It's okay."

Witherspoon also said that she prided herself on her Southern values at a time when there are so many other young stars making headlines in a bad way.

"Everybody is hung out to dry now," she said. "It's one thing if you're up for it and you want it, and you go out without your panties on. But if you're wearing your panties gosh darn it, leave me alone."

Sounds like America's Sweetheart will be just fine to me. If you'd like to read more about how tough a Southern belle Witherspoon is, pick up the October issue of Elle or check it out online.