Reese Witherspoon, 45, shares daughter Ava, 21, and son Deacon, 17, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe. She also shares son Tennessee James, 8, with husband Jim Toth, and while it appears as though she’s always been a pro when it comes to motherhood, the actress recently revealed that it wasn’t so easy in the beginning.
“I did not have a lot of support with my first baby and I learned really early, like this is not going to work,” she explained during a recent episode of Dax Shepard‘s podcast Armchair Expert. While chatting with Kristen Bell and Monica Padman, Reese opened up about the struggles she faced about her and then-husband Ryan welcomed Ava into the world.
“I tried to muscle through for five months with Ava, just not sleeping and I became delirious,” Reese, who gave birth to Ava, 21, in September 1999, said. It was only two months after she and Ryan got married, and while they went on to welcome son Deacon in Oct. 2003, Ryan and Reese eventually split in 2006.
The Big Little Lies actress admitted that she “couldn’t have worked” during the first few months of motherhood. “I was lucky enough to have money saved and I didn’t have to work, but it’s just not a one-person job. I would even say it’s not a two-person job.”
Over the weekend, Reese also took to Instagram to share how grateful she is to be Ava and Deacon’s mom. “Gosh, I’m lucky to be their mom,” she captioned a cute photo of her cuddling up to Ava and Deacon. See that photo above!