Reese Witherspoon Says You Should ‘Edit Your Friendships’

Reese Witherspoon thinks some friendships need editing.

On Friday, the actor shared her thoughts on how she has maintained her friendships over the years during a sit-down interview at Inbound 2023, an annual networking conference hosted by Hubspot in Boston.

“Editing. Edit your friendships,” Witherspoon told host and NBC News Daily anchor Zinhle Essamuah. “Everybody out here over 40 knows. If you aren’t adding to my life, get the heck outta my life.”

She continued, “My grandmother used to say, ‘People are either radiators or drains. Stick around the radiators and get rid of the drains.’”

Earlier in the conversation, Essamuah read a statement by a friend of Reese who she likely doesn’t want to edit out of her life: fellow actor Laura Dern.

Dern said in the statement, per Essamuah, that she believed Reese is the “Gold standard of what it means to be a champion. She has always been a champion of art and other artists, as well as, friends and family.”

Reese and Dern, who co-starred in HBO series “Big Little Lies,” have celebrated their friendship on several occasions over the years.

In a 2020 interview with Vanity Fair, Reese called Dern her “sister.”

“You know, you meet people, you’re friends with people, but I say about a few women in my life, they are my sisters,” she said. “I don’t have a sister and I found my sister in Laura. No one makes me laugh like Laura. She’s magical.”

In March last year, Dern celebrated Reese’s birthday in an Instagram post, writing that it was “International I Love Reese Witherspoon Day.”

“Happy birthday to my amazing sister,” she wrote.

Reese announced in March that she and her now-ex-husband, Jim Toth, were calling it quits after 12 years of marriage.

“We have enjoyed so many wonderful years together and are moving forward with a deep love, kindness and mutual respect for everything we have created together,” a statement from the two read at the time.

Reese and Toth finalized their divorce last month, according to TMZ. The former couple have one son together, 10-year-old Tennessee. Reese also shares two adult children, Ava and Deacon Phillippe, with her ex-husband actor Ryan Phillippe.