Reese Witherspoon Breaks Down Her Biggest Moments of the Decade, Including Working With Jennifer Aniston and the ‘Big Little Lies’ Cast

It was a busy decade for Reese Witherspoon, and she broke down some of its biggest moments in her Instagram Story this weekend. The actress revisited her highlights of the last ten years as 2019 came to a close, and the 2020s officially began.

Witherspoon has been one of the biggest stars of the past decade, though that was never a sure thing. The actress was already massive star in the early-2000s, and she stayed prominent in the industry through her own hard work, magnetic personality and bold choices.

Witherspoon has a unique knack for switching between light-hearted and serious, without ever seeming to lecture or condescend. She and her work exist at the cross section of many different sensibilities and fandoms, and sometimes considering it all at once can be a daunting task.

Thankfully, Witherspoon has done that for us in a string of posts on her Instagram Story. The actress typically uses social media for promotional purposes, with an occasional family moment sprinkled in. Here, she examined her own legacy, and fans were awed by it as well.

Here’s a look at Witherspoon’s career highlights from her perspective.

‘Water for Elephants’

Witherspoon began her retrospective with two photos from 2010 and 2011. One showed her greeting fans on the red carpet for her movie Water for Elephants, while another showed her standing with an actual elephant on set. Alongside the collage, she wrote the notable accomplishments of those years with a star emoji.

“2010-2011 — Filmed [Water for Elephants] and fell in love with these magnificent animals,” she wrote.

Draper James

The next post showed three photos from Witherspoon’s lifestyle brand, Draper James. She also included the company’s logo, and a pair of vintage looking floral decals around the bold year “2012.”

“Starting my lifestyle brand [Draper James] was a huge accomplishment!” she wrote. “It allowed me to share my love of the south with people all over the world.”

‘Wild’

The next slide was about Wild, another movie adaptation of a book that Witherspoon starred in. Witherspoon jumped over several projects between Water for Elephants and Wild in her retrospective, making it clear she was highlighting the projects that really meant a lot to her years later.

“2014 — I produced and starred in [Wild], the true story of [Cheryl Strayed]’s 1,000 mile journey on the PCT and got to work with the incredible [Laura Dern] and [Jean Marc Vallee]!” she recounted.

The slide showed three pictures of Witherspoon out in the wilderness filming the lauded movie.

‘Saturday Night Live’

In 2015, Witherspoon hosted Saturday Night Live in an episode that happened to air on the same weekend as Mother’s Day. To celebrate, Witherspoon brought her own mother out on stage in her monologue, as shown in a screenshot on this post.

“An unforgettable night on [SNL] with my mom, Betty!” she wrote.

The monologue is hard to forget, as the other cast members brought out their own mothers and apologized for real things they did wrong as kids.

‘Sing’

The following year, Witherspoon co-starred in the animated movie Sing, and she posted a photo of herself with her family on the red carpet at the time.

“2016 — [Sing] premiere — I had so much fun being the voice of Rosita!” she wrote.

Hello Sunshine

The next slide showed three photos of Witherspoon hard at work with Hello Sunshine, a media company intent on highlighting women in stories. The brand has done work in print publishing, audio, film, television and other mediums. This is more evidence of Witherspoon’s meaningful behind-the-scenes work in the last ten years.

“2016 — Founded [Hello Sunshine] and got started on some pretty special projects like the series [Shine On] which gave me the opportunity to highlight some women who inspire me every day,” she wrote.

Book Club

With a stake in the publishing industry and her love of books now well-established, Witherspoon then started her popular Reese’s Book Club. She remarked on the community aspect of the online group, which has permeated other aspects of her output in recent years.

“2017 — we started a book club! I’ve loved meeting authors, sharing stories and building the [Reese’s Book Club] community with y’all!” she wrote.

This slide included a photo of Witherspoon’s dog, Pepper, who is a familiar face to her Instagram followers.

‘Big Little Lies’

Of course, Witherspoon couldn’t fail to mention her HBO series Big Little Lies, which is perhaps the thing fans remember most out of all her work this decade. The post showed one group photo of the cast on the red carpet, one of them on an award show stage, and one of Witherspoon alone on set.

“2017 — Got to partner with these amazing ladies to make 2 seasons of [Big Little Lies],” she wrote.

Time’s Up

The next post commemorated the founding of Time’s Up, the organization that Witherspoon helped found following the proliferation of the “Me Too” movement. This group “insists on safe, fair and dignified work for women of all kinds,” and Witherspoon was clearly proud to have been a part of it.

“Met some incredibly inspiring people through [Time’s Up Now],” she recalled.

‘Whiskey in a Teacup’

In 2018, Witherspoon published her first book, Whiskey in a Teacup, and it is clear how much it means to her to this day. While she has been on TV and in movies for years now, this was the first big step for her as a writer, and she posted photos of the tangible results, as well as one GIF of herself dancing excitedly with the book in her hands.

“I published my first book! It was such a joy to share this with the world and meet y’all along the way…” she wrote.

‘The Morning Show’

Now approaching the present day, witherpoon looked back on The Morning Show, her latest series and one of the flagship shows that launched Apple TV + in November.

“2019 — Partnered with [Apple TV] to produce [The Morning Show] alongside my dear friend [Jennifer Aniston],” she wrote.

She included a promotional photo from the show, but also two pictures of herself on set with Aniston, whom she has worked with for years now.

2020

Finally, Witherspoon ended the retrospection with a longer post, consisting only of text on a blue background, with emojis scattered throughout.

“Thinking back about how much has happened this past decade, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all the personal and professional experiences I have had,” she wrote. “Traveling the world, I got to meet so many people who have made my life possible. Starting an Instagram family of people who love dogs / kids / fashion / books / travel, founding a company that puts women’s stories at the center of movies and TV shows, [Hello Sunshine] publishing my 1st book [Whiskey in a Teacup]…”

“It has all been a DREAM COME TRUE! Thank you ALL for watching, reading and supporting me through the years. I really can’t wait to see what 2020 brings,” she finished.