Reese Witherspoon Sparks Worries During ‘Good Morning America’ Appearance

Reese Witherspoon sounded a little under the weather on an episode of Good Morning America. Witherspoon appeared on the Sept. 28 show to speak with Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan about her new children’s book, Busy Betty and the Circus Surprise. The Morning Show actress talked about her new project at length, but her voice had some obvious scratchiness. So much so that Roberts asked towards the end of the interview, “Are you feeling ok?”

“I just have allergies!” Witherspoon replied as the two hosts reacted. “What is going on?” She then remarked, “But I said I’m still coming…I need to see Michael and Robin!” to laughter from Strahan and Roberts.

Witherspoon didn’t let her allergies stop her from promoting her book series, which is about “a very spirited young girl who has all these crazy ideas about businesses she wants to build in her backyard.” Betty’s stories are based on the star’s childhood and her own inventive entrepreneurial spirit. 

“So as a child, I started a barrette customization business at my desk in the third grade, and Igot suspended, Witherspoon revealed. “Because I painted all over my desk, and I also wasn’t supposed to be running a business, but it was profitable. So that is where I got the bug.”

The famous mother said the books have “actually really inspired two of my three kids. I have a 24-year-old, a 20-year-old, and an 11-year-old, and we used to do things like lemonade stands, cupcake stands, but we would do it in a way that I’d say.”

“How can we make this different? Ok, well, what does it cost to start it? What does the lemonade cost? You don’t realize that you’re teaching children business principles even just by having tiny little businesses. So many little girls are making friendship bracelets now, and it’s like, what could you do to make them appealing and sell them maybe on the weekend at the farmer’s market, and that’s something you’re learning in the book.

When asked what else she hoped kids would take away from the story, Witherspoon noted, “I was one of those kids who had a million billion ideas and 100 billion questions. And I think the book is for kids, but it’s also for caregivers to go. I don’t know what to do with this kid, this kid that won’t stop talking. And that was me.”