Reese Witherspoon's Astonishing Net Worth
She can afford to drink the finest whiskey out of the priciest teacup.
After getting her start in showbiz as a teen, Reese Witherspoon made an entire brand out of her sassy style of Southern charm—and diversified her income streams to accumulate a massive amount of wealth. While she's become renowned for producing her own projects and launching her own business ventures over the past several years, her work toward pay parity for women also ensures that her sisters in the industry won't be left in the dust without her.
"There just wasn’t a spectrum of storytelling for women that I felt was representative of the world that we walk through and that our daughters are seeing on film and television," she previously told Parade about what it was like working in Hollywood once upon a time. "The emergence of streaming and the confluence of deciding to start a company, I guess I was psychic. I had no idea the whole world would open up for us, but it has changed my life." She added, "The ability to work with different storytellers, to be able to option books and partner with other people I respect and admire who also have a perspective that is not my own, but is just as valuable, has changed my entire experience. Now, I primarily generate everything that I do."
That, in turn, generates big bucks. Here's what we know about Reese Witherspoon's net worth and how she made it.
What is Reese Witherspoon's net worth?
Reese Witherspoon's net worth is estimated at $430 million, per Forbes.
How much did Reese Witherspoon make for Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2?
It's been reported that, after the huge success of Witherspoon's 2001 comedy hit Legally Blonde—which grossed more than $140 million on an $18 million budget—she signed on to Legally Blonde 2 for $15 million. Plus, as she once revealed on The Graham Norton Show, she got to keep all of alter ego Elle Woods' shoes from the sequel!
That $15 million figure also became her standard salary request moving forward on movies like Four Christmases and her Oscar-winning turn as June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line.
Sweet Home Alabama, another unexpected comedy hit that arrived between Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2, earned Witherspoon a reported $12.5 million.
How much did Reese Witherspoon make for Cruel Intentions?
To give you a sense of what Witherspoon was getting paid for her film performances before the success of Legally Blonde, she allegedly earned just $250,000 for 1999's Cruel Intentions, which she co-starred in alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar and future husband Ryan Phillippe.
How much did Reese Witherspoon make for Big Little Lies?
Witherspoon used her success in film to negotiate major paydays for her starring roles in television, which ended up bringing her a career renaissance in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Her role in Big Little Lies on HBO earned her something "less than $5 million" for the show's first season, according to Forbes; however, she got a reported $1 million per episode for BLL's seven-episode Season 2.
Related: Big Little Lies Filming Locations You Can Visit in Real Life
How much did Reese Witherspoon make for The Morning Show?
Big Little Lies, in turn, paved the way for even bigger bucks. For Apple TV's The Morning Show, Witherspoon (and co-star Jennifer Aniston) pocketed a cool $2 million each per episode (or $20 million apiece for the first season's 10 episodes). The two actresses got some flak for it, which Witherspoon responded to thusly in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: "There seemed to be a resentment, as if we weren't worth it or it was bothersome, and I thought, 'Why is that bothersome?' I guarantee these companies are real smart, and if they agree to pay us, they're doing it for a reason. They probably had a lot of lawyers and a lot of business people decide on that number because they knew that they were going to make more than that back. Does it bother people when Kobe Bryant or LeBron James make their contract?"
How much did Reese Witherspoon make for Little Fires Everywhere?
The TV hits just kept on coming for Witherspoon in 2020, when she was paid a reported $1.1 million per episode for Hulu's eight-episode miniseries Little Fires Everywhere.
Related: From Legally Blonde to Walk the Line, These Are the 25 Best Reese Witherspoon Movies, Ranked
How much does Reese Witherspoon's media company Hello Sunshine make?
For as much as Witherspoon commands as an actress, she also has a hand in producing and executive producing many of her projects, which earns her even more dough. She launched her own production company, Type A, in 2000, later merging with another to form Pacific Standard, the latter of which was behind films like Wild and the series Big Little Lies. When Pacific Standard's partnership dissolved, she launched Hello Sunshine, specifically to tell women's stories.
"My lifelong passion has been to tell women's stories with authenticity and humor," Witherspoon said in a statement announcing the venture. "Hello Sunshine is deeply committed to creating content that will reach women where they spend time, whether it is at a movie theater, at home or on their mobile device. Women are looking for entertainment that speaks to them about what they value. Hello Sunshine will make content that entertains, educates and brings women together."
In August 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hello Sunshine was sold to a private equity group called Blackstone for $900 million. As Deadline noted, "Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden will join the board of the as-yet-unnamed company and will continue to operate Hello Sunshine."
How much does Reese Witherspoon make from her books?
Witherspoon's lifestyle book, Whiskey In a Teacup, was released in 2018 and became an almost immediate New York Times bestseller.
She also has her own book club and corresponding app.
Related: Want to Join Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club? Here’s What You Need to Know
How much has Reese Witherspoon made from endorsements?
Witherspoon has been the face of a number of brands. In April 2021, it was announced she'd be the global brand ambassador for clean beauty brand Biossance. She's also had partnerships with Crate & Barrel, Avon and Elizabeth Arden, as well as her own Draper James clothing line.
How much is Reese Witherspoon's real estate portfolio worth?
Witherspoon sold a Malibu farm for $6.7 million in late 2020. She purchased the property a year earlier for $6.2 million.
In 2014, she and then-husband Jim Toth purchased a Pacific Palisades home for $12.7 million, selling in 2020 for $17 million. She and Toth also had an estate in Brentwood, California, that they bought for a total of $10.5 million over several years; it included three different plots of land that they combined into one large property. Witherspoon also reportedly has several properties in Tennessee, including a Nashville home featured on Get Organized With the Home Edit, as well as a property in the Bahamas.
