Reese Witherspoon Opens Up About Disorderly Conduct Arrest: ‘I Made a Mistake’

Actress Reese Witherspoon said her April 2013 arrest for disorderly conduct “showed I have a complexity that people didn't know about.”

While promoting her new movie “Wild,” Witherspoon opened up about the incident in which husband Jim Toth was pulled over on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Atlanta. Witherspoon was charged with disorderly conduct after trying to defend Toth to officers.

At the BFI London Film Festival on Monday, the Oscar winner explained, "I think it was a moment where people realized that I wasn't exactly what they thought I was. I guess maybe we all like to define people by the way the media presents them, and I think that I showed I have a complexity that people didn't know about. It's part of human nature. I made a mistake. We all make mistakes. The best you can do is say sorry and learn from it and move on."

Watch the press conference [Witherspoon talks about the arrest about six minutes in]:

At the time of the arrest, Witherspoon released a statement saying, "Out of respect for the ongoing legal situation, I cannot comment on everything that is being reported right now. But I do want to say, I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said. It was definitely a scary situation and I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse."

In the film “Wild,” based on Cheryl Strayed's real-life memoir, Witherspoon plays Strayed, who goes on a 1,100-mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest trail. "When you see me putting together the tent, that's literally me putting together the tent," the 38-year-old actress dished. "It took me two hours. I could not figure out the f**king tent. And when I kicked the stove, it's because I couldn't make the f**king stove work."