Reese Witherspoon Recalls Mark Wahlberg Sex Scene in Fear ... and What It Taught Her

She was 19 at the time when she shot the cult film's theme-park scene, featuring a female orgasm on a rollercoaster, alongside Mark Wahlberg in the very early stages of both of their careers; the two were also the subject of dating rumors amid press for the movie.

Speaking with Harper's Bazaar, the now 47-year-old recalled how the final product came about, noting her discomfort at the time.

"I didn't have control over it," Witherspoon told Harper's, noting to the publication that she had requested a stunt double.

"It wasn’t explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no. It wasn't a particularly great experience," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'm certainly not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative," she went on to add. "It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking. I think it's another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent for change and someone who maybe can be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female perspective instead of from the male gaze."

TooFab has reached out to a representative for director James Foley for comment.

Witherspoon has made good on that desire to be an agent of change. In 2016 she formed Hello Sunshine to provide a platform for women to tell "their stories in their own words."

The production company's inception coincided with the rise of the #MeToo movement. In 2017, Witherspoon revealed she was sexually assaulted by a director when she was 16. Additionally, the star was a key player in fundraising for Time's Up.

Hello Sunshine has also proven how wildly lucrative telling female centered stories can be. The company was sold to Candle Media for a whopping $900 million in 2021.

And while Witherspoon has dedicated her professional life to lifting up female voices and their stories, she admitted to Harper's that earlier in her career she was more near-sighted.

Prior to breakout hits like Legally Blonde, when the star was in her late teens to early twenties, she could feel "very competitive and jealous of other women and not supportive."

"I was really unhappy," Witherspoon recalled, "I was not seeing the abundance of opportunity."

She then went on to reveal she "went hard" for two massive roles of the era and ultimately didn't get them -- Clueless and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.

"Oh my God, I wanted to do Romeo + Juliet so badly, so badly," she said. "Of course, Claire Danes was amazing, but it was devastating to me that I didn’t get it after screen tests and getting really close."

Part of the issue, Witherspoon noted, was systemic and left her feeling as if there was room for "only one girl [who] would make it."

Being pregnant at 22 (with Ava), made her ask of herself, "Who do I want my daughter to see? I really want to be a woman she looks up to. … I worked on it a lot."

That proved to be the turning point.

"I got Election and I created Tracy Flick, and I ended up being in Pleasantville, which was amazing. Ava was asking me the other day about where I come up with these characters, like Tracy Flick, Elle Woods, and [Melanie Smooter from] Sweet Home Alabama. I created them all within the span of five, six years in my 20s. …Sometimes I look back and go, 'How the hell did I do that?'"

You can read Witherspoon's full interview with Harper's here.