Oprah Winfrey Says Reese Witherspoon Showed Signs Of PTSD When Harvey Weinstein Allegations Broke

Oprah Winfrey says she recognised signs of post-traumatic stress in Reese Witherspoon's distressed reaction days after the Harvey Weinstein allegations broke.

Winfrey had been filming A Wrinkle in Time with co-star Witherspoon when they had a conversation about the Hollywood producer with a group of women.

'This was like two days after the Harvey scandal had broken in The New York Times,' Winfrey told guest Salma Hayek during their SuperSoul conversation.

'Everyone, including Reese - I've said this to her - she was acting like, I was seeing some of the girls at my school behave, who were suffering from PTSD. Everybody was acting like they were afraid and they were having the conversation.'

Winfrey remembered how Witherspoon had told her said she kept crying upon hearing Weinstein's name, and how she had trouble sleeping in the aftermath of the allegations.

'And I remember Reese saying, 'Oh god, this is just so upsetting, and someone mentions his name, I start tearing up'', the presenter recounted. '[Reese said] And every time I hear someone else speak, it just causes me to be upset and I haven't slept in two days'.'

Winfrey continued: 'So I said, "Jeez, you guys are suffering from PTSD. Did something happen to you?" Nobody said anything at the time.'

At an ELLE Woman event in Hollywood last year, the Big Little Lies star revealed that she had 'multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault' throughout her Hollywood career.

She also spoke up about a director who assaulted her when she was just 16 years old.

This followed dozen of women's claims of sexual harassment and misconduct against Weinstein in an exposé by the New York Times.

Weinstein has denied allegations of non-consensual activity.

Witherspoon recently told Winfrey she had endured an emotionally abusive relationship when she was younger, and after she walked away from it, it changed her on 'a cellular level'.

'I was a different person too,' she recalled. It changed who I was on a cellular level - the fact that I stood up for myself. I didn't have self-esteem, and I'm a different person now.'

Naomi Gordon

Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.