Reese Witherspoon On Her ‘Part Time Job’ & Life With Jake Gyllenhaal

Reese Witherspoon is one of Hollywood’s most sought after actresses, but sometimes work takes its toll.

“My mom, who’s a nurse, called me the other day when I was really stressed out from working a 15-hour day,” Reese told InStyle’s November 2009 issue. “She was like, ‘Yeah, but think of it as a part-time job.’ And I thought, ‘That’s actually right.’ It puts it in perspective. I work incredibly hard for three months, but then I get a break. It’s about really enjoying my time off.”

In fact, Reese revealed she might do fewer movies in the future so she can balance work with being a mom to her two children, Ava and Deacon.

“My ideal scenario is to do one movie a year,” she said. “But as an actor, I don’t think you can do an awful lot of planning. In fact, my new philosophy in life is I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the future, as if I could magically predict it if I planned it enough. And then I realized, I can’t.”

When asked by the mag if that mindset had something to do with her divorce from Ryan Phillippe, Reese said that it did.

“Yes, you reconsider certain things, but you just have to keep going,” she said. “You have to keep it together for your kids and for yourself too. I’m trying to learn from the things that have happened in my life, live more in the moment, and have more fun.”

Some of the fun in Reese’s life of late comes thanks to her boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal.

“Jake is a great cook – he does a lot. We spend the weekends outside LA, in Ojai, where I have a farmhouse,” Reese revealed. “We have chickens and we grow cucumbers and tomatoes. I love it. It reminds me of where I grew up in Tennessee.”

And Reese revealed that she has really come into her own in her relationship.

“I know I’m not trying to be something I’m not. As you get older, you know what you like and what you don’t like, and you’re not apologetic about it. I definitely feel much more confident in it,” she said. “I used to judge myself so harshly – I think women in their 20s do. You’re hard on your body, you’re hard on yourself. But you start to realize that none of it is really all that important. As long as you’re comfortable, the best parts of yourself come through no matter what.”