Reese Witherspoon is relieved she didn't listen to a vocal teacher who told her she couldn't sing.
The 38-year-old actress received the 2006 best actress Academy Award for her portrayal of June Carter in Walk the Line, which chronicled country legend Johnny Cash's life. It meant Reese had to show off her vocal talent; something she wouldn't have done if she'd taken onboard some early advice.
"As a kid, I really wanted to do Broadway. At the end of one voice-coaching session, they said, 'Whatever you do, don't sing!' When I won the Oscar for Walk the Line, I thought, 'Thank God I didn't listen!'" she laughed to the American edition of OK! magazine.
Many people might have seen their self-belief take a battering if they'd been told something similar. Reese gave some tips on how to cope with knockbacks when starting out in the industry.
"Over time, you become self-motivated. You have to be driven to become the person you want to be, because everyone is going to tell you, 'That's too difficult,' or, 'That's not possible.' And you just go, 'Alright, I'll show you.' And I've done just that," she said.
Reese's latest movie is called The Good Lie, which is the true story of a careers counsellor who helped Sudanese refugees settle in America. The actress was determined to do the role justice, so travelled to a refugee camp in Sudan before she took it on.
"I didn't want to just do the part in Atlanta and go home to my life," she explained. "I wanted to see what that experience was like. It was very emotional, seeing over 250,000 people displaced, sleeping on concrete slabs, kids who were sick. I took my teenage daughter [Ava, 15], and she didn't say a word the whole day. I think it's going to affect her for as long time, as it will me."
