Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon turned 40 last year. By Hollywood’s typical ageist standards, Witherspoon would eventually be resigned to roles of a mum to a younger starlet.

But the Oscar winner is not going to wait around for Hollywood to put her in a corner. “Things have to change. We have to start seeing women as they really are on film. We have to, and not just in movie on a tiny budget. We need to see real women’s experience. Whether it involves domestic violence, motherhood, romance, infidelity or divorce,” Witherspoon shared during a Television Critics Association event in Los Angeles, California recently. She had enough of seeing “women of incredible talent playing wives and girlfriends with thankless parts".