Reese Witherspoon Talks Balancing Home & Work in 'Southern Living'

Reese Witherspoon gets back to her roots in this brand new feature for Southern Living magazine’s September 2015 issue, on newsstands August 21.

Here’s what the 39-year-old actress had to share with the mag:

On the motto she lives by: “Why don’t we walk around in sweatpants? Why do we wear makeup everywhere? It’s just how we were raised. My grandmother would always say things like ‘spruce the goose’ and ‘put your face on…” ‘She’d say ‘If you look good, you feel good.’ It’s a tenet I’ve carried all my life�”whether I’m doing movies or at home with the kids.”

On balancing everything: “No one’s really doing it perfectly. I think you love your kids with your whole heart, and you do the best you possibly can. But, you know, right now I’m feeling sad missing my little 2-year-old, and my daughter’s about to finish her freshman year of high school, and my son has a golf tournament this weekend that I hope I don’t miss. There are some sacrifices you make, and it hurts your heart sometimes, but my kids tell me they’re proud of what I’ve accomplished, and that just means everything. I grew up with a working mom, and I have so much respect for the things she did as a nurse and a teacher. I would never begrudge her that.”

On her icon: “You know Dolly Parton plays seven instruments? I love Dolly so much I can’t stand it!”

For more from Reese, visit SouthernLiving.com.