Inside Reese Witherspoon’s shock ‘billion dollar divorce’ – husband Jim Toth’s ‘mid-life crisis’ to cryptic Insta posts
SHE is the Hollywood beauty turned production powerhouse who was seriously rich and famous, and just got a damned sight richer.
But while Gone Girl producer Reese Witherspoon’s star has soared, the closing credits are rolling on her 12-year marriage.
Ranked among the world’s top-paid actresses, she was already worth £330MILLION before recently selling her film and TV production house Hello Sunshine for £740MILLION.
In a joint statement issued two days before their 12th wedding anniversary, Reese, 47, and businessman husband Jim Toth, 52, announced their “difficult decision to divorce” and said their “biggest priority” is co-parenting ten-year-old son Tennessee.
It is not the first time married life has unravelled for Reese, who in her early twenties tied the knot with American movie heart-throb Ryan Phillippe, only to split from him nine years later in 2007.
But her latest divorce will shock the millions of fans to whom she showed such a happy face on social media — and this time it seems the fatal blow may have been her recent megabucks payday, prompting her to reassess her life and say, “Goodbye, Sunshine” to husband No2.
Toth is said by pals to have been plunged into a mid-life crisis, and wanted out of Reese’s Hollywood power-play circles.
Pals say he and Reese’s split has been on the cards since August 2021 when the ink dried on the sale of Hello Sunshine — of which Jim is a founding director — and led to a “real gut-check moment” for the pair as they reflected on their lives.
A friend who has worked with them over the past decade says they had already grown apart and the cash windfall just sealed the deal.
The source told The Sun: “It was never if with Reese and Jim, but when.
“This process of uncoupling really began in late 2021 when it became clear to everybody who knew them that they were itching for life apart from each other, even though both were celebrating the Hello Sunshine sale.
“That money was rocket fuel for them but sent them in different directions, and pretty quickly after that deal closed, the only real common ground they had was the raising of their son.”
Tinseltown A-lister Reese’s fortune is such that her divorce will be one of the most expensive in town — a £1billion blockbuster among decree nisis.
As recently as 2021, Forbes magazine listed her as the planet’s highest-paid actress, with a bulging £330million bank balance even before the Hello Sunshine riches landed.
Having studied English at America’s top-ranked Stanford University before dropping out, her journey to La La Land royalty began with a breakthrough supporting role in teen romantic drama Cruel Intentions in 1999, opposite first husband Ryan who she wed the same year.
Her profile then grew with hit 2001 comedy Legally Blonde, its 2003 sequel, and 2002 rom-com Sweet Home Alabama.
In 2005, she won an Oscar for Best Actress for playing US country singer Johnny Cash’s second wife, June Carter Cash, in musical biopic Walk The Line.
Following a career lull, Reese stormed back by producing and starring in 2014 adventure drama Wild, which earned her a second Oscars nod for Best Actress.
The same year, her then production firm Type A Movies — named after the nickname she had as a child because she was a “multi-achiever” – produced the Ben Affleck psycho-logical thriller Gone Girl.
She has since worked mostly in TV, through Hello Sunshine, which she set up in 2016, and three years later helped to get her named by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s 100 most powerful women.
Her small-screen hits have included HBO drama series Big Little Lies from 2017 to 2019, current Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show, and 2020 Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere.
Last year she also produced mystery drama movie Where The Crawdads Sing.
She married Jim, then a talent agent, in 2010 in front of Hollywood glitterati including Gwyneth Paltrow, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn.
She has cooed about how “very blessed” she was to find a partner who bonded with her kids Ava, then 11, and Deacon, seven, from her previous marriage to Ryan.
She gushed at the time: “I got lucky. He’s so wonderful with the children.
“I feel so much relief. I don’t think I realised how stressed I was being a single parent.”
Five years ago, Jim quit LA-based talent agency CAA for an executive role at TV streaming service Quibi, which failed after just six months.
But he caught the Silicon Valley investment bug and, with the Hello Sunshine payout providing him and Reese with a whole new level of riches, pals say they took a moment to reflect on their ambitions — and decided to divorce.
Another source said: “Reese and Jim have lived separate lives for years.
“Their marriage became one of convenience over love — transactional, so to speak.”
Pals also say he has had a midlife crisis that has seen the couple drift apart in recent years, and that he has “changed massively”.
One friend added: “Jim just isn’t the guy Reese married and had a son with.
“His personality, his attitude and his whole take on life really changed when he got out of the agency business and decided he was tired of that stuffy world and being in the service business in general.
“Call it a midlife crisis if you want but that’s when the tattoos, the chunky, weird jewellery and the dressing like somebody half his age really took hold.”
Reese, meanwhile, has put heart and soul into building the Hello Sunshine brand and is continuing to head up the company even after the sale to Candle Media.
Working flat out, she is said to revel in Hollywood power games, “bowling people over with her vision” and going “toe to toe with the biggest moguls in town”.
As well as retaining a stake on the production firm’s board, Jim is also an executive in Reese’s clothing firm, Draper James, set up in May 2015.
But he has little involvement in the meetings his wife relishes and little time for LA life.
As her business brands grew, Reese’s workaholic nature and energy caused conflict in the marital home, with one source saying: “Reese is always on the move.
“She’s the kind who bounces off the walls, whereas Jim is a placid dude.
“The ‘hecticness’ that surrounds Reese is a lot and sometimes hard to handle.”
Last summer the family moved to a £15million mansion in Nashville, Tennessee, reportedly in a bid to rebuild their marriage away from frantic LA.
But they have also been quietly selling off other properties, includ-ing a £6million home in Nashville and a Malibu pad for £5.5million, as they look toward a future apart.
When it comes to son Tennessee, Reese is already experienced with co-parenting.
The devoted mum stayed friendly with Ryan after their 2007 split and they often come together to support Ava, now 23, and Deacon, 19.
For Tennessee’s sake, she hopes for more of the same with Jim, and to keep him in her life.
She posted on his birthday last July: “Happy birthday to my sweet hubby, JT!
“Don’t know anyone who loves Tour de France/ road biking/@arsenal/@nashvillesc/@steelers . . . oh and golf . . . basically all sports, more than you. Love you so much!”
But they have rarely been seen together over the past few years and friends say of the new Jim: “This guy went from being Gordon Gekko to Mark Zuckerberg, with the hoodies and skinny jeans.
“He was so done with the Hollywood rat race, and leaving this marriage is the logical conclusion of that journey, because Reese is all work, the ultimate warrior mom.”
Jim is now expected to chase his dreams of being a tech entrepreneur and stepping out of the shadow of his superstar wife.
He also wants to distance himself from the A-list circles that made him a successful showbiz agent.
A friend said: “It all comes down to his disillusionment with Holly-wood, while Reese has doubled and tripled down on movies and TV as the thing she wants to spend the next ten years making.”
Celebrating her birthday last week, just two days before the split announcement, Reese posted the message: “Feeling very grateful for all the love in my life!”
But it seems her love of Jim is one that had been slowly dying.
The Sun has approached representatives for Reese and Jim asking for comment.