Reese Witherspoon Declares She's No One's 'Sweetheart'

Dec. 2, 2014— -- Don't go calling Reese Witherspoon "sweet."

The Oscar winner may be perceived as America's sweetheart, but she certainly doesn't feel that way.

"I certainly didn't self-identify as anyone's sweetheart," the 38-year-old Oscar winner told the January issue of Glamour magazine. "I'm friendly, but I don't think I'm sweet. I'm honest."

Witherspoon uses that honesty in her latest role, playing Cheryl Strayed in "Wild."

"I was scared of the really emotional scenes. I was scared of the sexuality. I was scared of the grittiness and of being bare on-screen," she told Glamour. "It's not just about having no makeup on your face, like I did in the film; it's about not being conscious of how you're perceived, allowing yourself to be broken, the way [Cheryl Strayed] did so fearlessly in the book."

In her own life, Witherspoon considers herself fortunate to have friends and a husband she can lean on during the rough times.

"I am so, so lucky to have girlfriends who, when I was on the floor crying, upset about things that happened in my life, came over, stood me up, put me in the shower, put my clothes on, took my kids to school, brought me dinner. You know? I love my girlfriends, and I protect those relationships fiercely," she said in the interview.

She calls second husband Jim Toth a "very healing part of my life."

"It's really wonderful being with somebody who supports me, who loves me, who is my number-one fan," Witherspoon told the magazine. "That is such an incredible experience. You have to be ready for those things. I had to be in a place where I felt all those things about myself."