Reese Witherspoon Credits Nicole Kidman's Big Little Lies Character For Inspiring Women To Come Forward About Abuse

While Monday night's Gotham Independent Film Awards left a lot to be desired when it comes to addressing the prevalence of sexual assault in Hollywood, presenter Reese Witherspoon made sure to address the growing #MeToo movement during her tribute to friend and Big Little Lies co-star, Nicole Kidman. Kidman received a Film Tribute Award at the celebration, and in the midst of introducing the Australian actress' large body of work, Witherspoon gave a special shout out to her work on Big Little Lies, and how she believes the character of Celeste Wright helped women come forward.

"I'm here to talk about one of my favorite people, Nicole Kidman," the Home Again actress opened her speech. "My beautiful, soulful, talented friend Nicole."

When the two were cast together on the HBO miniseries, Witherspoon spent most of their time together fangirling, but what most impressed her was Kidman's ability to totally transform.

"It was extraordinary," she continued. "She would come onto set in these incredible outfits and she was gone. Nicole was gone. She disappeared into someone else. She became this other woman with another mind and another history and another voice and she even had different eyes. She became this woman, Celeste Wright, who was a mother of two, the wife of a wealthy man who seemingly has it all together, but she holds a secret in her heart. A dark secret.

Witherspoon added that Kidman's performance "showed the intricacies of what so many women are going through in abusive relationships, and I truly believe this helped open up the conversation that so many people are having now about people who are facing this same struggle with abuse and harassment in their own lives."

In this year alone, over 30 men have been accused of sexual misconduct or abuse, some of them, like in the case of director James Toback, facing allegations from more than 200 women. Their stories are important, and so are the ones that inspire them.

If you have experienced sexual violence and are in need of crisis support, please call theRAINN Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

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