Sources Say Reese Witherspoon And Jim Toth’s Marriage Took A Major Hit From His “Midlife Crisis” And The Sale Of Her Company

March 28, 2023 / Posted by:

Last Friday, Reese Witherspoon announced that she and her husband, Jim Toth, were getting a divorce after 12 years of marriage. In her Instagram statement, Reese said she and Jim’s biggest priorities are their sons, 10-year-old Tennessee James Toth, and the rest of their family. So, Reese’s kids with her first husband, Ryan Phillippe, 23-year-old Ava, and 19-year-old Deacon. Soon after the news broke, a source told Page Six that there was “no big scandal or drama”; they just fell out of love. This week, insiders tell The Sun and Radar Online that the marriage went “horribly wrong” due to Jim’s professional failures and a (dun dun duuuuun) midlife crisis!

RadarOnline’s source says the marriage started to crumble in 2019, after 52-year-old Jim left his job at the talent agency CAA and decided to help run Jeffrey Katzenberg’s failed company, Quibi. Remember Quibi? It was that short-lived short-form mobile streaming platform that folded after just six months and lost $2 billion. At the time, Quibi employees were pissed that they got laid off during the pandemic, while Reese got paid $6 million to narrate one of Quibi’s worst-performing shows. Before Quibi, Jim had been with CAA for 23 years, where he’d repped big-time clients like Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Matthew McConaughey.

“Leaving his position at CAA to join Quibi was a huge gamble. At the time, Reese asked Jim if it was worth the risk, but he said he was up for the challenge and felt confident he’d bring home millions,” said an insider.

Except, he didn’t. And, as we all know, men do not like to fail. And a Type-A like Reese probably doesn’t like failures. A source tells The Sun that, after the Quibi flop, Jim “changed”:

“Jim is the one who has changed massively just in the last few years. Jim just isn’t the guy Reese married and had a son with anymore.

“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 jewelry, and dressing like somebody half his age really took hold.”

Not chunky, weird jewelry! I’d even say that’s worse than the classic midlife crisis trope of buying a super-expensive sports car as an allegory for your tiny little pee-pee. Another “friend and colleague” of Reese and Jim’s tells The Sun that news of the split didn’t surprise anyone who knows them. Despite their successful joint business ventures, like the $1 billion sale of their production company, Hello Sunshine, back in 2021, they just wanted different things:

“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 both of them that they were itching for life apart from each other, even though they were both celebrating the massive success of the Hello Sunshine sale to Candle Media and the hundreds of millions of dollars they personally realized from the deal.

“That money was rocket fuel to them, but it 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, Tennessee. Even when Reese and Jim couldn’t see eye to eye about anything, they are very dedicated co-parents and that shouldn’t change even if Jim has to change zip codes, which is very likely now.”

The other source adds that Jim’s stint at Quibi “only deepened” his interest in douchey things like “Silicon Valley, dot coms, and start ups.” They say Jim went from “Gordon Gekko to Mark Zuckerberg, complete with the hoodies and skinny jeans.” Ewww, he loves crypto, doesn’t he?

The source also notes that Reese is all about work, work, work, and she’s completely obsessed with her Hello Sunshine brand, her book club, and her acting career. Insiders add that after Quibi folded, Jim essentially worked as Hello Sunshine’s advisor and investor, but he didn’t join Reese at the company’s “serious business meetings.” They say the sale of the company marked a turning point in the marriage:

“It led to the company’s sale and for a real gut check moment for him and Reese – they now had more money than either of them could ever figure out what to do with, and it was time to reassess.

“This divorce is the result of that process, but Reese has handled co-parenting before, quite successfully in fact, and shouldn’t have any problem handling that again with Tennessee. Jim will still be in her life. But he’s taking the millions he personally made in the Hello Sunshine deal and he’s striking out for greener pastures. He’s wanted this for a long time.”

The Sun reports that Jim is likely to move up to Northern California to “pursue his Silicon Valley dreams of being a tech entrepreneur” and get away from “Hollywood haters” who only see him as a “glorified assistant to his ultra-famous wife.” OK, so… sure. Ego, blah blah blah. But, for Husband #3, can Reese PLEASE pick a dude who’s totally comfortable holding her purse on the red carpet and playing second fiddle? Laura Jeanne Poon needs to get her a Stedman.

Pic: David Nivere/ABACA USA/INSTARimages.com

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