Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon is one of Hollywood’s most graceful and composed leading ladies — and a mom of two to boot! So what happens when the girl everyone thinks has it together almost loses it, in a parking lot? And why don’t Southern women make good prostitutes? Witherspoon, 31, has all the answers, in an interview in October’s Elle. Read on for excerpts!

On her break-up with husband Ryan Phillippe:

“Right around Christmas-time I was sitting in a parking lot and I felt like I just couldn’t get out of the car. It was like, I can’t get out of the car. And I thought, Okay, half of the parking lot has dealt with this [a break-up]. More than half of the parking lot has dealt with this. Okay, let’s make it a little bigger. Half of this city has dealt with this. Okay, let’s make it a little bigger-half of this country, until I finally got out of the car. It was like, it’s okay. It’s okay. There’s this moment in Walk the Line where June Carter says, ‘I was never aware of how much I was seen.’ I was very aware of how much I was seen. It was this moment of self-discovery and loss of identity and who was stepping out of the car-you know? Who is that person? Should I not be this honest?”

On dealing with the press:

“Everybody is hung out to dry now. It’s one thing if you’re up for it and you want it, and you go out without your panties on. But if you’re wearing your panties — gosh darn it, leave me alone!”

On relationship dynamics:

“[My dad and uncle] taught me that in every relationship, the person least interested in maintaining it is going to dominate it, because they’ll never compromise. So you have to always maintain that position of least interest, and you’ll always control the relationship.”

On the perception that she is always in control:

“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if I were [always in control]. I wouldn’t be able to have the empathy or the capacity to understand different lives.”

On a less-seen side of her personality:

I’m fun. I can be really fun. I can tell we’d have a lot of fun if the tape was off…I think it’s great to drink in the middle of the day. I would join you, but I gotta drive to pick up the kids. You’re taking taxis everywhere. You could get drunk! You could go from appointment to appointment highly, highly smashed!”

And of course, on why Southern women make bad prostitutes:

“‘Cuz we have to write so many thank-you notes! And so true!”

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