Reese's Pieces: Why This Legally Blonde Star is Eating Her Words Following a Recent Arrest

Reese Witherspoon ’s “award winning” performance as a concerned wife this past weekend landed her a less than prestigious seat in Atlanta’s jail.

Atlanta’s rise in the film industry in recent years has brought great economic benefit to Georgia, but will this benefit be coupled with negative press for many important people involved? For Reese Witherspoon it is yet to be determined.

Witherspoon apologized this week after her run-in with the cops early last Friday morning. What began as a common weekend occurrence in the lively city of Atlanta, ended up sounding like a scene from an emotional Witherspoon drama-- The actress got a little out of hand (verbally) with a police officer while her husband, Jim Toth, was being arrested for a DUI.

Having had time to sober up, Witherspoon apologized profusely for her behavior.

“I do want to say, I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said,” the actress said in a statement. “It was definitely a scary situation and I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. I have nothing but respect for the police, and I'm very sorry for my behavior.”

Witherspoon, whose earlier films include Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, won a shelf full of awards, in addition to her performance as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line.

Witherspoon was the latest actress to be crowned “America's Sweetheart” on the heels of Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts. Yet in person, neither one of these two actresses are known for being sweet or light on her feet. Ryan is quiet and introverted while Roberts has a biting whit and doesn’t seem to “suffer a fool.”

So who is Witherspoon really? Is she the charmer from Sweet Home Alabama or the entitled star on display in that matter-of-fact police report last weekend in Atlanta?

“It's a PR nightmare ,” Paul Dergarabedian says, Chief Analyst at Hollywood.com, “particularly for a star who's not known as being edgy. But it definitely raises her profile right now, for better or for worse.”

Still, the damage is done, and there's no undoing it, says Janice Min, editor in chief of the Hollywood Reporter.

“It's a terrible thing to happen to someone with this sort of image. She's not 22. She's a mother of three. Thank God they didn't kill someone. It's a perfect storm of terrible: the time of night, the way she's reported to have behaved, and her using celebrity as a way out."

"In terms of her career, it comes at a vulnerable point," Min says. "She hasn't had a major blockbuster in quite a while. For the movie she's doing right now, it creates problems because the narrative will be about her being arrested while she was filming it. I thought her apology was as good as you can get. She said the right things. But an apology can't erase the facts. It's in such stark contrast to the public perception of her."

The facts have been laid on the table, and Ms. Witherspoon has been found guilty... But are there ways to diminish this story’s impact on public opinion?

Our team of public relations strategists believes there are. PR Whores specializes in Negative PR Management for celebrities, leaders, businesses or anyone who has suffered a “PR nightmare ” and needs help getting out of their recent unflattering predicament.

We know there are many PR strategies available that can be put into place to help Ms. Witherspoon escape the possible effect this incident could have on her career. The PR Whores Online Reputation Management team is here to help anyone (or any company) manage these types of bad press online .

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