From Reese Witherspoon’s shocking ‘billion dollar divorce’ – husband Jim Toth’s ‘midlife crisis’ to cryptic Insta-posts

SHE’S the Hollywood beauty turned production powerhouse who was seriously rich and famous and just got a damn sight richer.

But while Gone Girl producer Reese Witherspoon’s star has skyrocketed, the credits are rolling on their 12-year marriage.

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One of the highest paid actresses in the world, she was already worth £330M before recently selling her film and TV production house Hello Sunshine for £740m.

In a joint statement released two days before their 12th wedding anniversary, Reese, 47, and businessman husband Jim Toth, 52, announced their “difficult decision to divorce” and said their “biggest priority” was that raising a ten-year-old son Tennessee together.

It’s not the first time married life has fallen apart for Reese, who tied the knot with American film heartthrob Ryan Phillippe in her early 20s, only to split from him nine years later in 2007 .

But her latest divorce will come as a shock to the millions of fans she showed such a happy face to on social media — and this time, the fatal blow seems to have been her recent Megabucks payday, prompting her to re-evaluate her life and to say goodbye sunshine to husband #2.

Toth was reportedly thrown into a midlife crisis by friends and wanted out of Reese’s Hollywood powerplay circles.

Friends say he and Reese’s split has been on the cards since August 2021, when the ink dried on the sale of Hello Sunshine – of which Jim is founding director – leading to what they mused as a “real moment of gut control” for the couple on her life.

A friend who has worked with them for the past ten years says they’ve already grown apart and the windfall just sealed the deal.

The source told The Sun: “It was never if with Reese and Jim, it was when.

“This process of decoupling really began in late 2021, when it became clear to everyone who knew them that they were itching for a life apart, even though both were celebrating the Hello Sunshine sale.

“That money was rocket fuel for them, but sent them in different directions, and pretty quickly after that deal went through, the only real thing they had in common was raising their son.”

Tinseltown A-lister Reese’s net worth is such that her divorce will be one of the most expensive in town – a blockbuster £1billion under the decrees.

As recently as 2021, Forbes magazine listed her as the world’s highest-paid actress, with a bulging £330million in the bank before the Hello Sunshine fortunes landed.

After studying English at America’s top-ranked Stanford University before dropping out, her journey to La La Land royalty began in 1999 with a breakthrough supporting role in the teen romantic drama Cruel Intentions, alongside her first husband, Ryan, whom she met in the same year married.

Her profile then grew with the hit 2001 comedy Legally Blonde, its 2003 sequel, and the 2002 rom-com Sweet Home Alabama.

In 2005, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of US country singer Johnny Cash’s second wife, June Carter Cash, in the musical biopic Walk The Line.

After a lull in her career, Reese bounced back by producing and starring in the 2014 adventure drama Wild, which earned her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

That same year, her then-production company, Type A Movies—named after the nickname she had as a child for being a “multiple act”—produced the Ben Affleck-directed psychological thriller Gone Girl.

Since then, she has mainly worked in television, through Hello Sunshine, which she founded in 2016, and three years later, helped her being named one of Forbes magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.

Her hits on the small screen include the 2017-2019 HBO drama series Big Little Lies, the current Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show, and the 2020 Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere.

Last year she also produced the mystery drama film Where The Crawdads Sing.

She married Jim, then a talent agent, in 2010 in front of Hollywood glitterati including Gwyneth Paltrow, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn.

She has cooed about how “very blessed” she was to find a partner who bonded with her children Ava, then 11, and Deacon, seven, from her previous marriage to Ryan.

She gushed at the time: “I was lucky. He’s so wonderful with the kids.

“I feel so relieved. I don’t think I realized how stressed I was as a single parent.”

Five years ago, Jim left LA-based talent agency CAA for an executive position at TV streaming service Quibi, which failed after just six months.

But he’s caught the Silicon Valley investment bug, and with the Hello Sunshine payout giving him and Reese a whole new level of wealth, friends say they’ve taken a moment to reflect on their ambitions — and decided to get divorced.

Another source said: “Reese and Jim have lived separate lives for years.

“Their marriage became one of convenience rather than love — a transaction, so to speak.”

Pals also says he had a midlife crisis that has caused the couple to drift apart in recent years and that he has “changed massively”.

A friend added, “Jim is just not the guy that Reese married and had a son with.

“His personality, attitude and whole outlook on life really changed when he got out of the agency business and decided he was sick of this stuffy world and the service business in general.

“Call it a midlife crisis if you will, but then the tattoos, the chunky, weird jewelry, and dressing like it’s someone half his age really took hold.”

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Reese, on the other hand, put his heart and soul into building the Hello Sunshine brand and will continue to run the company after the sale to Candle Media.

She works flat out and is said to indulge in Hollywood’s power games, “blow people away with her vision” and “go toe-to-toe with the biggest moguls in town.”

In addition to retaining a stake on the production company’s board, Jim is an executive at Reese’s clothing company, Draper James, which launched in May 2015.

But he has little interest in the meetings his wife enjoys and little time for LA life.

As her business brands grew, Reese’s workaholic nature and energy caused conflict in the marital household, with a source saying, “Reese is always on the move.

“She’s the kind that bounces off walls while Jim is a quiet guy.

“The ‘rush’ that surrounds Reese is a lot and sometimes difficult to handle.”

Last summer, the family moved into a £15million mansion in Nashville, Tennessee, reportedly to rebuild their marriage away from busy LA.

But they’ve also quietly sold other properties, including a £6million home in Nashville and a £5.5million Malibu pad, while they face a separate future.

When it comes to son Tennessee, Reese already has co-parenting experience.

The devoted mum remained friends with Ryan after their split in 2007 and they often get together to support Ava, now 23, and Deacon, 19.

For Tennessee’s sake, she hopes to get more out of Jim and keep him in her life.

She wrote on his birthday last July: “Happy Birthday to my sweet husband JT!

“I don’t know anyone who loves the Tour de France/road cycling/@arsenal/@nashvillesc/@steelers…oh and golf…basically all sports more than you. I love you so much!”

But they’ve rarely been seen together in recent years, and friends say of the new Jim: “This guy went from Gordon Gekko to Mark Zuckerberg, with the hoodies and skinny jeans.

“He was so done with the Hollywood rat race and leaving this marriage is the logical conclusion to this journey because Reese is all work, the ultimate warrior mother.”

Jim is now expected to pursue his dream of becoming a tech entrepreneur and stepping out of the shadow of his superstar wife.

He also wants to distance himself from the A-list circles that made him a successful showbiz agent.

A friend said, “It all boils down to his disillusionment with Holly-wood while Reese has doubled and tripled in film and television as the thing she wants to work on for the next ten years.”

Reese celebrated her birthday last week, just two days before announcing their split, and posted the message, “I feel so grateful for all the love in my life!”

But it seems that her love for Jim was slowly dying.

The Sun has reached out to representatives for Reese and Jim for comment.

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