Reese Witherspoon is a bona fide movie star, but the Oscar-winning actress is also building an impressive resume as a producer. In a recent interview with Net-a-Porter Witherspoon reveals that she faced resistance — and sexism — when she first decided to start working behind-the-scenes.

“I really reject the idea that women have to stay in one life,” she explains. “People have said, ‘You can’t start a company; just stay being an actress.’ Why are women supposed to be one thing? Nobody thinks Robert De Niro is stepping outside [his boundaries by] owning hotels and restaurants. Life has many chapters. You have to think, what am I going to do next?”

Fortunately for fans of “Big Little Lies,” “Wild,” and “Gone Girl” — all projects Witherspoon has produced — she ignored those who failed to recognize her potential and pressured her to stay in her lane.

The “Walk the Line” star also touched on the importance of representing multi-faceted female characters onscreen: “There’s a need to see women in a complex way [in films],” she observes. “Women are every color of the human experience.” She emphasizes that there’s an audience for these stories, saying, “I’ve been hearing for 27 years that women don’t show up to see women in movies, and I know empirically that is not true.”

Head over to Net-a-Porter to read the interview in full. Witherspoon reveals how — and why — “Gone Girl” got passed on by every studio except one, discusses how Hollywood is hard on actresses over 25, and more.

Witherspoon will be seen next in Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s “Home Again,” a rom-com about a divorced mother who invites three aspiring filmmakers to live in her guest house. The film hits theaters September 8.