Reese speaks out about break-up

Reese Witherspoon has spoken publicly for the first time about the breakdown of her marriage to actor Ryan Phillippe.

The 39-year-old actress and her husband of seven years parted ways in October of last year and the star told of how tough it was after the split.

"Right around Christmas time I was sitting in a parking lot and I felt like I just couldn't get out of the car," she told Elle magazine.

"I thought, okay, 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."

The 31-year-old actress, who won an Oscar for her role in Walk the Line, has been romantically linked to Jake Gyllenhaal after they co-starred in Rendition.

She and Phillippe had two children together, seven-year-old Ava and three-year-old Deacon.