Reese Witherspoon’s father was rushed to the hospital Friday after reportedly being discovered face down on the concrete near a swimming pool at his Nashville condo building.
John Draper Witherspoon, 84, was found in the alarming position by another resident, according to a source who spoke to Page Six.
The resident reportedly spotted John from a balcony and quickly alerted the building’s doorman.
“The doorman and building manager rolled him over and they said, ‘Dr. Witherspoon, are you OK?’” the source told the outlet.
According to the insider, John blinked his eyes in response before emergency crews rushed him to the hospital.
Nashville Metro confirmed to Page Six that emergency responders were called to the condo building Friday for a medical incident and that one person was transported to a hospital.
Officials, however, did not publicly identify the patient.
Page Six said it reached out to Reese Witherspoon’s representatives for comment.
The frightening incident puts a rare spotlight on the Oscar winner’s father, who has largely stayed out of the public eye despite his famous daughter’s decades-long Hollywood career.
John and his wife, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Witherspoon, raised Reese and her older brother, also named John, in Nashville.
Both of Reese’s parents built careers in medicine.
Betty worked as a nurse, while John became an otolaryngologist, a surgeon specializing in conditions involving the ears, nose and throat.
John also served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves and spent several years stationed in Germany while Reese was young. The family eventually settled in Nashville after he completed his military obligation during the Vietnam War era.
But behind the scenes, Reese’s parents endured a complicated marriage that later spilled into public view.
John and Betty separated during the 1990s and began living apart, though they apparently never formally divorced.
Their unusual arrangement made headlines in 2012 when Betty filed a lawsuit after discovering that John had married another woman, Tricianne Taylor.
Betty reportedly learned about the marriage through a notice in a local newspaper.
She sought to have the second marriage annulled, arguing that John was still legally married to her.
In court filings at the time, Betty claimed the couple had begun living separate lives because of John’s struggles involving alcohol, infidelity and hoarding.
Despite those allegations, Betty said she had never divorced him and still loved her husband.
Years later, the couple apparently reconciled.
“He has moved back in with me,” Betty told Australian outlet Women’s Day in 2018, according to People.
She said they had been reunited for “quite a while” and remained married.
John and Betty have also shared some of the biggest moments of their daughter’s career.
Both were by Reese’s side when she won the Best Actress Oscar for portraying June Carter Cash in the 2005 film “Walk the Line,” taking home the trophy at the 2006 Academy Awards.
While Reese regularly shares photos and affectionate posts involving her mother, John has appeared less frequently on her social media accounts.
One of the actress’ more recent public tributes to her father came on Father’s Day in 2020, when she posted a selfie of the pair taking a walk together.
She captioned the sweet image simply, “Hey Dad!”
The current condition of Reese Witherspoon’s father has not been publicly disclosed.
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