Reese Witherspoon’s real-life experiences helped her relate to pretty much every woman on “Big Little Lies”

Season 1 of HBO’s Big Little Lies was about more than just murder and intrigue — although we love both of those things in our TV. Big Little Lies centered on a group of women who all had different life experiences and were v. relatable. And Reese Witherspoon recently said that her own life experiences helped her relate to basically every woman on Big Little Lies.

Season 1 told the stories of Madeline (Witherspoon), Celeste (Nicole Kidman), Jane (Shailene Woodley), Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz), and Renata (Laura Dern). They are five women who ultimately have each other’s backs when nothing goes as planned.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Witherspoon discussed how she prepared (or didn’t have to prepare) for the role of Madeline…

And how her real-life experiences informed all of that.

"You know, you pull a lot from life. I’m a mom, I’ve been divorced, I’ve been remarried, I’ve had more children. I just lived a lot of this life! I was a young mother…I’ve pretty much been every woman in that show."

And the other actresses on the show?

They drew upon real-life experiences as well:

"Sitting with Nicole and Laura and Zoe and Shai, we all had experiences that were applicable to each character. So instead of spending a lot of time thinking about lines and doing deep research, we just spent a lot of time getting to know each other."

It’s clear when watching Big Little Lies that friendship is at the heart of the show, so it’s pretty cool to see the actresses became friends IRL too. Now we’re even more excited for Season 2!