Reese Witherspoon is offering fans a major sigh of relief following frightening reports that her father, Dr. John Draper Witherspoon, was rushed to the hospital after a medical emergency.
The 50-year-old Oscar winner shared a text-based Instagram Story on Friday to clear up rumors and give concerned followers an update on his recovery.
Concern spread earlier in the day when emergency responders in Nashville received a call regarding an incident at John’s residential complex. According to reporting from Page Six, the 84-year-old was found face down on the concrete near the swimming pool of his Nashville condo. A neighbor living in the building spotted him from a balcony and immediately alerted the property doorman.
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“The doorman and building manager rolled him over, and they said, ‘Dr. Witherspoon, are you OK?’” a source recalled to the outlet. After he opened his eyes, emergency personnel transported him to a local hospital for urgent medical attention.
After news of the fall broke online, Witherspoon posted an update to let everyone know her dad was receiving proper care.
“Earlier today, several outlets reported that my dad was taken to the hospital after a fall,” she wrote to her followers. “I want to let everyone know that he is fine now. He is being taken care of by wonderful doctors and nurses.”
She also made sure to express her gratitude for the huge wave of support that flooded in after the news broke.
“Thank you to everyone who reached out. It means the world to our family,” she concluded.
The Witherspoon family has deep ties to the medical community. Before his retirement, John worked for years as an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor). He also served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve, which led to the family spending four years in Wiesbaden, Germany during Reese’s childhood before ultimately settling down in Tennessee. Reese’s mother, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Witherspoon, was a nurse for decades.
Witherspoon has always spoken openly about how much her parents’ medical careers shaped her perspective on life.
“I had parents who believed I could do anything,” she shared with Marie Claire in 2008, “and I know how that made me feel. I think both my parents, having careers in the medical profession, feel they are helping people on a daily basis, and that was inculcated in me as a value.”
With her father now recovering from the fall, Witherspoon and her family are taking things one day at a time and focusing on getting him back on his feet.
