Reese Witherspoon has remained a class act throughout her divorce from Ryan Phillippe, and that's not going to change just because she has a movie to promote. The Oscar winner, who's currently stumping for the so-so-reviewed drama "Rendition," opens up to Elle about their October 2006 breakup, recounting in broad if well-spoken terms the moment it really hit home.

"Right around Christmastime I was sitting in a parking lot and I felt like I just couldn't get out of the car," recalls Witherspoon to the mag, which features her on the cover striking her best steely-eyed, don't-mess-with-me pose. "It was like, 'I can't get out of the car.'"

But she laughs as she recalls how she was able to get a grip by reminding herself how much company she has in that overpopulated place known as Splitsville.

"I thought, OK, half of the parking lot has dealt with this. More than half of the parking lot has dealt with this," matter-of-facts Reese. "OK, let's make it a little bigger. Half of this city has dealt with this. OK, let's make it a little bigger -- half of this country, until I finally got out of the car. It was like, 'It's OK. It's OK.'"

Consummate actress that she is, she's even able to equate that vehicular-set crisis to her most famous role.

"There's this moment in 'Walk the Line' where June Carter says, 'I was never aware of how much I was seen.' I was very aware of how much I was seen," she says. "It was this moment of self-discovery and loss of identity and who was stepping out of the car -- you know? Who is that person?"

Reese, who reportedly enjoyed a few close encounters with rumored amour Jake Gyllenhaal as they plugged "Rendition" at the Toronto International Film Festival, insists her reputation as a control freak is undeserved, even if she did name her production company Type A.

"Oh, come on, man!" she pooh-poohs. "I wouldn't be able to do what I do if I were [always in control]. I wouldn't be able to have the empathy or the capacity to understand different lives."

Witherspoon also shows off her lighter side during the revelation-light interview, riffing on whether winning an Academy Award changed her life ("It's real purty on my bookcase. Everybody that comes to my house I say, 'You can touch it, but you have to give a speech'") and sharing her mother's favorite joke about why Southern women make bad prostitutes ("'Cuz we have to write so many thank-you notes! And so true!").

She even manages a smile -- albeit a "tight" one -- when talking about being a target of the paparazzi, who are never far behind when she's out and about with tykes Ava, 8, and Deacon, 3.

"Everybody is hung out to dry now," Reese says of the media spotlight. "It's one thing if you're up for it and you want it, and you go out without your panties on. But if you're wearing your panties -- gosh darn it, leave me alone!"

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