Reese Witherspoon gets emotional talking about her mom: 'In awe of her endless compassion'

Drew Barrymore dedicated today's (Dec. 22) episode of The Drew Barrymore Show to celebrating nurses, which made Reese Witherspoon the perfect guest.

"You're gonna make me cry," Witherspoon, 45, told Barrymore after joining her on stage. "I was talking to my mom on the phone when your producer called and said the whole audience was filled with nurses, and my mom and I both started to cry."

The Oscar winner's mother, Betty, worked as a nurse in labor-and-delivery as well as neonatal intensive care.

"Being raised by a nurse, I think my mother has such infinite compassion," Witherspoon recalled, adding that Betty was once "one of the youngest nurses in Memphis."

The Legally Blonde star described Betty working night shifts and weekends as Reese was growing up, and even though she was "so tired," she "loved her patients," which left Reese "in awe of her endless compassion for other people."

"That's how I feel whenever I see a nurse because I think to dedicate your life to caring for people is one of the most noble professions that exists," she continued.

Witherspoon expressed a very similar sentiment on the cover of Vogue in February 2019: