At 19, Reese Witherspoon was asked to film a sex scene. She said no, but had to do it anyway.

Hands up who's ever been asked to do something they didn't want to do at work? 

Aaaand who of you has said, 'Ta but no, not keen on that'... only to be told that, actually, 'no' isn't an option, we all have to do things we don't want to do sometimes, and to basically hush up and get on with it? 

Pretty much everyone? Yeah, that tracks.

But has that *thing* you've been asked to do been... simulate sex stuff? Probably not. It was for Reese Witherspoon.

Speaking to Harper's Bazaar for their August issue, Witherspoon shared one particularly uncomfortable moment on the set of her 1996 film, Fear. 

Listen to Cancelled hosts Jessie and Clare debate the Fifty Shades franchise. Post continues below.

In the psychosexual thriller, the then-19-year-old starred as high school student Nicole, who falls for mysterious bad boy David – played by Mark Wahlberg (who was 25 at the time). 

David woos Nicole with his charms (ahem, love bombing) initially, but as the relationship develops, his possessive, violent nature becomes apparent.

There's one scene that likely stuck in the minds of all who watched the flick: when the pair are at a carnival and David digitally stimulates Nicole on the roller-coaster until she reaches orgasm. 

By today's standards, it's not too wild as far as sex scenes go. But it was a pivotal point in Witherspoon's career, she shares – and not in a good way. 

"I didn’t have control over it," the 47-year-old told the publication, adding that she asked to have a stunt double step in for the below-the-waist scenes – a request that was denied, it seems. 

"It wasn't explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no. 

"It wasn’t a particularly great experience."

Watch the official Fear trailer. Post continues below video.

Directed by James Foley and written by Christopher Crowe, the film was a springboard of sorts for both the young and upcoming actors early in their careers, and that particular incident had a lasting effect on Witherspoon, who explains that it taught her a stark lesson about the way things worked in Hollywood.

"I'm certainly not traumatised or anything by it, but it was formative," she said. 

"It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking. I think it’s another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent for change and someone who maybe can be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female perspective instead of from the male gaze."

And spark change she certainly has since the 2016 launch of her media company Hello Sunshine, which aims to "shine a light on where women are now and help them chart a new path forward". 

Via the company, the actor has championed female-led and female-centred projects, with the hopes to change the narrative for women everywhere. 

"I started this company to change the way all women are seen in media," Witherspoon shared in 2021.

Feature image: Getty; Harper's Bazaar.