Reese Witherspoon's Ex Jim Toth Having 'Midlife Crisis' - Started Getting Tattoos & 'Weird Jewelry'

Money can’t buy you happiness, and this divorce is a prime example!

From an outsider’s perspective, Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth had everything going for them. A seemingly happy blended family, an extremely successful business, and over a decade of marriage under their belt. But then Friday came and they shocked the world by announcing their separation. The bombshell news came just days before they were supposed to be celebrating their 12th anniversary, too!

Initially, we learned nothing too serious happened between the pair — no cheating scandal or anything like that. They just fell outta love. Simple but sad AF. Now, though, a new source is opening up about what led to this heartbreaking split, and it sounds like Jim’s, er, evolution had a lot to do with the breakup!

On Saturday, a colleague and close friend of the former couple opened up to The US Sun about how this split came to be. According to them, it’s been brewing for 18 months all thanks to Jim’s “midlife crisis”!

The insider explained the breakup news was no surprise to those close to the duo, sharing:

“It was never if with Reese and Jim but when. This process of uncoupling really began in late 2021 when it became clear to everybody who knew both of them that they were itching for life apart from each other, even though they were both celebrating the massive success of the Hello Sunshine sale to Candle Media and the hundreds of millions of dollars they personally realized from the deal.”

In 2021, the pair sold their co-owned production company Hello Sunshine for almost $1 billion, leaving them each with a hefty chunk of change and a world of opportunities at their fingertips. Unfortunately, this success ended up pulling them in separate directions, the source went on:

“That money was rocket fuel to them, but it sent them in different directions and pretty quickly after that deal closed, the only real common ground they had was the raising of their son, Tennessee. Even when Reese and Jim couldn’t see eye to eye about anything, they are very dedicated co-parents and that shouldn’t change even if Jim has to change zip codes, which is very likely now.”

Reese has been raising her eldest kids, Ava, 23, and Deacon, 19, with her first ex-husband Ryan Phillippe for many years, so she knows how to do the co-parenting thing by now. If things are really as amicable as they sound between the new exes, this shouldn’t be an issue.

This brings us to Jim’s apparent midlife crisis, which began five years ago when he quit his gig as one of the most admired forces at the Hollywood agency CAA. The source considered this the beginning of the end — and not just because Jim was walking away from a reputable gig. The confidant continued:

“Jim is the one who has changed massively just in the last few years. Jim just isn’t the guy Reese married and had a son with anymore. His personality, his attitude and his whole take on life really changed when he got out of the agency business and decided he was tired of that stuffy world and being in the service business in general. Call it a midlife crisis if you want but that’s when the tattoos, the chunky, weird jewelry, and dressing like somebody half his age really took hold.”

Huh…

On his career, the family friend added:

“Jim’s stint as a top executive at Quibi only deepened his interest in the world of Silicon Valley, dot coms and start-ups, and after that job ended, Jim essentially worked for Hello Sunshine as an advisor and investor. It led to the company’s sale and for a real gut-check moment for him and Reese – they now had more money than either of them could ever figure out what to do with, and it was time to reassess. This divorce is the result of that process, but Reese has handled co-parenting before, quite successfully in fact, and shouldn’t have any problem handling that again with Tennessee. Jim will still be in her life. But he’s taking the millions he personally made in the Hello Sunshine deal and he’s striking out for greener pastures. He’s wanted this for a long time.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Reese Witherspoon (@reesewitherspoon)

While Jim looks for a career elsewhere, the Legally Blonde alum is only diving headfirst into the entertainment world, both in front of and behind the scenes, the insider continued:

“Reese has always been ‘Type A’ about her business, her book club and her acting career. You never get the sense that she’s doing any of that stuff just for fun. It’s serious for her and it’s her priority in life. She loves going into the important rooms in Hollywood and bowling people over with her vision, her power suits, and the incredible numbers her company has generated.

As she’s gotten deep into her forties, this is the thing she’s constantly working on, becoming a serious businessperson and getting the best result for the Hello Sunshine investors, especially when it comes to her two signature hits as a producer, the Big Little Lies TV franchise and last year’s highly profitable movie Where the Crawdads Sing. Reese can talk about these projects inside and out with anybody who wants to listen, and she can go toe to toe with the biggest moguls in town while she does it.”

They made sure to stress that while Jim was an important part of the company, Reese was very much the face of the brand. Also, when her husband did interact with others, they, too, thought he’d changed significantly:

“Even though Jim helped with the Hello Sunshine sale, he’s never been one to go with Reese to these serious business meetings since the company sold. He’s allowed her to do that on her own and truly be the face of the company. And when Jim did show up with Reese for private events over the last few years, everybody who knew them as a couple remarked how much he’s changed. This guy really went from being Gordon Gekko to Mark Zuckerberg, complete with the hoodies and skinny jeans. He was so done with the Hollywood rat race and leaving this marriage is the logical conclusion of that journey because Reese isn’t going anywhere: she’s all work, all the time, the ultimate warrior mom.”

The source believes the 52-year-old will move to Northern California, at least part-time, to start focusing on his investing dreams, noting:

“Jim is itching to strike out on his own and succeed in tech and business-building the way he succeeded at his early career as an agent. He’s ready to start from zero and invest in new companies, and it’s hard to do that from LA. You need to be on the ground and in the mix. It all comes down to his disillusionment with Hollywood while Reese has doubled- and tripled-down on movies and TV as the thing she wants to spend the next ten years making.”

Simply put, this relationship just wasn’t working out for the pair anymore. They grew apart… sigh… While nothing dramatic pulled them apart, these little changes were enough to make them rethink their entire romance, their colleague concluded: