Reese Witherspoon says “chasing boys” is good fun, especially when you’re young.

The 34-year-old actress has previously romanced film star Jake Gyllenhaal and was married to actor Ryan Phillippe with whom she has two children; Ava, 11, and Deacon, seven.

Reese is currently dating Hollywood agent Jim Toth, and admits she has become wiser about romance as she has grown older. The beauty thinks flirting and pursuing potential suitors can be really enjoyable, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously during a person’s young, free and single days.

“Because boy is it fun, chasing boys – especially when you’re young,” she laughed.

Reese recalled a moment when one of her pals explained to her how essential it is to realise when a man is attracted to you. The friend warned Reese it’s far more important to consider men who are chasing you, rather than wasting efforts on those who aren’t interested.

“You know, don’t follow the guy you’re chasing, look at the guy who’s chasing you. I think that takes time, and sort of life experience to notice,” explained Reese.

Female athletes aren’t typically the subject of American movies. In a culture where sex, action, and 3-D sells tickets and wins big at the box office, it’s hard to imagine an athletic heroine winning over an American audience. But in the new romantic comedy, “How Do You Know,” Academy Award-winning writer and director, James L. Brooks, takes a risk and places a professional woman softball player at the center of his plot.

In the film, Reese Witherspoon plays the protagonist, Lisa, who is consumed with her sport and at 31-years-old has no plans to get married and have a family. When she is cut from the national team because she is deemed too old to play, Lisa finds solace in a casual relationship with Matty (Owen Wilson), a major league pitcher who is so much of a womanizer that he keeps an assortment of new women’s clothing in his closet as emergency morning-after attire for his conquests.

At the same time, Lisa goes on a blind date with George (Paul Rudd), a businessman who runs a company started by his father, Charles, (Jack Nicholson). George is recently the subject of a federal investigation and now a nervous wreck. Unemployed and emotional, Lisa soon finds herself in the midst of a love triangle with two equally handsome and complicated male suitors and she wonders if she’s even the marrying type.

Sunday afternoon in the basement of the Ritz Carlton in Manhattan, Reese Witherspoon, Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, Kathryn Hahn and James L. Brooks gathered for a press conference to promote their new non-traditional romantic comedy, in an intimate and ornate room with chandeliers and impressionist paintings on the wall.

Witherspoon, a petite blonde, sat sandwiched between Wilson and Rudd, and instantly broke the ice, admitting, “I’m really not that athletic. [Brooks] wanted … [me] to work with coaches and train so I did that for four months [and] three hours a day. … I’m still not any good at softball but I learned a lot.”

Reese Witherspoon’s two children were left horrified when they saw their mother knocked to the ground in a freak softball accident, which left her with a black eye and a bloody nose.

The Hollywood actress was practicing for her role in new movie “How Do You Know” last year by playing a game of softball at home with her family and friends.

But the game ended in agony for Witherspoon after she was hit in the face with the ball.

The “Legally Blonde” star fell to the ground and was left covered in blood, much to the horror of her daughter, Ava, and son, Deacon, who both witnessed the shocking injury.

Witherspoon tells Access Hollywood, “I got popped in the eye. I got a black eye. Oh, I got a bloody nose… I was just practicing at home with friends and stuff and I just, you know, throw to keep my arm in shape and stuff…

“They (my kids) were there when I got it and I hit the ground – that freaked them out a little bit.”

But Witherspoon admits her kids later felt proud of their mom’s wounds, adding: “They thought it was cool. It’s like I’m the only mom at school with a black eye!”

“Extra’s” resident bad boy Steve Santagati chatted with actress Reese Witherspoon about her new romantic comedy “How Do You Know,” and got Reese to open up about some of her worst dating experiences.

Reese co-stars in the film with Owen Wilson, and said that she dated a guy similar to Wilson’s character — the type of player who has a bathroom drawer full of toothbrushes.

“I have seen the toothbrush drawer,” Witherspoon told Steve about spending the night at an unnamed ex’s home. “I woke up with the toothbrushes and it was horrifying.”

That’s not the worst of the actress’ dating nightmares. Reese said she once “had an experience where I opened up the closet looking for a washing machine or something, and it was like a line of bikinis… different sizes of bikinis with the tags on them. I was like ‘Oh God’.”

Witherspoon has dated her share of A-list men, including “Love & Other Drugs” star Jake Gyllenhaal, but the 34-year-old star has moved on — and into the arms of Hollywood agent Jim Toth.

When asked if she would recommend other stars to avoid dating a fellow thespian, Reese replied, “I have a whole list of things I’d recommend. I could give a seminar.”

Catch Reese in “How Do You Know,” and we know it opens December 17.

Actress marvels at the ‘fervor’ around her ‘Water for Elephants’ co-star.

Reese Witherspoon became a household name in the late ’90s with a string of scene-stealing turns in films like “Pleasantville” and “Election.” Around the same time, Leonardo DiCaprio was transforming from teen heartthrob to mature Hollywood A-lister, thanks to the nearly $2 billion success of “Titanic.”

Over a decade later, Witherspoon has been thinking back to that pop culture period. It’s the only way she can make sense of the overwhelming popularity of her “Water for Elephants” co-star Robert Pattinson.

“The only thing I can compare it to is when Leo was in ‘Titanic,’ ” she told MTV News while promoting her upcoming movie “How Do You Know.” “It was that kind of fervor about a person. The women lining up outside the set — it was just unbelievable — till 5 o’clock in the morning waiting to just glimpse him.”

The Tennessee set of “Water for Elephants” was basically no different than what happens when the “Twilight” vamp goes anywhere. As director Francis Lawrence told us in the fall, “[E]very day there would be, like, 50 people [staked out] … . [T]here would be people camped out in the hallways of our hotel. All day, all night long, it didn’t matter. People were there to try to catch a glimpse.”

Witherspoon, of course, got an up-close-and-personal glimpse of RPattz, and she was happy to report back to us: “He is extraordinarily attractive. I’m not gonna lie,” she said.

“Robert is such a great guy from a great family,” she explained. “That’s the thing that’s so funny. He’s not really this bad boy; he’s just a great guy and really worked hard on ‘Water for Elephants.’ He really worked long hours, long days. He looks totally different in the movie.”

– mtv.com