John Draper Witherspoon, the 84-year-old father of actress Reese Witherspoon, was rushed to a Nashville hospital Friday after a fellow resident spotted him lying face down on concrete near his condo building's pool.
A resident saw the retired surgeon from a balcony overlooking the pool area and called down to alert building staff. The doorman and building manager reached him and rolled him over.
An insider familiar with the incident described the moment to Page Six:
"The doorman and building manager rolled him over and they said, 'Dr. Witherspoon, are you OK?' He blinked his eyes, and that's when he was rushed to the hospital."
Nashville Metro confirmed that a medical incident occurred at the condo building on Friday and that someone was transported to the hospital. Officials did not identify the individual. No cause for the incident, whether a fall, a medical episode, or something else, has been disclosed.
Page Six reached out to Reese Witherspoon's representatives for comment. No response has been reported.
John Draper Witherspoon spent decades as an otolaryngologist, a surgeon specializing in ears, nose, and throat conditions. He also served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves and fulfilled a draft obligation during the Vietnam War era. The Army stationed him in Germany for several years when Reese was a young girl. After that posting, the family settled in Nashville.
He and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Witherspoon, known as Betty, who worked as a nurse, raised Reese and her older brother John in the city. Both parents were present at the 2006 Academy Awards ceremony when Reese won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line."
But the marriage hit turbulent years. John and Betty separated in the 1990s and began living apart. In 2012, Betty filed a bigamy lawsuit against John after she read in a local newspaper that he had married a woman named Tricianne Taylor. Betty argued John had never divorced her before remarrying, and she demanded the second marriage be annulled.
In the suit, Betty detailed allegations that John struggled with alcohol, infidelity, and hoarding, issues she said had driven them apart. She also declared she still loved him and had never sought a divorce herself.
By 2018, the couple appeared to have patched things up. Betty told the Australian outlet Women's Day that John had moved back in with her. She said they had been back together "quite a while" and were "still married."
Reese, who has kept her family life largely private, shared a rare photo of herself and her father on Instagram Stories for Father's Day in 2020, captioning the image "Hey Dad!" The photo showed the two on a walk together.
John Draper Witherspoon's current medical condition following Friday's hospitalization has not been made public. Whether he remains hospitalized, what treatment he may be receiving, and the circumstances that led to his collapse near the pool all remain unanswered.
An 84-year-old veteran and retired surgeon deserves privacy while his family deals with a frightening moment, and the public deserves only the facts, not speculation.
