Reese Witherspoon has said she grew “sick” of the struggle faced by actresses in Hollywood, and of often being the only female lead in a film.

The Oscar-winning actress also said she has never held back in sharing her opinions, despite what others thought of her.

Witherspoon told America’s Vogue magazine: “The idea is to put women at the centre of the story… I was sick of making movies where I was the only female lead on the set.

“I was sick of seeing scripts where there was one female role, badly written, and yet every actress in town wanted the part because there was nothing else.”

She added: “I always tended to be outspoken with my opinions. Whether they were appropriate or not.”

Witherspoon, 42, co-founded in 2016 production company and media brand Hello Sunshine, which focuses on highlighting female-driven stories on a number of platforms.

The company has a number of films and TV projects in the works, as well as a mentoring programme for aspiring young female filmmakers.

Witherspoon also serves as executive producer on hit TV drama series Big Little Lies, in which she stars alongside a female-heavy cast including Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley, and she is an active supporter of the Time’s Up campaign against sexual harassment and inequality.

Witherspoon, whose acting credits include Legally Blonde, Walk The Line and Wild, said: “I finally asked myself, why does it have to be the same 20 people making all the movies?

“Maybe there is room for a more inclusive idea about who can be on-screen and who can get it funded.

“Maybe there are different ways to get content made so that the world we see on-screen looks more like the world we walk through in real life.”

Witherspoon appears in Vogue magazine’s February issue, available later this month.