AceShowbiz - Reese Witherspoon has credited her therapist with helping her through the tough times, insisting there isn't "anything shameful" about counseling. The Hollywood actress endured a painful split from husband Ryan Phillippe in 2006, subsequently calling the divorce "very humiliating and isolating."

And the Oscar-winner, who is recently rumored to have ended her two-year relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal, admits she often talks through her problems with a professional. She says, "I've had help. Through difficult times I have always found counseling helpful and I don't think there is anything shameful in that."

Witherspoon also credits her female friends with helping her pull through when life gets hard. She adds, "It's tough being a woman. You are supposed to be self-sufficient, but we all need our sisters. I have three women friends who will drop anything to help me and I will do the same for them. I believe in those female bonds, because a lot of stuff happens with men and marriage and divorce, but family and friends are paramount."