Reese Witherspoon ditches inspirational women’s conference Down Under

Reese Witherspoon has cancelled her $3000 a head speaking tour around Australia.

Reese was set to visit Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Picture: Instagram

OSCAR-winning actress Reese Witherspoon has cancelled her $3000-a-head speaking tour of Australia in mysterious circumstances.

The Legally Blonde star was to be the headline speaker for The Simpatico Conference, which aims to inspire women “to be more ambitious, self-aware, and ­confident”.

However, two weeks after posting a social media picture alongside two photoshopped koalas which she captioned — “One guess where I am headed this summer!” — the tour has been ­cancelled.

The Legally Blonde star was set to be the headline speaker for The Simpatico Conference. Picture: Amanda Friedman for The Wall Street Journal

The abrupt cancellation is believed to be due to lacklustre ticket sales. The Simpatico group went to ground yesterday with representative Max Markson — the man behind the aborted tours of Floyd Mayweather and Pele — referring Confidential to a statement on the company’s website, which said: “We wish to bring ­attendees the best experience possible and, unfortunately, due to issues within our organisation, we are unable to move forward with our event at this time. The Simpatico Connection organisers wish to convey our sincerest apologies to the proposed keynote speaker Reese Witherspoon.”

Queensland business consultant Jacqueline Nagle, who describes herself as a change consultant with a belief in “business alchemy” — “an almost magical power, a process transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value” — was behind the ­Simpatico Conference and ­recruited Witherspoon.

Australian mother Jacqueline Nagel, who was behind the Simpatico women's leadership conference at which Reese Witherspoon was to headline.

Yesterday The Simpatico Conference website and associated social media sites had been shut down and Witherspoon’s photoshopped koala shots deleted.

Markson refused to answer questions yesterday.

Witherspoon was set to visit Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland on July 12, 14, 16 and 18 respectively with tickets costing between $1997 and $2997.

Witherspoon joins Alec Baldwin as another high profile Hollywood star whose Australian 2016 tour has been cancelled in unexplained ­circumstances.

Baldwin was to have been the special guest at a Dolce Italia charity gala event. He has now been replaced by Susan Sarandon, the gala set down for August.

Originally published as Reese Witherspoon ditches inspirational women’s conference Down Under