Reese Witherspoon branded 'rude' by stepmother

Reese Witherspoon's stepmother has branded her 'awful and disrespectful'.

Tricianne Taylor isn't surprised by the 'Water for Elephants' star's recent arrest for disorderly conduct, claiming she was abusive toward her father, John, on the day of her wedding to Jim Toth in 2011.

Tricianne - who wed John while he was still married to Reese's mother, Betty - insists she is 'not the sweet, innocent girl-next-door her fans think she is' and her father almost didn't walk her down the aisle at her wedding because she 'was so awful and disrespectful' to him.

She added to the National Enquirer: 'Reese shows very little respect to her father, and he's been ostracised by her because she's so angry that he married me.'

Tricianne, who admits she has not met Reese, worries her stepdaughter - who has eight-month-old son Tennessee James Toth with Jim, as well as daughter Ava, 13, and son Deacon, nine, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe - may have a drinking problem following her brush with the law last month.

The 'This Means War' star was arrested after getting in a heated discussion with a police officer, who had just arrested her husband on suspicion of Driving Under the Influence (DUI).

Tricianne said: 'Based on Reese's behavior in those police videos following her recent arrest, I believe she has a serious drinking problem and needs to get professional help.'

John reportedly wed Tricianne in March 2011, prompting Betty to filed a lawsuit against him for bigamy and seeking to have his extramarital union annulled.

According to Betty's 2012 lawsuit, Reese's father denied knowing Tricianne when confronted and said he feared he was suffering from the early onset of dementia.