Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon were Hollywood royalty at one point, with dual film careers that were garnering quite a bit of attention in 1999. But after sharing two children, the couple divorced in 2007, and Phillippe opened up as to why in a recent interview.
During a sit-down with Larry King, when asked whether he thought the split came because of the pressures of their careers, Phillippe said he didn’t think that working in high-profile Hollywood had anything to do with it.
“I think more of a problem was age. We got together so young. I think it can create issues, two people in this industry, because there’s so much noise that goes along with it, but no,” Phillippe said.
Phillippe also talked a bit about his children; specifically, his 15-year old daughter Ava, who is old enough to date but hasn’t jumped into the experience yet.
“I don’t think she’ll suffer fools. She’s going to have high standards,” Ryan said.
The actor revealed in a recent interview with Elle that he has battled depression for years, and has seen his daughter struggle with the same thing.
“You know, depression has been a huge obstacle for me ever since I was a child. As you get older I think it decreases some, but I’m just innately kind of a sad person. I’m empathetic, and I take on the feelings of others and transpose myself into the position of others. I see it in my daughter. She has it, and I wish to hell she didn’t. It’s just, some people do have this pervading sort of sadness, or they’re so analytical that they can kind of take the fun out of things because they think too much,” Ryan Phillippe said.
Phillippe says that he and Witherspoon are still good friends and recently shared a moment with his kids in Central Park when walking over a bridge used in a scene for the film Cruel Intentions.
“They haven’t seen the movie, obviously, but we were like, ‘You know, this is where we worked shortly after Mom and I got together. We stood on the exact bridge where Reese and I had a scene. It was a sweet, cool thing,” Ryan Phillippe said.