Ryan Phillippe isn’t a fan of all the “nepotism talk” in Hollywood.
Phillippe, 49, shares two children with ex-wife Reese Witherspoon, 47 — Ava and Deacon. Witherspoon also shares her son, Tennessee, with ex-husband Jim Toth.
Ava and Deacon have both chosen to follow in Phillippe and Witherspoon’s acting footsteps.
“She’s sort of getting her feet wet, you know?” Phillippe told Extra about Ava’s foray into acting. “She’s taking time to kind of figure out exactly what it is she wants to do.”
Phillippe pointed out that there are other industries in which people follow in their parents’ footsteps, not just in Hollywood.
“That’s what always annoys me about this whole nepotism talk with the industry,” he explained. “You know, so many people grow up and end up doing what their parents do, you know, to some degree or another. … To me, I always get offended for the children of actors and entertainers when people bring that up because, yeah, of course, that’s what they’ve grown up around.”
The “Cruel Intentions” star emphasized the “familiarity” the children of Hollywood stars have can help prepare them to handle different aspects of a career in the spotlight.
“By the way, that familiarity makes them handle some of what is hard about this industry,” Phillippe explained. “You’ve gotta have a thick skin. There’s so much rejection and nasty things that can be said about you. It’s not all celebration.
“These kids have grown up watching on set with Reese or with me. It seems natural, I think.”
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While Ava is testing out an acting career, Deacon has chosen to focus more on music after appearing in “Never Have I Ever” in 2022.
Deacon released his debut album, “A New Earth,” in 2023. He attends New York University, where he is studying music.
“I am so proud,” Phillippe previously told Entertainment Tonight. “He’s about to go to college for music. That’s his primary focus. The acting thing he likes to do, and he will do according to what his appetite for it is, but his focus is primarily music.”
Ava, now 24, graduated from UC Berkeley and has landed modeling campaigns with Pat McGrath, Ivy Park and Draper James.
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Phillippe reflected on his “easy” co-parenting relationship with Witherspoon in an interview with Fox News Digital. The former couple married in 1999 and divorced in 2008.
“We never really had a hard time of it,” he explained. “We were always both so devoted, even once we were no longer together.
“That made it easy. They were the priority,” Phillippe added about their children. “And you see a lot of times in these messy situations where that’s not the case, where the kids will be used as pawns or as a way to hurt the other parent, and we never did any of that stuff.”
Phillippe recognized the importance of friendship.
“We never spoke ill of each other,” he said. “And we were always united in support of them, and now they’re both adults.
“But she and I have a friendship, and we still have calls about various things in their lives, and it works out nice.”
