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Reese Witherspoon and Ex-Husband Ryan Phillippe Reunite for Their Son Deacon’s Graduation

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe Reunite for Son Deacon's Graduation
Reese Witherspoon, Deacon, and Ryan Phillipe. Courtesy Ryan Phillipe/Instagram

Family time. Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe reunited to celebrate their son Deacon’s high school graduation.

Related: Ryan Phillippe's Romantic History

Phillippe, 47, shared a carousel of photos and videos of the occasion via Instagram on Thursday, June 9. The first image showed the One Life to Live alum and Witherspoon, 46, posing with Deacon, 18, who donned an orange cap and gown and held up his diploma. “Homeschool graduation,” Phillippe wrote in the caption.

An accompanying video showed how the family created their own unofficial ceremony. As “Pomp and Circumstance” played, the teenager shook hands with his father and another family friend beside a pool before receiving his diploma and triumphantly yelling, “Yeah!” Deacon commented on the Instagram post, writing, “Best dad ever.”

Witherspoon and Phillippe, who were married from 1999 to 2007, also share 22-year-old daughter Ava. After the Cruel Intentions costars separated in 2006, Phillipe went on to date his Stop-Loss costar, Abbie Cornish, until February 2010. That same year, the I Know What You Did Last Summer actor talked about the woes of dating in the public eye on The Howard Stern Show.

“I have a new rule: not to date anyone who has a publicist,” Phillipe told radio host Howard Stern at the time. “I’ve been dumped on in the press for relationship stuff since Reese and I divorced. I’m tired of getting s–t on. I don’t feel like I deserve it. Things happen! How many people have you broken up with over your life?” Both the Flags of Our Fathers actor and his ex-wife have said their divorce really came down to getting married young.

Related: Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth Relationship Timeline

“I think more of the problem was age. When we got together we were so young,” Phillippe said on an episode of Larry King Now in 2015. “I think it can create issues with two people in this industry because there’s so much noise that goes along with it.”

Witherspoon, for her part, made similar comments during a 2017 appearance on Lorraine. “I got married when I was 23 and I had two kids by the time I was 27. So I don’t know, you know, sometimes it’s good to know yourself,” the Legally Blonde star said. “I would never change anything. I’ve said to my daughter, I think [at] 25, you start to know yourself a little bit better.”

Phillippe went on to date model and actress Alexis Knapp from May 2010 to September of that same year. After their breakup, Knapp, 32, discovered she was pregnant with the Delaware native’s child and gave birth to their daughter, Kai, in July 2011. Witherspoon also moved on, marrying talent agent Jim Toth in March 2011 and giving birth to their son, Tennessee, in September 2012.

After the Walk the Line actress remarried, Phillippe was supportive. “I’m very happy for both Reese and Jim,” he told the New York Daily News in 2011. “I wish nothing but the best for the mother of my children.”

The exes continued to successfully coparent over the years. In December 2021, a source told Us Weekly that the duo’s dynamic had “never been better.”

Related: Former Celebrity Couples Who Are Crushing Coparenting

“Ryan has been an awesome parent … and everything pretty much stops for him when his kids need him,” the insider said at the time. “Even during the pandemic when he’s been in literally another country, he’s present in their lives and he is still the ‘cool parent’ in their eyes. … He is really proud of who they’ve become.”

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