Co-parenting goals meet Hollywood history! During an appearance on Live With Kelly and Mark on Wednesday, October 14, actor Ryan Phillippe took a affectionate trip down memory lane, opening up about the surreal evening he shared with his ex-wife Reese Witherspoon at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006.
Phillippe, 52, and Witherspoon, 50, were married from 1999 to 2008 and share two adult children: 27-year-old daughter Ava and 22-year-old son Deacon. Looking back on that iconic Oscars ceremony two decades ago, the 9-1-1: Nashvillestar described experiencing an “out-of-body, out-of-mind experience” as two massive milestones collided in a single evening.
“It was a wild night altogether because my wife at the time, Reese Witherspoon, also won Best Actress,” Phillippe recounted. “While she was backstage giving her post-award interviews, they called Best Picture for Crash.”
As the cast and producers of Crash took the stage to accept the night’s biggest honor, Phillippe admitted he completely lost his cool when encountering a Hollywood legend:
“Morgan Freeman was the presenter of the Best Picture and I had never met Morgan Freeman so I fanned out on stage at the Oscars,” he laughed. “I’m like, ‘I’ve always wanted to meet you, sir,’ and this is while the producer is accepting the award. Kind of a funny moment.”
The celebrations didn’t wrap up when the curtain fell, either:
“We had such a fun after-party,” Phillippe added, noting the couple danced and celebrated “up until probably 5 or 6 in the morning.”
Though their marriage eventually ended in 2008, the former couple has maintained an extraordinarily warm, supportive bond over the years. Just earlier this year, the entire blended family reunited in New York City to celebrate their son Deacon’s graduation from New York University—proving that mutual respect and shared family pride always endure.
