Reese Witherspoon’s Daughter Is Her Carbon Copy At 21 Years Old

Nov 26, 2020 by apost team

Ava Phillippe is the eldest child and only daughter of actress Reese Witherspoon. The resemblance between the two hit a new peak when Ava turned 21 two months ago. See how much they look alike below!

Actress Reese Witherspoon, 44, and her daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe, 21, are another celebrity duo that proves just how strong and unbreakable a mother-daughter bond can be. 

Witherspoon and her daughter have always looked alike to one another. But now as a full-fledged adult, Phillippe’s resemblance to her mom has reached a peak that goes beyond their striking blue eyes and blonde hair.

From her Instagram page, it looks like Phillippe celebrated her 21st on a boat in the San Francisco Bay Area among friends. “it was the best of times (during the worst of times) ⛵️#birthdaybubble #21,” she captioned her post on the social media platform. As she is now of age, Phillippe can be seen enjoying some drinks in the photo series. 

Mom Witherspoon also took to Instagram to commemorate her daughter’s coming-of-age with two photos: the first of the both of them with their arms around the other and heads together, and the second a throwback black-and-white photo of Phillippe as a baby celebrating her birthday. Witherspoon paired the pictures with this sweet message:

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“Wow! How is it possible that this little girl is now 21 years old? Happy Birthday to my sweet girl who has become the most incredible young woman. 💫 Her kindness, her compassion, and her huge heart never cease to amaze me. Ava, there aren’t enough words to describe how proud I am of everything you’ve already accomplished. I cannot wait to see ALL the Good you will put into this world. I love you so much @avaphillippe 💗”

Witherspoon makes appearances quite a fair bit on her newly-minted-adult daughter’s social media site, with the latest one being for Mother’s Day. In the picture, the mother and daughter pose sweetly under an arrangement of flowers. Ava dedicated the post to her famous mom, writing: “happy mother’s day to my first best friend! thank you for your everyday commitment to raising and loving us to the best of your ability. I am so lucky to learn from and be loved by you.💗”

Based on Phillippe's history and family, it's to no surprise that she will likely grow up to have a booming showbusiness career like her mother. According to sheknows.com, Phillippe is a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and has finished her freshman year. Her leaving to college took a toll on Witherspoon who told Ellen DeGeneres in an interview: “I might have gone into her empty room, laid down on her bed and cried when she went to college.”

Not only is Phillippe set-up for a big future with her education, she also has a famous namesake. Her dad Ryan Phillippe told Jay Leno in an interview in 2008 that he and Reese named her after Ava Gardner, the late actress, and singer who was also the wife of Frank Sinatra. “My daughter’s name is Ava… [like] Ava Gardner, because to me she was the only woman who could break Sinatra. So the idea of that name to me is very classy and strong,” Dad Phillippe said.

As though she wasn't busy enough with school, Phillippe is even her mom’s fashion consultant. “She’s very cutting-edge, and she knows a lot about fashion,” Witherspoon said of her firstborn in an interview with Us Weekly in April. “And she has her own sense of style, which is amazing. We try to kind of confer about new styles. She tells me whether or not I can wear things.”

As a sister, Phillippe is very close to her brother, Deacon Phillippe. One proof is in the caption she wrote for this picture: “When did my little brother become one of my best friends? 💛" Just last month, she posted a picture of her and Deacon for his 17th birthday and coupled it with a sweet message.

Witherspoon was the third highest-paid actress of 2019, but it seems like no one is a bigger fan of hers than her daughter is. When Witherspoon won the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award in December 2019, Phillippe was quick to post about it to her 956,000-plus followers, saying:

Major congratulations to my mama, who received an award today for her leadership in the industry that she cares so deeply about improving. I’m so grateful to have a mom this thoughtful, passionate, and courageous, and I’m glad other people can recognize how special she is! 💐”

The story of how Ava Phillippe's parents met is just as interesting as who the young woman is turning out to become. The couple—who separately were becoming stars in their own right—met at Reese Witherspoon's 21st birthday party in 1997. She told Jane magazine in 1998 that she made the first move—although she later cringed at the thought. As reported by InStyle, she said:

“I don't know what came over me—maybe the seven Midori sours—but I told [Ryan], 'I think you're my birthday present.' He thought it was so flattering, and now that I think about it...how embarrassing!"

It wasn't long before the couple was engaged and Witherspoon was pregnant with Ava. They married in a small ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina in 1999, three months after the release of their teen classic movie Cruel Intentions. Just a few months later Ava came into the world. Then in 2003, the couple had a son named Deacon Phillippe.

The movie Cruel Intentions became a huge hit and cemented their relationship on celluloid forever—even if they didn't work out in real life. By 2006 the couple announced that they were formally separating before they solidified their split through a divorce in 2008. Both parties discussed the breakdown of their marriage and ultimately put it down to being very young when they first got together. 

Ryan Phillippe said in a 2015 Larry King interview that he blamed himself for the couple's divorce, and added:

"I think more of the problem was age. When we got together we were so young. I think it can create issues with two people in this industry because there's so much noise that goes along with it." 

Meanwhile, Witherspoon opened up in a 2017 interview with ITV's Lorraine, stating:

“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."

But she also said she "would never change anything," before adding, "I've said to my daughter, I think, you know, [at] 25, you start to know yourself a little bit better."

Despite going their separate ways, the former partners are clearly loving parents to both Ava and Deacon, as they share custody and continue to be a big part of their children's lives, which is apparent from Ava's Instagram that features many photos of her family alongside her and her friends.

Ever the attractive young woman, she's even begun dating, but her boyfriend has drawn less than preferable comments from social media users, which Ava Phillippe even commented on. After introducing the world to her boyfriend, whose name is Owen Mahoney, on Instagram in 2019, social media users were quick to give their opinion that Mahoney strongly resembles her father Ryan Phillippe! Perhaps Mahoney's curly hair cropped close to the head and boyish grin could be compared to Ryan Phillippe, but the similarities end there. While some social media users wrote about the similarities to her father, others defended young Ava Phillippe, with one writing "He does not look like your dad," as reported by USA Today. Ava Phillippe replied to the commenter saying, "Big thx."

However, one young man who does look like Ryan Phillippe is his son and Ava's younger brother, Deacon Phillippe. Aged 17, the young man looks a lot more like his dad but there are also glimmers of his mom in his appearance too. Opting to head into show business just like his folks, Deacon is actually an EDM producer who goes by his first name only and even released his first single in 2020. He's still incredibly young but he's already getting a head start on his professional career. In a 2020 feature in Interview magazine, Deacon explained that it clicked that he wanted to make music when he was in the car with his dad. He explains:

"I realized there’s more to making music than just being a vocalist, and that a lot of times it’s the production that makes me feel something. I asked my dad about how it works, and he taught me all the stuff he knew, and then I started watching YouTube videos.” 

Four years later after studying the craft, Deacon released his first single in 2020 titled Long Run, featuring vocals by Nina Nesbitt. For now, he says he's "going to stick to writing and producing" but he doesn't rule out acting in the future, as it's "definitely something [he's] interested in."

With parents as successful as theirs, Ava and Deacon Phillippe have the world at their feet. They're certainly two children of stars to watch in the future.

How uncanny is Ava Phillippe's resemblance to her mom Reese Witherspoon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and be sure to show this to someone who doesn't recognize Ava Phillippe and make them guess which celebrity she's the daughter of!