Though still sad about his divorce, Ryan Phillippe is hitting out at reports he left wife Reese Witherspoon for Abbie Cornish, insisting that the marriage was over long before he met the Australian actress. Ryan and Reese finalized their divorce last October after an eight year marriage.
The actor and Cornish were linked soon after - but Ryan insists the Aussie star, who co-stars with him in upcoming film 'Stop Loss', is just a friend, despite frequently being photographed together.
He tells W magazine, "I had difficulties in my relationship, and in my marriage, long before I ever met her. As far as I'm concerned, it's a friendship (with Cornish), and we are getting to know each other in a really difficult situation."
On his divorce, the 33-year-old actor and father of two says, “There were a good four or five months of not being able to get out of bed. It was the worst time in my life. You get through it. It’s a process that’s not easy, but I get less and less sad about it every day.”
Ryan and Reese have two children together Ava, eight, and four year-old Deacon The couple’s split prompted speculation that acting couples cannot peaceably co-exist - especially when the woman becomes more successful than the man - in their case when Reese won an Oscar for her role as June Cash in 'Walk The Line'.
But Ryan says he doesn’t buy that. “I certainly understand the level of interest that comes along with a public marriage, and with being married to someone like Reese, who so many people love with good reason," he says. “People want answers. But I think sometimes they wouldn’t be happy with what the answers would be. The reason for the breakup was far more complicated and far less interesting than it’s made out to be."
“To look and search for these salacious reasons, to pin it on a person, or a moment in someone’s life, it’s not realistic.”
