Slightly off-topic but there’s a very good interview with Ryan Phillippe over at Times Online that I thought some of you may be interested in. Here are some interesting quotes related to Reese and the children.

He readily admits, however, to having been unprepared for the degree of attention a high-profile romance brings. “I fooled myself into believing it would be easier than it was. To have people speculating constantly about the state of your relationship, casting aspersions and telling lies… It took more of a toll than I was immediately aware of. When you factor in being separated so much because you’re working in different places… Not that I blame our no longer being together on that one thing. I take responsibility and she [Witherspoon] would also for the way we ended up going. But it didn’t help.”

However, the attention has not abated since their parting, due largely to his own rising stock in the film capital. Phillippe regrets this for himself, but nowhere near as much as he does for his daughter. “She’s aware and it creates in her a lot of anxiety, which is partly my fault. When Ava was very young, I was young too. And brash. I’d get… I wouldn’t like to say violent, but visibly angry at the paparazzi back then. She was my first child, and my instinct was to protect her. I remember one time that I’m not at all proud of, I was holding my daughter and handed her to Reese and ran off to chase this one guy down and hit him. I would never do that now.

“I think the attitude I had at the time did create in her a lot of the fearfulness she has today.” His son Deacon is not affected in the same way. “Mainly because since his birth I’ve realised that you’ve got to make it seem like less of a big deal. Ava to this day, though… It breaks my heart to think about it, hearing her say, ‘My friends at school saw a picture of me in a magazine and they made fun ’cos I was carrying a blanket.’ A little girl having to consider how she looks before leaving the house? I have a privileged life and hate to complain but there’s something vile about that.”

This pretty much sums up why we do not post paparazzi photos on this site.