This is sort of a timeline regarding the divorce of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe. It is here as reference material and not meant to be intrusive towards Reese and Ryan's privacy in any way. We will only post 'official' and respectful, non-gossip driven articles regarding the break up.

October 17, 2006 - Fox News publishes an article regarding the screening, calling Reese and Ryan's relationship "tempestous".

Hopefully their tempestuous marriage, which no one said will last, will get through its fabled seventh year without winding up on the cover of Us Weekly (that may be a bigger reason to stay together than these days than "the children").

October 30, 2006 - TMZ breaks the news of Reese and Ryan's break up. The couple's representative released a statement to TMZ Monday morning that said:

"We are saddened to announce that Reese & Ryan have decided to formally separate. They remain committed to their family and we ask that you please respect their privacy and the safety of their children at this time."

October 30, 2006 - The webworld is immediately filled with every possible theory regarding their split and what could have gone wrong. The main target becomes Ryan, who is accused of cheating Reese with his Stop-Loss co-star Abbie Cornish.

October 31, 2006 - Abbie Cornish's rep denies the rumours.

"It's not true. They are co-stars and that is it."

October 31, 2006 - Fox News releases another article by the same writer who reports that he had witnessed the split between Reese and Ryan at the after party of Flags of Our Fathers (read full article).

All of this was alluded to in our Oct. 17 column. I referred to their marriage as "tempestuous," trying to err on the side of good manners. It was obvious from their heated exchanges that the couple was in trouble. But no one really knows what goes inside a marriage; maybe fighting was part of their deal.
In retrospect, however, Ryan and Reese already knew it was over when they came to the Flags of Our Fathers party. They had already committed to it, and Phillippe's family wanted some kind of celebration.

The much-publicized and much-speculated separation between Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon allegedly can be traced back to a fight. Many people witnessed the two exchanging words at an after-party for the premiere of Phillippe's new movie, Flags of Our Fathers.
"A lot of people saw the fight, but it was overblown in the press," The Early Show entertainment contributor Jess Cagle said Wednesday. "It was not a knock-down, drag-out fight, but there was this tension between the two of them. For a lot of people who witnessed that, the announcement does not come as a surprise."

"I'm not a perfect person, but I'm not guilty of a lot of the things I have been accused of. My priority is and always has been the health and safety of my family."

November 9, 2006 - In Touch reports to have an exclusive interview with Ryan regarding the divorce. He is quoted as having denied rumours regarding cheating.

So what ended one of Hollywood's fairy-tale marriages? "This has been building up over time", says Ryan's rep. "They got married very young and they tried hard to make it work. They’ve been growing apart." A friend close to Reese agrees. "Things can happen in a marriage and that's life."

"We're angry," said one editor at the glossy. "We trusted the publicists."

"This is the most difficult time in my life. I must stay focused on my kids. I have not found balance in my life yet. It's unfortunate when you have kids... but I signed up for this and have to deal with it. I don't read the magazines or watch the shows. ... It's hard when people follow me to my kid's school. I did three movies in the last year and a half and I'm going to take a good long break and be a dad. So that's No. 1 on my mind right now." "

"Right around Christmas-time I was sitting in a parking lot and I felt like I just couldn’t get out of the car. It was like, I can’t get out of the car. Any I though, okay, half of the parking lot has dealt with this. More than half of the parking lot has dealt with this. Okay, let’s make it a little bigger. Half of this city has dealt with this. Okay, let’s make it a little bigger-half of this country, until I finally got out of the car. It was like, it’s okay. It’s okay. There’s this moment in Walk the Line where June Carter says, ‘I was never aware of how much I was seen.’ I was very aware of how much I was seen. It was this moment of self-discovery and loss of identity and who was stepping out of the car-you know? Who is that person? Should I not be this honest?"