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Ava Phillippe is best known for being the daughter of actor Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon — especially because she looks almost identical to her mother.
But, now she is making headlines for a different reason. The 22-year-old was replying to questions on her Jan. 15 Instagram story, when someone sent in the query: “[Do] you like boys or girls?”
To which Ava Phillippe replied:
“I’m attracted to… people! [Gender is whatever].”
The reply must have garnered her some nasty comments, because the day after posting this reply to her Instagram story, Ava posted another, saying:
“I can [and] will block profiles commenting bigoted/hateful messages under my posts. My Instagram profile is not a place for cruelty/hate speech [and] I intend to keep it that way.”
In a recent interview with Regina King for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, mom Witherspoon talked about discussing topics such as race, class and sexuality with the writers on her Hulu series based on the book “Little Fires Everywhere.” She confessed that she was so naive about sexuality as a young person that she didn’t even know what it meant to be gay until she moved to Los Angeles.
“No one spoke to me about sexuality when I was a teenager,” she said. “I didn’t understand what homosexuality was. My grandparents didn’t explain it. My parents didn’t explain it. I had to learn from somebody I met on an audition in Los Angeles.”
In fact, when she shared with the show’s writers that her grandmother had said to her, “Homosexuality is very rare, Reese. That’s not a thing that happens very often,” they worked the line into the script.
Clearly, Ava and her brother, Deacon, had a much different upbringing, thanks in large part to Witherspoon’s influence and her commitment to equality. In a recent interview with Oprah Daily, Witherspoon discussed inequality in Hollywood and beyond, especially as it relates to the gender wage gap and the fact that there are fewer opportunities for minority populations.
“I’m really allergic to apathy,” the “Big Little Lies” star said.
Like mother, like daughter! It seems that Ava and her mother have much more in common than just their heart-shaped faces and beautiful blue eyes. Championing LGBTQ equality also seems to be in the genes.
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