Ryan Phillippe’s 3 Kids: All About Ava, Deacon and Kai

Ryan Phillippe has been a dad since 1999.

The MacGruber star, then 25, welcomed his first child, a daughter named Ava, with then-wife Reese Witherspoon, whom he married after they met at her 21st birthday party. The couple had a son, Deacon, in 2003 before divorcing three years later. Since their final divorce in 2008, they have continued to make co-parenting a priority, attending school events and sharing family dinners together.

Following their breakup, Phillippe spoke to Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on her show in 2010 about maintaining a good relationship with his ex-wife and setting a positive example for their children.

“As divorced parents, it’s very important to keep that relationship,” he said. “The children feel better because the parents interact. We go to all school events together and are there for each other.”

In 2011, Phillippe welcomed his third child, daughter Kai, with then-girlfriend Alexis Knapp.

Speaking about Ava and Deacon in PEOPLE magazine’s 2021 Sexiest Man Alive issue, he joked: “Both prettier than me, luckily.” He added: “They obviously have a very beautiful mum. Deacon and I are very close musically. He’s like my best friend and Ava is very much my personality.”

He also reflected on what they’ve grown into, adding, “They’re very self-possessed, conscientious people who care about the world, who treat people with respect and take care of themselves. I think that’s also something you represent as a parent. ”

Here’s everything you need to know about Ryan Phillippe’s three children: Ava, Deacon and Kai.

Ava Elizabeth Phillippe, 24

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Phillippe officially became a dad when he and Witherspoon welcomed their first child together, daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe, on September 9, 1999 in Los Angeles.

Ava’s name has special meaning for Phillippe, who explained the meaning of the nickname to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2008.

“My daughter’s name is Ava… [like] Ava Gardner, because for me she was the only woman who could break [Frank] Sinatra,” he said, adding that at the time he also had a bulldog named after Sinatra. “I think the idea of ​​that name is very classy and strong.”

Shortly after the split with Sweet Home Alabama actress, Phillippe spoke about how Ava helped him deal with “the hardest time of my life”.

Reese Witherspoon’s Instagram

“As hard as it was, my daughter was an inspiration,” he said during a guest appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2007 “She’s out of her depth, in terms of conscientiousness and maturity, and she got me through this. I know it sounds lame – I’m 32, but my 7-year-old daughter got me through the hardest time of my life, and that’s nice .”

The following year, he reflected on how “shocking” it was that she was growing up so fast, telling Leno during his appearance on the talk show: “Ava is 8 years old. I can’t believe I have an 8-year-old daughter! An amazing, beautiful 8-year-old daughter . I often feel like an 8-year-old myself, so it’s shocking to me.”

In addition to feeling like a child, Phillippe is often mistaken for him as well – something that doesn’t sit well with Ava, he revealed.

Ava Phillippe’s Instagram

“My daughter is sometimes embarrassed by the fact that I look so young and sometimes they mistake me for her brother,” he told host James Corden The Late Late Show 2016 “Which turns her off! Like, absolutely turns her off that anyone could mistake me for her brother.”

Meanwhile, Ava officially came of age when she made her social debut at the Bal des Debutantes in Paris in November 2017.

In the years that followed, she found her own footing in the entertainment industry, pursuing a modeling career and working with brands such as Pat McGrath, Beyoncé’s Ivy Park and her mother’s line, Draper James. She also graduated from UC Berkeley in 2022.

Deacon Reese Phillippe, 20

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Phillippe’s son, Deacon Reese Phillippe, was born on October 23, 2003, in Los Angeles.

Now 20 years old, the future musician graduated from high school in the spring of 2022, which his parents celebrated with a ceremony in the yard.

To mark the occasion, the trio posed poolside dressed in their best academic attire, with Deacon showing off his diploma and his dad wearing his cap and gown, joking that he was “playing headmaster” for the big day.

– The best dad ever – Deacon commented on his dad’s photo.

Just a few weeks earlier, Deacon’s parents had proudly marked another of his big moments: his prom. Phillippe shared a photo of himself posing next to Deacon on his Instagram Story, writing, “Sending our cutie from the second prom.”

The proud dad often shares tributes to his “best friend” on social media, including one photo of the duo sitting next to each other, captioned “fthr n sn n bst frnds frvr.”

Besides being best friends, the father-son duo are also workout partners, often hiking in LA or hitting the gym together. “We’re going to do the same workout, and the way he looks compared to how I look is really devastating,” Phillippe joked to PEOPLE.

Ryan Phillippe’s Instagram

Deacon and Phillippe also bonded over music, after attending Firefly Music Festival together in 2019. Phillippe reflected on a special moment the pair shared during a trip to Yellowstone, California, when Travis Scott’s album Astroworld first out.

He explained to PEOPLE, “So our first listen was on this trip as we were driving past the most beautiful, huge mountains on the way to Yellowstone. And it’s something I won’t forget.”

Their shared passion for music influenced Deacon, who has since gone on to pursue a career in the industry. In 2020, he released his first hit single “Long Run”.

Speaking with Interview magazine about what initially drew him to music production, he said he was influenced by his dad’s talent for creating music.

“When I was listening to the radio in the car with my dad, something just clicked. I realized that there’s more to making music than just being a singer, and that a lot of times it’s the production that makes me feel something,” he explained. . “I asked my dad how it worked and he taught me everything he knew, and then I started watching YouTube videos.”

Deacon also followed in his parents’ footsteps in Hollywood, debuting in the third season of the Netflix series. I never did in August 2022.

Kai Knapp, 12

Tommaso Boddi/Getty

Phillippe welcomed his youngest child, a daughter named Kailani Merizalde Phillippe Knapp, with ex-girlfriend Alexis Knapp on July 1, 2011. Phillippe and Pitch Perfect the actress briefly dated a year before.

Although Phillippe has never spoken publicly about Knapp’s pregnancy, the actor was in the delivery room when Kai was born. She has the same middle name as her mother and the surnames Phillippe and Knapp.

When Kai was less than 3 months old, her mom started filming a hit musical comedy Pitch Perfect. “No one understood how it was possible to breastfeed a newborn during the entire rehearsal and shoot that lasted 14+ hours a day for 3 magical months, but I told them ‘You’d be amazed at what you can do when you have to…'” Knapp wrote on Instagram. with a throwback photo of her and Kai.

Now 12, Kai has joined Knapp at several red carpet events over the years, including the premiere of the 2019 Netflix movie. Green eggs and ham and the 2022 release event Minions: The Rise Of Gru.

Ryan Phillippe/Instagram

In November 2023, Kai spent Thanksgiving with her dad and made her first appearance on the actor’s Instagram.

“Had the BEST Thanksgiving with these little beauties. Sawyer, Ever, Kai & Isla,” Phillippe wrote, introducing his followers to his daughter and nieces. “We ate pizza, we watched Elf, we drank Young Sheldon (with teen romance anime). We ate Boba, we shopped on the boardwalk, we tried to make pancakes and we found fake snow. + the Eagles beat the Bisons in OT to move on to 10-1, but I think that only mattered to me.”

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Source: HIS Education