Who says you have to choose between your family and your work life? Reese Witherspoon has successfully tackled Hollywood while taking care of her three kids — Ava Phillippe, Deacon Phillippe and Tennessee Toth — and she doesn’t regret any moment of it.
“I mean, all of [my roles] are a labor of love and effort that you put into them,” Reese told Entertainment Tonight in July 2017 while chatting about how she juggles parenting and her many showbiz gigs. “I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve worked a lot in my life.”
Reese has been balancing her personal and professional life for decades now considering she became a mom at a young age. She welcomed her first child, daughter Ava, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, in 1999, followed by son Deacon in 2003. After the former couple ended their marriage following nine years in 2008, she moved on with spouse Jim Toth in 2011. The duo expanded Reese’s family when she gave birth to son Tennessee in 2012.
Even though the Legally Blonde star has put in a lot of hours in the workplace, Reese always makes sure she spends just as much time with her kids at home. In fact, she was homeschooling her youngest child during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and she was also teaching Tennessee how to ride a bike.
“We have rules around the house. I always say, ‘If you aren’t yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them,’” she joked in 2017, according to Brampton Guardian. “[I’m] just telling everyone to clean up all the time.” But, of course, the Big Little Lies star has also had great times with her children.
In December 2019, she and Ava attended The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Breakfast event together. Months earlier in May, the Oscar winner and her mini-me walked the red carpet at the Big Little Lies Season 2 premiere.
“It’s nice to have a big family,” Reese gushed to InStyle about the advantages of having her kids at work. “My mom worked, and I think it’s good for kids to see women working and being successful. I think it’s going to make them hard workers because they see that I don’t get much sleep. But I love what I do. I want them to grow up with passion. This is the one life you get, and you have to live it to the very end.”
Because of that mindset, Reese and Ava have grown to be very close. “I feel like we grew up together,” she told ET. “It’s great.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see photos and learn more about Reese Witherspoon’s kids.
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