Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's daughter, Ava, is celebrating Pride two years after she said 'gender is whatever' in romance.
Ava Phillippe is kicking off Pride Month with a moment of reflection. On Saturday, the 24-year-old daughter of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe took to Instagram to ring in the first day of the celebratory month, over two years after she first spoke about her sexuality.
"Once upon a time, some gal on the internet said 'gender is whatever' in reference to her own sexuality," Ava captioned the photo of her posed in front of a pond, waving a rainbow flag. "Many took her words out of context, but she knew what she meant. Anyways, this is her posting for the first day of pride month 2024."
Ava concluded her caption with several emojis featuring a rainbow, stars, a disco ball and hands forming a heart.
The post references Ava's previous statements on her sexuality, which the model made in January 2022 while hosting an "Ask Me Anything" on her Instagram Story with her followers.
When she was asked by a follower, "Do u like boys or girls?" Ava responded that she kept an open mind when it came to romance.
"I'm attracted to… people! (Gender is whatever)," she wrote.
At the time, Ava was dating Owen Mahoney. When she encountered backlash for her response, Ava quickly shut down the rude comments.
"Quick reminder. I can & will block profiles commenting bigoted/hateful messages under my posts," the then-22-year-old wrote in a message on her Instagram Stories per E! News. "My Instagram profile is not a place for cruelty/hate speech & I intend to do what I can to keep it that way. Peace & love."
It was far from the first or last time that Ava would call out her "haters" on social media. Last month, she took to TikTok to vent about a pair of conflicting and equally offensive comments she recently received about her physique.
Standing in front of a bathroom mirror wearing an oversized Blondie tee, Ava reaches for a tube of red lipstick as text appears over the screen. The video is set to a cover version of No Doubt's '90s hit, "Just a Girl."
"NBD but I just achieved a major milestone as a woman online," the message reads. "I saw 2 different strangers commenting on my body. The first said I should get on Oz*mpic because I’m too fat... The second accused me of starving myself because I'm too thin... My weight did not change in the time period between their comments. (& it wouldn't be any of their business if it did!)"
Then, smearing lipstick across her cheek while rolling her eyes, Ava adds, "It's such bulls**t."
The model walks out of frame as text continues to play over the video.
"No one deserves to be picked apart for what they look like," it reads. "You don't always know what someone's gone through or what they struggle with. But no matter who you are … Your beauty exceeds superficial measures."
In her caption, Ava adds, "Pretty is as pretty does, babes … & bodyshaming is simply toxic behavior. 💋."
She also acknowledges that body shaming isn't limited only to females.
"P.S. I put 'woman' because I see this type of thing happening disproportionately to young girls & women, but let me be clear; body shaming is toxic no matter who the subject is," she clarifies. "We all deserve to feel safe & at peace in the vessel we live in."
Ava's famous mom took to the comments section with a supportive message, writing, "Yes to all of this 💋."
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