Ava Phillippe has been speaking on social media about the hateful messages she has been receiving since discussing her sexuality.
Ava Phillippe the 22-year-old daughter of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe wrote on Instagram Stories Jan. 12. “I can & will block profiles commenting bigoted/hateful messages under my posts. 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.”
While Ava Phillippe didn’t call out any specific messages, her post came days after she took part in an Instagram Q&A and was asked if she likes boys or girls. “I’m attracted to…people!” the star replied, adding “Gender is whatever” in a parenthetical.
Right now, she’s particularly attracted to Owen Mahoney, the two making their romance Instagram official in 2019 and giving her 999,000 followers a few glimpses into their romance over the years. Because she’s all about love.
“It makes me feel good, in more ways than one, to be able to share and be real with people on social media as much as is possible,” she recently told E! News’ Daily Pop during an interview for her Pat McGrath Labs x Bridgerton beauty campaign. “We do see a lot of the falsified sides [of people] or the facades, and it’s just not completely true of everyone, and I think a little truth is good sometimes.”
And this kindness has been reinforced by her parents. When asked about the best beauty lesson she’s learned from Reese—who also shares 18-year-old son Deacon Phillippe with Ryan and 8-year-old son Tennessee Toth with husband Jim Toth—Ava didn’t skip a beat
“The first thing that comes to mind, and it’s really special to me honestly, is ‘pretty is as pretty does,'” she said. “So as pretty as you ever look on the outside, you’re only as pretty as you are on the inside and the way that you treat other people—and if that’s not a beauty tip, I don’t know what is.”