Reese Witherspoon’s daughter, Ava Phillippe, recently shut down the internet trolls who criticized her appearance. Ava, the oldest child of Witherspoon and fellow actor and ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, shared a video on TikTok to address the drama. Her message reads as she starts applying red lipstick in front of a mirror, “NBD, but I just achieved a major milestone as a woman online.”
She wrote, censoring the name of Ozempic, a diabetes drug that has become well-known for weight loss, “I saw 2 different strangers commenting on my body. The first said I should get 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, she smeared the red lipstick across her cheek while rolling her eyes, adding, “It’s such [expletive].” Ava captioned the post, “Pretty is as pretty does, babes & body shaming is simply toxic behavior.”
She also clarified that body shaming isn’t limited to one gender. She explained, “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. We all deserve to feel safe & at peace in the vessel we live in.” Ava’s Oscar-winning mom took to the comments to co-sign her daughter’s message, writing, “Yes to all of this.” Other TikTok followers also supported her reaction in the comments. One person wrote, “I have never understood why people think they need to make comments about other people’s bodies; it’s so unnecessary. Love you, and this message.”
Another person commented, “I wish I would have heard this message as a young woman. I am so impressed with your wisdom and compassion.” Someone else said, “This!!!! We, as women, do not need any of this toxicity/negativity. We should be building each other up, not tearing each other down. By the way, you are a light in this world and absolutely gorgeous.” Ava doubled down on her public service announcement about body shaming in her Instagram stories. According to People Magazine, she wrote, along with a picture of herself and her dog, Benji, “Body shaming is toxic behavior. (Asked Benji, and he agrees.) So maybe just don’t do that??”
This isn’t the first time Ava has spoken out about online invasive questions. In 2022, she clapped back at commenters who she said made “hateful” and “bigoted” remarks towards her only days after she responded to a fan during an Instagram Q&A when asked about her sexuality. The fan asked, “Do you like boys or girls?” Ava casually responded, “I’m attracted to people! (Gender is whatever).” In December 2021, she spoke with “E! News” about her approach to social media, sharing that she considers different criteria when sharing posts, especially what it could mean to her followers.
Ava shared that she was aware that she had a platform and wanted to be conscious of what she was posting. She added that she might not always get it right, but she’ll try her best to put good out there.
