Reese Witherspoon’s birthday doesn’t go unnoticed, but perhaps her most important fans gave her the sweetest gift. For her 46th birthday Tuesday, daughter Ava, 22, and son Deacon, 18, took to Instagram to give credit—and birthday wishes—where it’s due. Judging by the sincerity of their posts, Witherspoon is as fine a mom as she is an actress (and book club leader, and entrepreneur, and producer, and fashion mogul).
“With every year, her bright light shines even brighter, and I find even more reasons to love her and a greater appreciation for all that she does,” Ava Philippe, 22, wrote in an Instagram post. “Happy birthday to the brilliant, joyful, fiery, thoughtful, and gorgeous woman that I am lucky enough to call my mom.”
Just last year, Witherspoon posted her own precious tribute to her daughter, captioning the picture of the two of them “Me and my little Angel Ava… #1999 on the set of Little Nicky playing @adamsandler’s mom. Yes. His MOM.”
Ava’s brother, Deacon, 18, also paid tribute to his mother with a photo of the two of them together and a caption that read “happy birthday to my role model…i couldn’t have asked for a better mom.” Deacon recently celebrated an important birthday, and his parents, though divorced, celebrated his special day together. Witherspoon’s ex-husband, actor Ryan Phillippe, whom she married after co-starring in the film Cruel Intentions in 1999 and officially divorced in 2008, posted a picture of the three together, writing sweet birthday sentiments and ending with “(I’d say we did pretty good, @reesewitherspoon).”
Witherspoon married talent agent Jim Toth in 2011, and they have a 9-year-old son, Tennessee. In November, she told InStyle “It’s an odd situation because I didn’t grow up famous. So [Ava is] living an experience that I did not have, and so are my sons.” And while she may not have grown up with fame like her children have, she added “We are lucky enough to have friends who grew up in Hollywood and can help give them advice on how to navigate.”
The Oscar-winner told TODAY that becoming a mom at age 23 made her grow up quickly. Of the experience, she said “Your entire life will change. Everything you believe, every piece of food you eat, every piece of independence you have…You can’t go out without thinking of another person. You can’t look at your groceries without thinking of another person. You don’t think about whether you’re cold or hot, you think about your kid and whether they’re cold or hot. You don’t sleep anymore.”
But she went on to say “I find having little kids is more physical and it’s just really hard on your body. So I am glad that I had kids kind of young…I had one at 23, one at 27 and then again at 37. And, oh, my God, having a baby at 37 was so much harder. This is just me being real. Everybody’s life experience, you have to do when it’s right for you.”
For past birthdays, Reese spent it with husband, Jim Toth, and her kids. In 2020, she posted photos from “one of the best birthdays ever” when the family was at the beach. This year, Reese rang in her birthday by sharing the first trailer to the upcoming film Where the Crawdads Sing, which she is executive producing. Reese captioned the trailer, “This story has such a special place in my heart and to see @authordeliaowens words come to life is true movie magic!”
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