Almost two years ago exactly, Ryan Phillippe’s ex-girlfriend Elsie Hewitt went to the police and said that Ryan had assaulted her as she tried to collect some of her belongings from his house. The police barely investigated the incident and there were no criminal charges, but Elsie filed a civil suit against Ryan. She said that he picked her up and threw her down a staircase in his home. One of Elsie’s friends was there and a witness to the incident. Elsie and her friend’s stories never changed, and I believed them and I still believe them. Well, the civil case is still going forward. We recently heard that Ryan had been deposed as part of the case. And now Elsie wants to call Reese Witherspoon in to testify.
Reese Witherspoon will be called to testify on the stand about her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, in the assault case brought by his ex-girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt. According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Phillippe’s ex-girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt, is listing the witnesses she plans to have testify during the October 15 trial.
Hewitt sued Phillippe accusing him of assault. He denies the accusations. They will face off in court next month. On the list, she names Witherspoon as a witness and expects to grill her during the trial. Phillippe also wants to cross-examine his ex-wife. They scheduled an hour total for Witherspoon to be there. Hewitt may also try to question the actress about the time she was married to Phillippe.
This brings up many things, because I’m somewhat close to Reese’s age and I remember… a lot. I remember her courtship with Ryan and their early shotgun marriage and how they were billed as this perfect young blonde couple in Hollywood. By the last years of their marriage… well, things seemed strained. Very strained. Like, they barely held it together for Reese’s Oscar campaign for Walk the Line, and of course they separated and divorced soon after she won. In her recent interviews, Reese often sounds like… she’s talking around some things. I’ll just leave it at that. I wonder if she will end up testifying in this civil suit. And if she does… well, what will she say? It’s funny what the passage of time does – looking back on their marriage now, I can see how visibly strained they were and how quickly their marriage seemed to fall apart after a few years. Ugh.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
So…. is Reese going to testify that Ryan was abusive to her during their marriage?
Is that what this is heading towards?
Who knows but the obvious part is that she’s named as a witness. She could have witnessed the incident, the aftermath, or know something about it. Whether or not her marriage comes up is anyone’s guess.
right. and then he’s going to be the one to cross-examine her? This seems…wrong. Is he acting as his own defense?
Highly unlikely. When it says, for example, “Phillippe wants to cross-examine his ex-wife,” that usually means he wants to cross-examine via his lawyer, who represents him in court. “He” = his lawyer.
That’s certainly what it sounds like Elsie and her team are hoping for. I’m assuming Reese wasn’t a witness to Ryan abusing Elsie, so they’re looking to establish a pattern of behavior. I wonder if she will be his only ex that they bring in.
I read that Ryan’s ex-fiance will also be testifying. She’s accused him of harassment, so I’m sure she’ll be a valuable witness for the Elsie.
I’ve read other articles that say Reese isn’t the only ex, that Phillippe’s lawyers tried to block the other one and failed, and that they’re trying to block this one as well.
I would think Reese could testify to just that and that’s why Ryan is trying to block it. Reese hasn’t said much about her marriage but I’m guessing she wouldn’t lie under oath if asked and he knows it.
He has always had angry eyes. I have no trouble at all believing he could be abusive.
She’s definitely alluded to some things. At the very least, an unhappy and unhealthy relationship. As to whether or not she’d testify against Ryan…I don’t know. He is the father of her child, and she’s gone out of her way to avoid spelling things out to the media, which makes me think she doesn’t want the press harassing her or her daughter about it.
“they barely held it together for Reese’s Oscar campaign for Walk the Line”
Yet another reason that the Oscars are a total joke and worthless. The “Best” actress was required to have her relationship together. As if a relationship falling a part diminished the alleged “best” performance. And this is a common thing. The Oscars are garbage.
Oh this situation could get VERY interesting.
There has been rumours about their relationship for years, the cheating and jealousy of her success while his career went down the toilet. And yeah their were hints at abusive behaviour from him as he has previous for being abusive to paps.
Their 2 kids are teenagers now, so will be interesting to hear what she says if she does testify. She shouldn’t have to talk about it if she doesn’t want to.
Jesus this is so sloppy. Does Reese have to testify? If she was in fact abused by him why would she want to sit on a stand and retell it years later?
Yeah, I don’t get that either. Why on earth would Reese want to tell people about it now, if she hasn’t already? She’s clearly made an effort not to talk about the abuse (if that’s what it was) before. And to do it right there to his face…that sounds like a an awful experience.
If Witherspoon is served a subpoena, and cannot quash it, then yes, she will have to testify in court.
Since Hewitt is the one who listed Witherspoon as a witness, her lawyers must think that Witherspoon may have some damning things to say about Phillippe, tending to support Hewitt’s claim (ie his abusiveness). And then of course his lawyers will want to cross-examine her as well, with the aim of refuting whatever damaging claims she makes. If Reese’s testimony is a crux of Hewitt’s case, then I hope she will testify. But on the other hand, I don’t want Witherspoon to have to re-live any trauma.
The American justice system treats survivors atrociously, and I hope both women come out of this as unscathed as possible.
I’ve seen some blind items about this. I take them with a grain of salt.
I hope that it works out
I hardly believe she will say anything about their marriage being flat out physically abusive. Unlike his other exes, Reese has 2 children with him, and unless he was equally abusive towards them, a mother will still do whatever she can to protect them and their relationship with the father.
As a mother, I would also want to protect my children from being in a similarly abusive relationship or perpetuating an abusive relationship themselves.
And if he’s truly abused two more partners following, even just verbally, you cannot tell me these children haven’t witnessed or overheard inappropriate relationship behavior, even if they’ve never witnessed or overheard physical threats
There is a fine line between protecting yourself/your children and cooperating in another’s bid to get justice for themselves.
Ryan and Reese’s children are older teens now, old enough to understand and process what may have transpired between their parents long ago and what that means for them in future relationships.
Reese shouldn’t have to talk about anything she doesn’t want to to the press or whatever but I do think she has an obligation to answer questions put to her in a legal environment.
If this woman has been victimized by Ryan, she deserves justice. Reese will have to decide if that justice is worth whatever discomfort this process brings.
Reese will likely be asked if there was any verbal or physical abuse during her marriage to Ryan. She must swear under oath to tell the truth. So if there was any of this, then it will come out and will support the other woman’s case. I don’t think the women would bring Reese to testify unless she knew that there had been some abuse. I’m not sure that Reese will be happy about testifying now, years later, after they’ve shared custody and the kids are grown. However, she will have to give truthful answers if called to do so. The woman will definitely try to prove that Ryan has a history of abuse, which could be bad for him.
It might have something to do with text messages between Reese and Ryan.
https://theblast.com/c/ryan-phillippe-reese-witherspoon-texts-lawsuit
Anyone remember the golden globes when Reese won for walk the line? ABC news: “My husband just hit me so hard I almost fell over.” Reese Witherspoon said from the podium, after being honored for her performance as June Carter Cash in “Walk the Line.” I remember when they announced her name he started clapping overly enthusiastically and then grabbed her and pretty roughly pushed her toward the stage. It looked like he was trying to mask his aggression towards her by looking “happy”at first. It was weird.
I remember that. There was also the Oscars when they were presenting together and he handed her the envelope to announce the winner with a mildly snarky “You make more money than I do, go ahead”.
The look on her face, she audibly gasped – & uncomfortable laughter in the audience.
oof, did it again, my comment below was to this Lena and now Toi
I was remembering that too. And I’ve thought about it since, actually, just a question mark. Like in Sex and the City when Petrovsky sort of mistakenly but maybe not hits Carrie. I’ve wondered if abuse starts like that, then the gaslighting, like oh come on, it was a mistake…
My comment here was meant to be for you Lena. Yes…I remember that…