I’m not sure if any definitive gossip has ever come out about Ryan Phillippe’s split with Reese Witherspoon. A lot of people said he’d been having an affair with his co-star at the time, Abbie Cornish. But there were also reports that Reese was incredibly controlling and Ryan’s family was relieved when the two split. I’m still going with the whole, “Her career was going a lot better than his and it ruined their relationship” bit. Despite all that, Ryan’s given an interview to Man About Town magazine in which he says the breakup was so hard from him he was physically ill and wanted to kill himself.

The debut issue of Man About Town grabbed my attention the other day at the newsstand. Specifically, it was the cover blurb, “Ryan Phillippe: A 44-Page Portfolio.” Considering Phillippe is a rather private celeb, I just had to see what this new British magazine—which I had never heard of—had on Reese Witherspoon’s ex-husband. Lemme tell you, it’s Phillippe like never before. There are dozens of photos and what I think is probably Phillippe’s most revealing interview.

“After the divorce I was a physical wreck,” says Phillippe. “I wanted to die. I was ready to kill myself. I was not taking care of myself at all. I would wake up and cry and vomit.”

But now, Phillippe says, he uses the pain in his work. “Now, it’s f–king easy,” he says, when asked how he gets himself to cry in a film. “When I was younger, I didn’t have enough to cry about. But since I’ve had kids, I feel my work has become better, because my life is fuller and more complicated, and I’ve experienced so many highs and lows.”

[From E! News]

That’s really sad. I guess I am a little surprised, I thought Phillippe came off as kind of a jerk. Probably because I assumed all the rumors about him not being happy for Reese’s success were true. If there were any truth to it, it was probably more that he wished his career were doing as well, not that he wanted her to do poorly. Vomiting seems to be the way that Ryan has traditionally dealt with breakups. I read a story years ago that after he and Reese filmed their breakup scene in “Cruel Intentions” that Ryan threw up several times. At the time it was all romantic, because just the thought of breaking up with her made him sick. But apparently it was a sad indication of things to come. Whoever thought vomiting could be romantic?

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Ryan and Reese at the “Walk the Line” premiere at the AFI festival on November 3rd, 2005. Header image at the New York premiere on November 13th. Images thanks to PR Photos.