Reese Witherspoon says she loves ‘being mistaken’ for daughter Ava: ‘Makes me feel so young’
Reese Witherspoon has opened up about the resemblance she shares to her daughter, with the actor revealing that she welcomes the moments they are mistaken for one another.
The Morning Show star, 45, who shares daughter Ava Phillippe with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, discussed the similarities between herself and the 22-year-old during a Q&A with Gayle King for InStyle‘s December cover.
During the conversation, the CBS This Morning host acknowledged that fans love to watch Witherspoon and her daughter together due to their striking resemblance to one another, which the actor said she also loves because it makes her “feel so young”.
“Well, I love being mistaken for her because it makes me feel so young. I’m so proud of her. She really rolls with it. I’m sure it’s not easy looking exactly like your mother,” Witherspoon said.
The admission prompted King to suggest that it would be “very easy” to look like Witherspoon, with the morning show host responding: “Reese, stop it! When Mama looks like you, it’s very easy.”
However, according to Witherspoon, there are times that her daughter is “frustrated” by the resemblance, at which point the mother-daughter duo talk to Zoë Kravitz, as the fellow actor looks like her own mother Lisa Bonet.
“We talk to Zoë Kravitz a lot. Because she and her mother [Lisa Bonet] look exactly alike, so whenever Ava is frustrated, I go: ‘Call Zoë, text Zoë, she knows what to talk about,’” Witherspoon said. “I mean, that’s another mother-daughter combo that’s like identical twins.”
As for whether Phillippe wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps and pursue a career in the entertainment industry, Witherspoon told King that her daughter is currently in the process of figuring out what she wants.
However, Witherspoon, who also shares son Deacon, 18 with Phillippe, and son Tennessee, nine, with husband Jim Toth, did note that it is different for her three children, as she did not grow up famous, whereas they have.
“It’s an odd situation because I didn’t grow up famous. So she’s living an experience that I did not have, and so are my sons. We are lucky enough to have friends who grew up in Hollywood and can help give them advice on how to navigate,” Witherspoon said, adding that her daughter is “so down-to-earth” and “wants to do great things in the world”.
She continued: “She’s studying and learning and trying to find herself. It’s a big thing in life to try different things and figure out what is really your path.”
While Witherspoon claimed that her daughter occasionally struggles with their resemblance, Phillippe previously described her mother as the “gorgeous woman who taught me about the power of graciousness, love, ambition, and hard work”.
The 22-year-old shared the tribute to Witherspoon in July 2019, when she posted a photo of her mother on Instagram and wrote: “This is the gorgeous woman who taught me about the power of graciousness, love, ambition, and hard work. She inspires me everyday to live with gratitude for the life I’ve been given and compassion for others.
“I’m thinking about her a little extra today, that’s all.”
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