Actor and producer Reese Witherspoon admitted to Ellen DeGeneres that she keenly felt her daughter Ava’s absence when Ava went off to college.
“My daughter’s finishing her first year of college. It’s weird when your children go away to college. It’s hard,” Witherspoon said on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 20.
“I never imagined how it felt for my mom,” the Big Little Lies star continued. “I might have gone into [Ava’s] empty room, laid down on her bed and cried when she went to college.”
“It’s okay, she’s coming back,” Witherspoon added to DeGeneres. Witherspoon had reason to fear, though: “I thought she would be gone… I never came back. I went to college for one year and then I started making movies and I moved to L.A. and I never came back. Sorry, mom. My poor mom,” she lamented.
Witherspoon and ex-husband Ryan Phillippe share both daughter Ava and son Deacon, 15. She is now married to Jim Toth, with whom she shares son Tennessee, 6.
Witherspoon and daughter Ava are frequently spotted out and about together (and posing for Vogue). In 2018, Us Weekly reported that the two are “best friends” who “love being together.” A source told the outlet, “Reese and Ava talk several times a day and they go to each other for everything. [Ava] has learned so much by being with her mom and traveling the world with her.”
Ava’s last Instagram post on Mother’s Day is a beautiful tribute to her mama. And we have a hunch she probably missed her mom this past first year of college just as much as her mom missed her:
“My mom always reminds me, ‘pretty is as pretty does,’ and truth be told she is the prettiest woman I know. Happy mother’s day to my built-in best friend. Your drive to pursue your passions, your curiosity and willingness to learn, your care and compassion for others, and your strength to fight for what and who you care about all make me immensely proud to be your daughter. Love you always, Ava.”
Reese’s response in the comment thread did us in: “Well… now I’m crying [bawling emoji] I love you so much. What a gift to be your mom.”
Melt. What a beautiful mama-daughter relationship. There may be some missing each other from time to time, but we guess that these two will never be out of each other’s orbit for very long.
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