Ava Phillippe is kicking off Pride Month with a moment of reflection. On Saturday, the 24-year-old daughter of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe took to Instagram to ring in the first day of the celebratory month, over two years after she first spoke about her sexuality. "Once upon a time, some gal on the internet said 'gender is whatever' in reference to her own sexuality," Ava captioned the photo of her posed in front of a pond, waving a rainbow flag.
"Many took her words out of context, but she knew what she meant. Anyways, this is her posting for the first day of pride month 2024." Ava concluded her caption with several emojis featuring a rainbow, stars, a disco ball and hands forming a heart.
The post references Ava's previous statements on her sexuality, which the model made in January 2022 while hosting an "Ask Me Anything" on her Instagram Story with her followers. When she was asked by a follower, "Do u like boys or girls?" Ava responded that she kept an open mind when it came to romance. "I'm attracted to.
.. people! (Gender is whatever)," she wrote.
At the time, Ava was dating Owen Mahoney . When she encountered backlash for her response, Ava quickly shut down the rude comments. "Quick reminder.
I can & will block profiles commenting bigoted/hateful messages under my posts," the then-22-year-old wrote in a message on her Instagram Stories per E! News . "My Instagram profile is not a place for cruelty/hate speech & I intend to do what I can to keep it that way. Pe.