Ryan Phillippe braved a grilling from Howard Stern -- and emerged the better for it. The oft-reserved-seeming actor showed off his more easygoing side during a March 20 sit-down with the King of All Media, talking candidly about ex-wife Reese Witherspoon and his post-divorce dating life.
Phillippe, 33, who is currently making the promotional rounds for the war drama "Stop-Loss," labeled his 2006 split from the actress a "mutual, collective" decision, pointing out that they were young when they settled down and started a family (daughter Ava is 7; son Deacon is 4).
"Leading up to it, we had been spending so much time apart," he said of their breakup. "That's a huge part of it, too. There are so many obstacles."
Like her Oscar and reported $20 million-per-movie paycheck?
"People would always try to paint that picture, but I'm not competitive," asserted Ryan, who called his former spouse's success "awesome." "I do just fine. I'm not making what she is, but it's OK."
Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon in Brentwood, Calif., on Feb. 29
And despite tabloid reports to the contrary, the easy-on-the-eyes star (and self-confessed Stern fan since the age of 13) insists he's supportive of Reese's yearlong romance with his former workout partner, Jake Gyllenhaal.
"He's a good dude," Phillippe pronounced. "I think it's super. Honestly, I love her and I want her to be happy, and it seems like she is and that's the truth ... I have no jealousy or anything like that."
As for the rumors blaming his marital meltdown on his closeness with his "Stop-Loss" co-star Abbie Cornish (the romance rumblings heated up again late last year, and the two were reportedly spied locking lips last month), Phillippe was a little less forthcoming.
"That's what they say," he sidestepped. "It's funny to me. A story gets told and then it becomes truth to everyone else. And unless you hold some kind of bizarre press conference where you refute everything ... they take on a life of their own."
Not that he's been living like a monk since regaining his single status.
Ryan conceded that he's "experienced some women after my divorce, but none of them were really famous."
Stern then asked about several of his alleged post-divorce hookups, all of which the blushing actor denied.
Britney Spears? "Not true."
Ashlee Simpson? "Again, not true. I stood next to her [at a club in Los Angeles ...]."
He also denied whispers linking him to Lindsay Lohan, although he didn't kick up much of a fuss when Stern posited, "I know [she] wanted you."
Phillippe did reveal how his long ago attempts to woo his "I Know What You Did Last Summer" co-star Jennifer Love Hewitt were thwarted by her eagle-eyed mom.
"She was very young and her mother was there all the time ..." he recalled, "but I was in a hot tub with her when she was 18."
Later, Stern wondered whether Ryan would ever consider getting hitched again. His hopeful response: "I would imagine someday, yeah."
While Phillippe was getting personal with Stern, Witherspoon was reenacting a real-life version of "Babe" with their tykes -- and more than likely turning them off bacon and other pork-based products for life. Late last week, the trio ventured out to a farm in Vincent, Calif., where paparazzi snapped them snuggling with some too-cute-for-a-sty piglets. Word is the family took home one of the petite porkers.
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