Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe divorce

Since marriage is no longer a way for women to seek financial protection from men, they can choose to make choices that were difficult a few decades ago. For instance, leave them when things do not work out or if they are abused. Is this the reason that during the last decade, two out of three women who won the best actress award at the Oscars, decided to end their relationships? The latest to join that list is Reese Witherspoon.

Others with that distiction are Hillary Swank, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Helen Hunt. The two that did not do so are Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand. Nicole Kidman was single at the time of her award but did end her relationship with Tom Cruise later on.

So what went wrong between Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe?

They looked like such a charming couple but they had their ups and downs. The fact that they sought therapy was not something they hid from the public but it seems that it did not work for them. No one knows exactly what triggered their split but clearly there are two reasons.

One, Ryan Phillippe was not the A-lister that Witherspoon is. In other words, whole opposites might attract, ultimately in most cases, it is two people with similar backgrounds and values thrive as a couple.

Two, the rumored adulterous relationship with Australian actress Abbie Cornish (though you wonder why a man would fall for her considering Reese herself is a drop-dead gorgeous woman). It is almost like Peter Cook cheating with Diana Bianchi while he was married to supermodel Christie Brinkley.