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Phillippe's Postsplit Shocker

Mon., Nov. 12, 2007 5:00 PM PST by Marc Malkin

Jerzy Dabrowski-ONS/ZUMApress.com

The debut issue of Man About Town grabbed my attention the other day at the newsstand. Specifically, it was the cover blurb, “Ryan Phillippe: A 44-Page Portfolio.”

Considering Phillippe is a rather private celeb, I just had to see what this new British magazine—which I had never heard of—had on Reese Witherspoon’s ex-husband.

Lemme tell you, it’s Phillippe like never before. There are dozens of photos and what I think is probably Phillippe’s most revealing interview.

“After the divorce I was a physical wreck,” says Phillippe. “I wanted to die. I was ready to kill myself. I was not taking care of myself at all. I would wake up and cry and vomit.”

But now, Phillippe says, he uses the pain in his work. “Now, it’s f--king easy,” he says, when asked how he gets himself to cry in a film. “When I was younger, I didn’t have enough to cry about. But since I’ve had kids, I feel my work has become better, because my life is fuller and more complicated, and I’ve experienced so many highs and lows.”

Despite being so open in Man About Town, Phillippe says he doesn’t like people knowing much about him, “because then I can be anyone they see in a movie.”

AP Photo/Matt Sayles

That means he won’t be signing any endorsement deals anytime soon. “If I see actors doing commercials, such as Catherine Zeta-Jones in the T-Mobile ads now,” he says, “when I see her in a movie it’s hard to disassociate the two.”

He has nicer things to say about—ready for this?—Elizabeth Taylor. Elton John once took him to have tea with Dame Elizabeth (I kid you not!)

“I was sitting there looking at them interact, and I’m thinking, These people have raised millions of dollars to save people,” Phillippe remembers. “The potential power of celebrity is astounding.”