Ryan Phillippe isn't happy about the pieces Reese is attempting to make off with in the former golden couple's split—their two kids.
The actor has finally filed a legal response to estranged wife Reese Witherspoon's divorce petition, seconding her motion for joint legal custody of the couple's two children but requesting joint physical custody of the genetically blessed tots as well. Witherspoon had requested primary custody of Ava, seven, and Deacon, three, in her November filing.
According to court documents obtained Friday by E! News, the Flags of Our Fathers star requested that visitation be "equally allocated" between Witherspoon and himself. (View the documents.)
Daddy duty is the only thing Phillippe is seeking.
In his filing, the actor opted not to seek any spousal support from his significantly higher-earning missus, seemingly squashing long-perpetuated rumors that Witherspoon's bigger breadwinning status was one of the contributing factors to the couple's demise.
The young couple, who were married for seven years, did not have a prenuptial agreement, making Phillippe legally entitled to 50 percent of his blockbuster wife's earnings. Witherspoon, 30, did request in her Nov. 8 filing that the court block any future financial requests from her Cruel Intentions costar.
But Phillippe, 32, did not block Witherspoon from seeking spousal support from him. Not that she was likely to in the first place.
One thing he and Witherspoon did seem to agree on, however, was the gloriously vague cause of their split, with Phillippe's paperwork seconding her claim that it was "irreconcilable differences"—not salacious tabloid tales that Phillippe was a less than faithful husband or experiencing pangs of emasculation in the wake of his wife's megasuccess—that tore them apart.
And while Phillippe has been tenuously linked with a string of beauties in the wake of the divorce filing, including Thirteen's Nikki Reed and Stop Loss costar Abbie Cornish, he has adamantly denied the fidelity-challenged allegations leveled against him in the press.
"I'm not a perfect person, but I'm not guilty of a lot of the things I have been accused of," the actor told People last November. "My priority is and always has been the health and safety of my family."
Witherspoon and Phillippe tied the knot back in 1999 and announced their separation on Oct. 30 of last year. Just a week later, the Oscar-winning Walk the Line star formally filed for divorce.