My Healthy Love

Reese Witherspoon’s Ex-Husband Ryan Phillippe Contemplated Suicide Over Divorce

November 15, 2007 on 10:11 am | In Relationship Discussions |

Earlier this morning I read that the ex-husband of actress Reese Witherspoon revealed in a recent review that he contemplated suicide because he was so distraught by their matrimonial split.  Ryan Phillippe openly shared his feelings in a U.K. publication Man About Town.  He said “After the divorce, I was a physical wreck.  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.”

Witherspoon and Phillippe were once billed as “Hollywood’s Golden Couple,” until allergations started to circulate that Phillippe was having an affair with a co-star while working on a film.  The alleged co-star was newcomer, Australian actress Abbie Cornish (not a relative of mine).  This was followed by the public spilt between Reese and Ryan.  Reese has since moved on and found comfort in the arms and heart of her new love, actor Jake Gyllenhaal.  Their relationship also started while they were filming a movie together.

My sincere compassion to Phillipe for the unhealthy emotional feelings he experienced.  I hope he has sought or is seeking proper guidance to help him trough the transition.  In my professional opinion, I believe Phillipe is suffering from despondency because he realized his mistake after he had lost his marriage due to his alleged affair and is now unfortunately suffering the sad consequences of the all too familiar situation of infidelity-leading-to divorce.  The couple, who had been together for approximately seven years, share two children together, cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split.  But honestly, I had already predicted trouble in the marriage once Reese won the 2006 Oscar for her role in “Walk The Line.”  Sure enough, the allegations of Ryan’s infidelity and split followed directly after.  

Usually when you have two high-powered people in a marriage or relationship, and one or the other’s career isn’t doing as well as their mate’s,  it can cause petty jealousies if both people aren’t in a healthy love balance.  And, if the jealousy isn’t examined, dealt with, and removed, it can lead to infidelity, anger, and other serious unhealthy relationship issues.  This is mostly displayed in the case where the woman is doing better than the man—either earning more money, advancing more in career, or becoming more famous.  The male ego can be very sensitive in these situations.  It takes a really secure, dedicated, and special man to wholeheartedly support a successful or famous wife, without feeling like he doesn’t measure up.  Feelings of inadequacy often leads to acts of infidelity.

Contrary to popular belief, my research over the past ten years has shown that usually when a man cheats on his wife, it’s not because he feels his wife doesn’t measure up, but in fact it is because he feels insecure about how he’s measuring up.  I encourage you to get real information by observing real life.  You can read extensively about eye-opening cases of unhealthy relationships and the effective healthy relationship solutions I provide in The Band-Aid Bond (How to uncover the hidden causes and break the pattern of unhealthy loving).