This should be a good test of Amber Tamblyn’s recent op-ed about the need to believe women when they come forward to speak about assault, rape and/or harassment. Ryan Phillippe has had a series of younger girlfriends, to the point where I don’t even bother keeping up with who he’s dating. Apparently, Ryan, who is 43 years old, was dating a 21-year-old named Elsie Hewitt. According to People Magazine, they dated from April to July of this year. Elsie has filed a civil suit against Ryan, claiming that during their breakup in July, he physically attacked her and threw her down a flight of stairs. She has provided photos of the bruises on her body to People Magazine, which you can see here. Here’s more, from TMZ:
Ryan Phillippe’s girlfriend has just filed a lawsuit against the actor, claiming he abuses cocaine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and steroids, and has beaten her badly. Elsie Hewitt claims in the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, on July 4th, she went to pick up things from his house and she realized he was extremely drunk. She says after she tried talking with him he attacked her, grabbed her upper arm so hard it left heavy bruises and violently threw her down the stairs as hard as he could.
She claims he continued his assault and picked her up like a doll and threw her down the stairs again. He then screamed, “Get the f*** out of my house you crazy c**t.” She went to the hospital, cops took a report and she got a protective order. She suffered chest wall pain, abrasions and severe bruising. She wants more than $1 million.
Update: Sources connected with Ryan tell TMZ, Elsie showed up to Ryan’s house uninvited and under the influence several days after he broke up with her. They say she was the one who attacked Ryan and refused to leave his home. He removed her from the premises and he claims she fell and hurt herself.
Sources close to Ryan say the L.A. City Attorney refused to prosecute after investigating, and they claim she’s filed this lawsuit out of revenge. We’re told Ryan’s side finds it amusing Elsie has sent glamour shots of herself to the media and is out for money and fame.
Ryan finds it “amusing” that she sent “glamour shots” of herself to the media? Most media outlets are just using her Instagrams, like I am (the IGs are below). She did give photos of her bruises to People Magazine, as I said. People Mag has more of Elsie’s side of the story, like she went to Ryan’s house to pack her things up on the same night that they broke up (the night of July 3/into the morning of July 4). Elsie did get an emergency protective order following the alleged assault, and the emergency order expired on July 12. Ryan’s side is making a big deal about how Elsie doesn’t have any kind of protective order now. Elsie’s lawyer told People Mag that of course she’s not making things up for attention, she’s already a working model (she models for Guess) and the City Attorney is still looking into possible criminal charges.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Elsie’s Instagram.
That sounds so horrendous. Also the balance of power is so unequal of course she had to go to People to protect herself. It’s a smaller scale version of Depp and Heard, and so few people believed her…
I hope every person reading this is safe from violence. xxx
RP has always, always looked angry to me. His eyes give him away.
AGREED!!!
Dang I mean yea I’ll wait for further details but horrible. I mean I didn’t like Amber Heard but I believed her from the jump. Giving her the benefit of the doubt here but I’m sure more will come
Police should be able to determine from the location and sizes of the bruises if she was pushed down the stairs. It’s extremely likely a “star” like Ryan will have cameras on the outside of his home, so if she hurt herself outside like he says, there would likely be footage.
I was thinking the same thing, and also if she called or text to tell him she was coming over like she said then there would be records of it. I don’t know the gossip about him like others, and I am not saying it’s impossible, I just have my CSI brain going. Not saying it’s OK for anyone to be violent, but under the scenario of an assumed intruder ( benefit of the doubt). I’ll wait for more details, because I’m missing something.
not police but study medicine and they teach us to identify signs of domestic abuse, the bruises are the same level of healing so they occurred at the same time, and bruises on the back or torso are very telling, how often do you accidentally bump into something on your back or chest hard enough to create a bruise (an elbow or a knee sure that occurs all the time but the torso/back rarely), more than likely you’d try and protect yourself with your hands first, or if you accidentally trip you try to break your fall with your hands/arms if she was pushed or hit suddenly she probably wouldn’t have time to right herself and try to break her fall.
Oh sh*t, I believe her 100%. We were just talking about him here the other day, how he seems a little thirsty and into himself on Instagram, why is he dating 21 year olds?!! His daughter is just a few years younger, that’s disgusting and he needs to grow up.
I looked through her Instagram and holy narcissus. I realize she’s a model but come on, it’s nothing but pictures of herself with that fake pout she has going on, lol. She looks like a toddler sticking that bottom lip out, lol. Either way, I hope she’s able to prove her case and win because the media is going to have a field day with this.
That pout she has going is a bit much, lol, but she’s so beautiful! RP has always been a douche. Didn’t he cheat on Reese?
She is beautiful! And yes he did cheat on Reese if I remember correctly, with a younger costar, he’s gross.
Abbie Cornish, right?
Why do I know that…I can’t remember what I did this weekend, but I can pull rando celebrity gossip out of thin air…
Found it! He and Cornish broke up in 2010, he had been with her since like 2007 when he cheated on Reese.
http://www.laineygossip.com/Abbie-Cornish-and-Ryan-Phillippe-ugly-split/16001
My sister was living in Canada when he was filming there when Reece was pregnant. She knew a girl he was banging the whole time. He has always been skeevy.
Cheating is not illegal. I don’t know if he is abuser. I really don’t.
She’s a model looking for work–that Instagram is like a portfolio, like having your CV on LinkdIn.
He seems fairly creepy, and will likely only get creepier, but it is a universal truth that f*ckboys and frat bras don’t age well at all.
I have an ex who is a wonderful person but looks so much like Ryan it is unnerving. It’s now making me cringe , but at one point I was REAALLY into that.
@Liz Lemon, so funny you said that bc my old roommate looks exactly like RP as well. In fact he’s a former drag queen and a very talented performer. We recently reconnected and the resemblance is distracting.
Yeah, those IG photos were disturbing for a 40-something father. They seemed indicative of some sort of hole that he’s trying to fill in what seems to be dangerous and destructive ways. My heart goes out to his exes.
His ex, Paulina Slagter, just tweeted – ‘when theres smoke…”
https://mobile.twitter.com/paulinaslagter
She hasn’t tweeeted anything since Aug 30th and that smoke tweet is 10 hours old.
Also, no bones for disgusting dogs. Even gagged with the bandana won’t cut it now. I believe Elsie.
Smoke? Now I want s’mores :/
Otherwise, kudos to the ex for this shrouded support. I think putting yourself in the crosshairs of Phillipe’s fans is brave and I hope more women share their stories about this creep.
Oh wow, now that’s interesting.
oh man…. this is entirely possible. you don’t have to condemn him right away but I err on the side of the victim, always. he seems so thirsty and weird. huge imbalance of power as said above, which is very important here.
How do you get those injuries from simply “falling and hurting yourself”? So shady. I hope she gets justice.
Gee, he seems to have a lot of “vindictive” exes…
And by “vindictive”, I mean he’s a lying jerk who clearly abuses his girlfriends.
Yeesh. Well, that explains the doucher vibe he gives off.
I meant to write the same thing. And now he will make some shit up about her being thirsty for attention. While that may have worked on some naive Depp fans, it is laughable in this case, Ryan is a star only by extension of hos ex-wife’s fame, so please. I am not even sure how people still see domestic abuse as PR strategy with all the shaming of victims and allienation attached to anyone who is brave enough to speak out about the abuse despite all the stigma atyached to victims.
Totally.
What a little bitch. I mean Philippe of course. His ex is brave to speak up and I support her in the shitstorm to come.
Why is this not being dealt with through criminal charges? The TMZ article says the city declined to prosecute, the People mag article says they didn’t get an answer on it. This should be a criminal matter. Can anyone with legal experience weigh in here?
This guy sounds like a mess in general . He has three children, a TV show, and is running around doing drugs and dating 20-year-olds? And it sounds like abusive behavior is not new to him. Gross.
I also wonder why there are no criminal charges and believe that this should be a criminal matter. I also believe that his drug consumption should be properly investigated.
I hope she doesn’t settle. Still, I hope that women who are aware about their partners drug abuse/violence are strong enough to leave them.
He sounds awful. And not that it really matters in comparison to his *history* of violent behaviour, but he s**ks as an actor. I watched S1 of Shooter and managed two episodes of S2. He is the worst actor on that show. And yes, I refuse to watch the rest of the season.
In cases of rape or domestic assault, it’s incredibly hard to get it taken to court, and then even harder to get a conviction. There’s often “not enough evidence” in the sense that people want guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s more of a “he said she said” situation, and what “she said” usually isn’t believed. In order to get justice in these cases it often has to go to civil court. Sort of like what happened with OJ.
Thanks @LooseSeal. I don’t really get it though, what happens if he’s found guilty in civil court? He only has to pay money vs going to jail if found guilty in criminal court? What are the consequences for him except for paying money?
That’s it. The consequences are money. That’s why there is a lower burden of proof. To take away someone’s freedom it is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Civil is “on a balance of probabilities” but you get a payout, that’s it.
Personally, knowing what a light slap on the wrist he would get; I’d rather go for the money too if I was here.
Is this why that story came out last week about him saving someone from drowning or a car accident or something? Getting ahead of this story?
It turned out, he caused the accident he ‘saved’ someone in.
Rumour has it that it was drug use and being generally out of control. If you go back to his last post, I think a few commenters linked out to more info.
Detritus
Thank you. It seems he is on a steady cocktail of drugs and steroids. I used to laugh at those thirsty pics of him coming out of the ocean, swim trunks just barely holding on beneath the ripped abs. Now instead of rolling my eyes I feel angry knowing the monster behind the egotistical, narcissistic facade.
@Enough already-
My thoughts too!
I bet her lawyer contacted him and said
We will go national if you don’t do AB and C
And he said no way
And they spun a deal with male friendly TMZ
Making him seem cool, humble, and even heroic
So now here we are
Oh, I believe her. Remember the “accident” in mid July? He broke his leg allegedly trying to stop his UTV from barreling into a crowd. You know, because he’s heroic that way. Uh nope, I read that he caused the accident because he was under the influence.
didn’t he just have a baby with someone?
his poor kids 🙁
makes me wonder what Reese dealt with.
No the child is 3 or 4 now? Alexis Knapp (from Pitch Perfect) I don’t think they started on the up and up too and it didn’t end well either
yes, thank you, I remember now, because she was hilarious in the movie and I googled her, after I saw PP, and was surprised about the Ryan connection.
thanks for doing the work for me this morning 🙂
Eh…I don’t know. He has no history of his kind of behavior, but when you want to date all these young Hollywood starlets, this is what happens. Reese was probably the last age-appropriate woman he was with.
So young women are liars who commonly make up abuse stories and shouldn’t be believed?
So dating young women is the catalyst for abuse now? gmafb.
Another of his exes just implied he does have a history of this behavior.
This is silly.
Cosby didn’t have a ‘history’ either.
A history is just the public accounting, and no abuser has a history until they’ve acted out.
No – continued drug use and the combination of cocaine and steroids is a fist-fight waiting to happen. It has nothing to do with “age-inappropriate” women. Since when is 21 years old age-inappropriate? It’s not like he’s dating 13 year-olds.
It seems like his behavior is getting worse and worse as he gets older. This poor girl 🙁 The power imbalance in the relationship along with age difference makes me squirm. Can a lawyer explain why she might be doing a civil suit instead of trying to get criminal charges??
(Not a lawyer) The article says the police refused to prosecute. She can’t force them, leaving only civil action.
They don’t prosecute all violence cases brought to them, especially he said/she said. His story also “explains” why bruises would be there, they probably didn’t want to “waste” money on a difficult to prove trial. There is a lot of extremely sad statistics out there about the percentage of cases going to court for violence against women.
Two words: prosecutorial discretion.
Abusers always have a way of twisting things to make the victim seem like the crazy one. I believe her.
It would be interesting if Reese Witherspoon seeks any changes in their custody agreement.
And look at what she recently produced and starred in…
That’s an interesting point…I sincerely hope that this is an isolated incident, but if something in Lianne’s book resonated with her…
I struggle with Reese, mostly because of the Jim Toth arrest incident, but no one should go through that.
Yes, I was wondering that as well. If he is abusing all kinds of drugs, then surely she’d be worried about kids being around her (although I suppose she only has one under 18 now? I can’t remember how many kids they had).
2 kids, girl then boy. Both now teenagers, I guess, but on the younger side.
Not likely. He didn’t seek any changes when she was arrested.
While it was certainly not her finest moment, what she did is not really equivalent to him throwing a woman down the stairs. If I were her, I’d be cautious.
She wasn’t the driver (though she was also intoxicated).
If they had a different relationship, he could’ve been very mean and demanded she and her husband go to rehab. People forget now, but Reese did do a little photo-op thing with Ryan after that incident. Just saying…they aren’t at odds like that. Plus, one of their kids is officially an adult now.
Maybe he should find a girlfriend who is at least half his age
He could just as easily throw an older girlfriend down a flight of stairs. Having a young girlfriend isn’t the problem, it’s his sustained drug use and huge chip on his shoulder.
He played that character in “Lincoln Lawyer” perfectly.. and we all know he doesn’t get parts for his acting.
YES! This!!!!! Even wayyyy back to Cruel Intentions…the guy can’t act to save his life, but he can play a manipulative psycho like nobody’s business.
He was my Hollywood crush like 20 years ago. And now I think about him like I do some of my skeevier exes from that time. Ugh.
After reading this I just keep flashing to him as Lewis Roulet in the Lincoln Lawyer and it creeps me out.
When a woman is young and attractive like she is and looking for her big break, it is like a beacon for losers like RP who have never grown up. Older women can smell him coming from miles away, but she probably thought he was still someone important. It will be hard for her to win this without the police thinking she was credible. 🙁
It doesn’t say police didn’t find her credible. Police investigate and gather the info. The city attorney’s office then decides whether to prosecute or not. They could believe her also and still not make the decision to prosecute because it’s just not a good clear-cut winnable case in their experience and would be a big waste of time and money. (Ryan’s quote makes this refusal to prosecute sound like a “win” for him. It’s not proof of his innocence at all!) Now she’s filed civilly where the burden of proof is less and she has a chance at being successful.
I would LOVE to hear what Reese has to say about him. Not that she hasn’t had her public mishaps, but Ryan has always struck me as an inconsiderate dbag, now add “violent” to that toxic combo and..yikes.
I hope she wins and can move on from this experience. It isn’t easy to come forward but someone has to with this guy. His career was always strange to me now I know why.
@Thanks LadyT. I get it now.
He doesn’t have the $ or the PR machine that Depp has so maybe she won’t be dragged through the mud the way Amber Heard was. It’s a shame Amber Heard settled – I’m sure she had her reasons, but until it’s proven in court that one of these actors are guilty, the women who are victims of abuse will never be fully believed by their fan base.
He seems like a very punchable person. He makes my skin crawl. I feel bad for his kids – I’d hate to be related to *that.*
he doesn’t seem that powerful or that rich, or even that relevant to have criminal charges dropped, no?
I’ll say this. I don’t care if this 80 pound girl came in “drunk” to get her stuff, and maybe yelled at Ryan. YOU STILL CANT TOUCH HER. EVER! Men are physically bigger then women. Its not a fair fight.
If you put the two photos side by side and asked who you’d rather be punched by, I know who i’d choose. It’s not even close to the same.
The girl whose weight is mostly in lip filler, or the 180lb man who was recently on Men’s Health as a specimen of fitness.
“Men are physically bigger then women. Its not a fair fight.”
You in danger with this comment, girl! 😉
PS- *whispering* I agree with you.
I mean, nobody really has the right to put their hands on anybody unless it’s defensive. I don’t even know if gender should even be a consideration, though there is certainly some merit to the size/strength difference in many cases.
I wonder if Reese will come out and make a statement like Vanessa Paradis did with Johnny Depp (actually did she make a statement now?? I forget) supporting Ryan saying he never abused or mistreated her and is a good father to his kids. It’s totally possible he never laid a hand on Reese while they were together but developed this behavior after their relationship. I just feel bad for his kids (all three of them) and for this woman Elsie. She luckily has an eye witness since her friend was there and saw the whole thing happen (this account doesn’t include that but People.com does). That has to count for something?
How much of it is drugs, especially it’s gotten worse?
If Reese is asked about it specifically, I don’t have a problem with her saying that she can only talk about him in connection with their marriage and he was never been abusive to her or their children. Where Vanessa jumped the shark is when she said Johnny would never abuse any woman.
Yeah, Vanessa should have stuck to just giving her experience with him. I don’t think depp was an abuser until he went head first into the booze and whatever else he was into. I’d believe the same is true of Ryan maybe. Drug and alcohol abuse can change a person very drastically
Agreed. As misogynistic as our society is, any sort of history of abuse is a PR nightmare for a famous woman (as we had demonstrated for us so perfectly with yesterday’s little shitshow, LOL). So it’s understandable why a woman in Reese’s position would want to make sure people didn’t believe something that might not be true in her case. As long as she doesn’t attack the credibility of the victim in anyway, it’s fine. But I do think Phillipe’s other ex is brave for coming forward.
Yikes.
I believe her.
Just read this aloud at lunch at the office and the 2 women I’m eating with, both in their 50s, immediately started with “well what is she doing with a 43 yr old, she probably went after him because he’s famous, etc.” So yeah if we’re using this as a barometer, we have a long way to go.
That is unbelievably sad. So the fair punishment for dating an older man is a beating? We don’t even beat actual criminals.
we are one sad, sick society when it comes to many things, particularly the treatment of women
It must have been hell being married to him.
I just checked out his IG. He has this in the bio:
“philz WrongfulConvictionDay Oct. 12 ⚖️ http://www.innocenceproject.org”
Anyone know if he just put that up?
https://www.instagram.com/ryanphillippe/?hl=en
He partnered with them in Dec 2016. I haven’t listened to his Q&A though.
https://www.innocenceproject.org/innocence-blog-qa-ryan-phillippe/
I don’t understand the part about the city attorney refusing to prosecute . The City Attorney’s Office in Florida doesn’t handle this. They are legal counsel to the mayor and city councils and boards and city departments on a host of things like city ordinances, contracts, and in lawsuits or proceedings filed against them, etc.
It’s the State Attorney’s Office that handles criminal matters like this.
Wouldn’t be surprised, honestly. I feel like those age gaps always lend a itself to a skewed power dynamic, and if you add in celebrity…all I’m saying is that I’d find it very suspect for a model, of all professionals, to do physical damage to herself.
It seems more like she figured him out quickly once his mask slipped and left him. An aging Narcissist with drug problems and a disappointing career would find rejection unbearable and lash out. It isn’t hard to believe.
I try to be open minded about large age gaps, but I have seen more of this dynamic than actual partnerships. It can happen, but it is the exception.
Celebrities feel impunity. Also, the older they get (and the longer they’ve gone unpunished), the more it tends to escalate. Remember, Simpson never killed his first wife, nor did that cop wife murderer (Peterson?) kill wives 1 or 2 (but he did kill wives 3 and 4). So the fact that he did not do something to one woman (or it was covered up at the time), is not evidence that he didn’t do it to another. Obviously, I have no knowledge of this case, but I would not out of hand deny/reject it for any of the bogus reasons I see in some of the above comments. Just saying.
He is so sketchy that I find this completely believable.
As an aside, I was once told that when photographing evidence of abuse, it’s better to have a third person take the photos.
They can then corroborate dates and authenticity of bruises and abrasions.
Even better-go into an iffy situation with your phone recording in your pocket. It’s legal and admissible in my state.
Just because you cheat on your wife and date younger women doesn’t mean you beat women up. Heaven forbid giving him the benefit of the doubt and waiting until you hear the full story. I guess now men are just guilty until proven innocent
I posted this below but I’m posting it again. (Unfortunately there is never a shortage of women willing to cape for abusive men.) I hope you think about it and understand where I’m coming from:
*Believe victims* unless you’re given a real, credible and legitimate reason not to. (Like with the infamous Rolling Stone UVA rape article, a situation that was, by far, the exception, not the rule.) That should ALWAYS be the principle we operate with, especially given how few domestic abuse/rape/etc. cases actually result in JUSTICE for the VICTIM. When someone says a crime was committed against them, you assume they’re TELLING THE TRUTH unless and until facts come to light that prove that not to be the case.
I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to have documented injuries and still have people questioning you. I have been slapped around, shoved etc. in the past (never leaving bruises) and to be quite honest, I never would have told anyone and I never did — precisely because of how women who are actually beat the fuck up and actually have the pics to prove it get treated. “If they’re not believable, I better just keep my mouth shut and not open myself up to scrutiny” is how I reasoned it.
It’s always possible that someone can lie about a situation but it is far less likely than the truth that is staring right at you. It is extremely rare for this kind of thing to be made up out of whole cloth. What’s not rare is how frequently domestic abusers get away with it while the abused get smeared. Especially when celebs are involved. God forbid this person you don’t actually know at all turns out to not be the person you thought they were…
Sucks to think he could do something like that, but why would she make it up? I feel bad for his kids.
For fame, money or revenge; all three sound pretty logical. Just because a woman says it doesn’t mean we have to take it as fact. We should be allowed to question things, just like you shouldn’t automatically view him as guilty. That’s not fair. Women are not automatically viewed as guilty; shouldn’t he be given the same courtesy?
No.
100+.
*Believe victims* unless you’re given a real, credible and legitimate reason not to. (Like with the infamous Rolling Stone UVA rape article, a situation that was, by far, the exception, not the rule.) That should ALWAYS be the principle we operate with, especially given how few domestic abuse/rape/etc. cases actually result in JUSTICE for the VICTIM. When someone says a crime was committed against them, you assume they’re TELLING THE TRUTH unless and until facts come to light that prove that not to be the case.
I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to have documented injuries and still have people questioning you. I have been slapped around, shoved etc. in the past (never leaving bruises) and to be quite honest, I never would have told anyone and I never did — precisely because of how women who are actually beat the fuck up and actually have the pics to prove it get treated. “If they’re not believable, I better just keep my mouth shut and not open myself up to scrutiny” is how I reasoned it.
It’s always possible that someone can lie about a situation but it is far less likely than the truth that is staring right at you. It is extremely rare for this kind of thing to be made up out of whole cloth. What’s not rare is how frequently domestic abusers get away with it while the abused get smeared. Especially when celebs are involved. God forbid this person you don’t actually know at all turns out to not be the person you thought they were…
What a gorgeous man.
I do not believe any of it.