Every major celeb has to deal with pesky paparazzi. But, when you’re a celeb parent, you have to find ways to shield your kids from the photographers, too. Ryan Phillippe, father to Ava, 11, and Deacon, 7 — his kids with ex-wife Reese Witherspoon — has come up with clever ways to dodge the photogs.
“Sometimes we’ll make it a game,” Ryan, 36, tells People. “I’ll be like, let’s sneak out the back and so they can’t get a picture of us. We’ll make it a little team effort thing that they can kind of get into.”
Ryan and Reese make sure their kids understand exactly why the paparazzi are so darn disruptive sometimes.
“Reese and I both do a lot of explaining,” Ryan says. “I think the best thing you can do for kids in any situation is to over-explain even, and really go into detail and say, okay all they want is a photograph and it’s worth money to them because Mom does movies, Dad does movies.”
So, how do his kids feel about it? “My son is a little more carefree that way…But she’s becoming a young woman. She’s 11-years-old and she doesn’t want to be photographed and be seen by her friends in magazines all the time.”
As for Ryan, he loves every part of being famous — even the paparazzi. “I love drama. The reason I become an actor is because of that.”
