Ava Phillippe and boyfriend Dakota Brubaker stepped out on their first red carpet together since going Instagram official in December 2024.
Phillippe, 25, and Brubaker attended the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project 2025 Block Party at Universal Studios Backlot on Saturday, June 28. The daughter of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe looked glam in a plunging, tiered cream-colored gown embellished with beads. She accessorized with brown-shaded sunglasses, hoop earrings and a silver bangle.
Her musician beau, who performs under the stage name Vindigo, coordinated in a light linen suit and sunglasses. The pair was all smiles as they posed on the orange carpet alongside stars like Theron, 49, David Oyelowo, Henry Goulding and Malin Akerman.
Ava and Brubaker recently revealed that they moved in together, with the musician noting in a June 7 TikTok, “You’ll be married in a year in the suburbs or something like that.” They have since shared many videos of snippets from their relationship, with one garnering a lot of attention due to their likeness with Ava’s famous parents.
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Ava shared a TikTok video on June 9, in which she and Brubaker lip-sync along to Kesha’s song “Your Love Is My Drug.” Her followers couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between Brubaker, sporting blonde locks and a black tank top, and her actor father, who famously wore a fitted white tank top in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
“Close enough. Welcome back Reese & Ryan!,” one commenter wrote.
In a follow-up video on June 11, Ava reacted to the comparison by channeling her mom and dad’s famous movie, Cruel Intentions. In the clip, a forlorn Ava can be seen repeatedly mouthing “no” to the camera as Brubaker appears behind her in a black turtleneck and glasses, just like her dad Ryan wore in the 1999 teen thriller.
“You guys… whaaaaattt,” she captioned the TikTok.
The icing on the cake? The video is set to the tune of The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” which soundtracked the memorable end of the movie, which costarred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Blair, Sean Patrick Thomas and Joshua Jackson.
Back in April, Ava made her acting debut in an episode of Jackson’s show Doctor Odyssey and, two weeks later, she appeared in an episode of Ransom Canyon, playing the teen version of Amala, Josh Duhamel‘s character’s late wife.
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“It was such a learning experience, and, also the whole time, I was kind of distracted by Ryan Murphy’s world building — it’s insane,” she told New Beauty of working on Doctor Odyssey. “He’s the king of television, and it was such a privilege to be on the set and to learn from other actors who I really admire and to get to work with Josh and Kathyrn [Newton, who played Witherspoon’s daughter on Big Little Lies] was super cool and a full circle moment because they worked with my parents.”
Ryan, 50, and Witherspoon, 49, were married from 1999 to 2006 and welcomed Ava and son Deacon in 1999 and 2003, respectively. Ryan also has a daughter, Kailani, nearly 14, from his previous relationship with Alexis Knapp and Witherspoon shares son Tennessee, 12, with ex-husband Jim Toth.
