Ryan Phillippe was sitting with Reese Witherspoon and the Walk the Line team at the 2006 Oscars when he suddenly had somewhere else to be.
Witherspoon had won Best Actress for playing June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic. Later in the ceremony, Crash, the ensemble drama in which Phillippe appeared, was named Best Picture.
The 52-year-old actor revisited the evening during his Oct. 14 appearance on Live With Kelly and Mark, according to PEOPLE. He described it as “a wild night altogether.”
At the time, the couple had been married nearly seven years and were raising daughter Ava and son Deacon. Both films’ casts were attending, but they were seated in different parts of the theater.
Phillippe Raced Over to Celebrate With Ludacris and Larenz Tate
Witherspoon was backstage giving interviews when the final award was announced. Phillippe hurried toward his castmates, jumped into Ludacris’ arms and found himself being grabbed by Larenz Tate as the group celebrated.
“We all went up on stage and it was such an out-of-body, out-of-mind experience,” he recalled. The film’s producers were preparing to accept the award while the actors joined them.
Phillippe also remembered becoming distracted by the chance to meet Morgan Freeman. He said he introduced himself enthusiastically while a producer was delivering the acceptance speech, momentarily behaving more like a fan than a member of the winning cast.
Contemporary coverage by Digital Hit records Jack Nicholson presenting that award, Freeman had presented Best Supporting Actress to Rachel Weisz earlier in the evening.
The Academy credits producers Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman as the recipients of Crash‘s Best Picture Oscar. The film also won original screenplay for Haggis and Bobby Moresco, and editing for Hughes Winborne, bringing its total to three awards from six nominations.
Witherspoon Thanked Her Family and Reminded the Children About Bedtime
Jamie Foxx presented Witherspoon’s award at the March 5 ceremony, held at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. In her speech, she thanked director James Mangold for the character he had helped bring to the screen and music producer T Bone Burnett for helping her fulfill an ambition to sing country music.
She also praised Joaquin Phoenix’s commitment to playing Johnny Cash and spoke about growing up in Tennessee. The couple she and Phoenix portrayed, she said, had a tradition of honoring other artists that she felt around her that evening.
Her acknowledgments included “my wonderful husband and my two children, who should be going to bed,” as Us Weekly later recalled in its relationship timeline. She thanked her family for their love and support.
The Celebrations Lasted Until Five or Six in the Morning
Phillippe remembered continuing the festivities long after the broadcast ended. “We had such a fun after-party,” he told the hosts, estimating that they stayed out until five or six in the morning.
Photographs from the evening place the couple together at the Governors Ball, with Witherspoon holding her statuette. They also attended Vanity Fair’s party at Morton’s in Beverly Hills.
The magazine’s 20th-anniversary gallery includes a photograph of the two smiling at one another, her Oscar tucked between them. Other guests pictured at the party included fellow winners Philip Seymour Hoffman and Weisz.
They Reunited This Year for Deacon’s College Graduation
Phillippe and Witherspoon met at her 21st birthday party in 1997, before appearing together in Cruel Intentions. They announced their separation in October 2006, several months after the awards ceremony.
Their marital status was legally terminated in October 2007, according to court documents obtained by Extra. They reached a final settlement resolving the remaining divorce matters in June 2008.
In May 2026, the former couple reunited in New York to celebrate Deacon’s graduation from New York University. Photographs published by PEOPLE showed both parents attending, with Ava also joining the family gathering, as InStyle reported.