Actress Reese Witherspoon files for divorce

LOS ANGELES, Nov 9 (Reuters) Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon filed for divorce from her husband of seven years, actor Ryan Phillippe, just over a week after the couple announced their separation.

Witherspoon, 30, filed her divorce petition in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday. No further information was immediately available.

''We are saddened to announce that Reese and Ryan have decided to formally separate,'' publicists for Witherspoon and Phillippe, 32, said in a joint statement last week.

''They remain committed to their family and we ask that you please respect their privacy and the safety of their children at this time,'' the statement said.

Witherspoon and Phillippe reportedly met at her 21st birthday party before working together on the 1999 film ''Cruel Intentions.'' They married in June of that year and have two children, 7-year-old daughter Ava and 3-year-old son Deacon.

Witherspoon established herself as a major box-office draw as star of the 2001 comedy ''Legally Blonde'' and scored a follow-up hit with ''Sweet Home Alabama.'' She won a best-actress Oscar this year for her role as Johnny Cash's country-singing sweetheart June Carter in ''Walk the Line.'' Phillippe is currently starring in Clint Eastwood's latest film, ''Flags of Our Fathers,'' as one of the US servicemen who raised the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi during World War Two.

REUTERS DH BST0745