Reese Witherspoon's ex-husband Ryan Phillippe and her new beau Jake Gyllenhaal are suddenly at each other's throats.

It's exactly what Reese has been trying to avoid for the past year - her new boyfriend and her ex-husband going toe-to-toe, shouting and swearing at one another and dragging her kids into the fight.

Until now Reese has tried to make a smooth transition from marriage to her new romance, but her peace is shattered.

Last week Reese and Jake returned from a day out to find a furious ranting answer phone message from Ryan, in which he accused Reese of trying to 'push him out of his own family' and called Jake 'girly'!

When Reese called Ryan to find out why he had gone off at the deep end, she discovered he was furious about something his young son Deacon had told him during one of his visits.

Ryan and his Australian girlfriend Abbie Cornish had taken his children, Ava, eight, and Deacon, four, to the park, where Ryan and Deacon talked about baseball. Deacon told Ryan he wasn't a fan of his dad's Philadelphia Phillies anymore, and that he wanted to support Jake's Boston Red Sox, as: 'Jake says they're champions of the whole world and the best team.'

When Ryan discovered Jake had also given his son a Red Sox cap to cement his new affiliation he hit the roof. The outburst came after months of simmering tension surrounding Ryan's custodial visits.

A close friend of Reese's says while she and Jake try to balance treats with educational outings, such as trips to the library, Ryan always takes the kids to the park or somewhere fun-filled - and has even promised to take them to Disneyland during their next school holidays.

Reese had been growing increasingly critical of Ryan's attempts to paint himself as 'the cool one', and she was even less impressed by Ryan's abusive voicemail, telling him it was 'completely unacceptable'.

But one of Ryan's friends tells New Idea that Ryan has refused to apologise and the feud with Jake simmers on.

'Ryan was furious that Jake was trying to turn his own
son against him,' a source says. 'Following the same baseball team is a lifelong passion that can help bring a father and his son together and for Jake to try to steal that from Ryan is really out of order.

'Ryan has kept his mouth shut around the children about what he really thinks of Jake because he promised Reese he would never put their kids in the middle of an argument,' the source continues.

'But Jake had better hope he doesn't see Ryan around town when the kids are at home with Reese because otherwise he might get his precious Red Sox cap knocked off his head!'

Reese is said to be desperate to defuse the situation. Although she's still upset about Ryan's message, she did promise him Jake wouldn't make any further attempt to influence Deacon's choice of sports teams.

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