Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe are currently making the promotional rounds to stump for their forthcoming projects ("Penelope" and "Stop-Loss," respectively), but only one of them is talking about their split -- and it isn't the one snuggling up to Jake Gyllenhaal.

In a candid chat with W magazine, the actor admits their divorce after seven years of marriage and two kids was "the darkest, saddest place I had ever been. It was a struggle -- there were a good four or five months of not being able to get out of bed. It was the worst time in my life."

These days, things are decidedly sunnier.

"You get through it," says Phillippe. "It's a process that's not easy, but I get less and less sad about it every day."

While he doesn't go into specifics over what led to their marital meltdown, he denies it had anything to do with his rumored closeness with his "Stop-Loss" co-star, Abbie Cornish, whom he was reportedly spotted swapping spit with last week at a Los Angeles hot spot.

"It was unfair for her to be called the names that she was, because it wasn't about that," defends Ryan. "I don't think an outside person can ever cause a divorce. I had difficulties in my relationship, and in my marriage, long before I ever met her."

(He acknowledges that he and Cornish are "close friends," but "as far as if there is any future, that is not where we are at now.")

According to Phillippe, his parting of ways with Witherspoon is "far more complicated and far less interesting than it's made out to be. To look and search for these salacious reasons, to pin it on a person, or a moment in someone's life, it's not realistic."

Still, he recognizes "the level of interest that comes along with a public marriage and with being married to someone like Reese, who so many people love with good reason. People want answers. But I think sometimes they wouldn't be happy with what the answers would be."

Ryan with son Deacon and daughter Ava last year

In the post-breakup world, Ryan believes he and Reese "have done a really good job at keeping things peaceable and completely focused" on kids Ava, 8, and Deacon, 4.

Unfortunately, the paparazzi are also focused on the tow-headed tykes, who are frequently targeted when out with their famous folks.

Phillippe says he spends "a lot of time just holed up in my house in Los Angeles ... I don't really go out because I know it's going to turn into a photo shoot," a situation that's especially tough on Ava.

She "worries about what she's wearing when she leaves the house because she knows her picture will be taken," he lets slip, an admission that will probably earn him an annoyed "Daaaaaad" from his red-faced progeny. "She's worried about friends at school who come up to her and say they see her in magazines. It's a really disturbing environment to bring up a child in."

As for Witherspoon, she's also using her time in the spotlight to discuss child-rearing, but it turns out she's more worried that Ava and Deacon won't be subjected to the "formative" experience of having their classmates humiliate them.

"I wouldn't want my children to miss out on any of that teasing and bullying," she tells "Good Morning America." "Don't you think it kind of makes you who you are?"

(For those of you about to answer, "Yes, it made me incredibly bitter and distrustful of society as a whole," keep in mind she's promoting a movie about self-acceptance.)

"I was always really short and really underdeveloped and had big Coke bottle glasses," recalls the Oscar winner. "I think that's where I got a personality from ... I wouldn't give any of it back, not a day."

She also believes that struggling to succeed is necessary to one's development, which is why she's not a big fan of the "You're all winners!" philosophy that's so prevalent.

"This drives me crazy about today: Everyone wins the award and then, you know, everybody's an MVP. No, they're not, OK?" reasons Reese. "I distinctly recall the two weeks of crying because I didn't make the softball team. It made me interesting, you know?"

It also makes her appreciate how good she currently has it. And while she acknowledges there have been some low points, she sidesteps any direct reference to her divorce.

"I've had a lot of ups and downs, and I'm not going to lie and say it was easy," allows Witherspoon. "It [wasn't] easy, but I'm finding some peace. I feel good and I'm so lucky to have two beautiful, healthy, lovely, giving, sweet children."

Next: Scarlett Neither Engaged Nor a 'Harlot'