Shooter star and former husband of Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe has found himself in the hot seat this week. The actor has never had a great reputation when it comes to his anger. Now, a former girlfriend is claiming he abused her quite severely, going as far as to file a lawsuit against the Cruel Intentions star.

Model Elsie Hewitt filed a lawsuit against Phillippe this past Monday. And the allegations she has made against him are pretty damaging. She claims the actor kicked her, punched her, and eventually threw her down a flight of stairs. The suit filed by the 21 year old struggling actress had this to say.

[Ryan Phillippe] grabbed [her] upper arm so tightly that his grip left heavy bruises on her arm hours later. He then braced his body and threw her down his staircase as hard as he could."

While Ryan Phillippe's Reps have yet to respond to the allegations, a source close to the 43 year-old actor has come out swinging in his defense. And reiterates that there is always two sides to every story, and that you shouldn't always believe what you hear. They tell People magazine this.

"Ryan did not lay a hand on her. He wants to clear all of this up and he will."

The civil suit against Phillippe stems from a fight that happened July 3 this year. Court documents state that Ryan left a party earlier in the evening after being ignored by Hewitt. She later went to Phillippe's house with a friend that night to pack up her things. The physical altercation ensued during the early morning hours of July 4th.

Elsie Hewitt has supplied the court with photographic evidence of the fight, showing off numerous bruises in a collection of images she claims she obtained after the actor threw her down the stairs. Hewitt is a Guess model, who has also started acting. Her most substantial credit to date is Mostly Ghostly: Have You Met My Ghoulfriend?, starring opposite Bella Thorne and Ryan Ochoa. The woman's lawsuit goes onto claim this about her ex.

"[Ryan Phillippe has been] repeatedly abusing a panoply of legal and illegal drugs, including without limitation: cocaine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms, and steroids...Phillippe increasingly combined these drugs with excessive alcohol consumption and often exhibited symptoms attendant of poly drug and alcohol abuse, including mood swings and bouts of anger."

The source close to Ryan Phillippe begs to differ, though, stating that it was the model, not the actor, who has been abusing drugs. They state this in the actor's defense.

"Elsie showed up to Ryan's house uninvited and under the influence a few days after he had broken up with her,. She physically attacked Ryan, caused a scene and refused to leave his home. As she was removed from the premises, she claims she fell and injured herself. There is no restraining order presently in place of any kind. At the time it happened, there was a temporary which was terminated only a few days after. She has since tried to seek revenge and fame by sending glamour shots of herself to media outlets with a false story of domestic violence."

An LADP spokesperson has confirmed that officers made a report of the alleged attack. Hewitt was granted an emergency protective order. That oder expired on July 12. Hewitt's lawyer has since come out, claiming that his client is not seeking money and fame from the suit, and that Hewitt is trying to make her stand against domestic violence. He further states that if Hewitt wins her case, neither he nor Hewitt will collect the money themselves, instead donating it all to a domestic violence charity. He goes onto claim that the bruises in the photos are all real, and that his client still has a scar on her left leg from being thrown down the stairs.

The lawsuit goes onto report what happened after Hewitt recovered from her push down the stairs. She apparently walked back upstairs to get her stuff, when she was accosted by Ryan Phillippe a second time. The report continues.

"[Phillippe] grabbed Hewitt, struck her, cornered her, kicked her, and aggressively pushed her to the ground."

The friend who accompanied Hewitt back to Phillippe's house claims to have tried to pull the two ex-lovers apart, but was unable to due to to their difference in size. Hewitt goes to claim that her former boyfriend, "picked [her] up like a doll and tossed her down the stairs a second time."

Elsie Hewitt was admitted to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in the early hours of July 4th, where police issued the emergency protective order and filed an official report. It was at that time that the model complained of sever chest pain, abrasions and bruising. She is asking for no less than $1 million in the lawsuit.