Laura Dern‘s son Ellery Harper has hit a major life milestone: the 18-year-old is officially a high school graduate! While he wasn’t able to have an in-person commencement ceremony at his school like all other 2020 grads affected by the coronavirus quarantine, his proud Oscar winning mom was so happy to show off how he looked in his blue gown and mortar board cap. The 53-year-old posted several photos of her eldest son by musician ex-husband Ben Harper, 50, to her Instagram page on May 28 with a beaming caption.
Laura wrote, “My boy’s day!! Happy Graduation, amazing Ellery! Class of 2020!!!!!!!!” The first photo showed the proud Big Little Lies star smiling brightly into the camera with her arm around her son’s shoulder while in their home’s backyard. Ellery seemed a little camera-shy, looking down and away in the photo, without a joyous look on his face like his mom had. But he did rock the heck out of his cap and gown, along with a white tassel hanging down from the tip of the mortar board.
The next photo showed the graduate’s celebration meal, which was a delicious looking pasta dish. Flowers, a lit candle, woven place settings and white plates were laid out for the dinner. There was even a photo of Ellery as a child, sitting on a sofa with an book in his hand. In black handwriting the message, “From first learning to read to 2020. I love you. Congratulations,” could be seen, but it was left unsigned.
The third photo showed that while Ellery isn’t one for giant smiles, the male model knows how to give good face as he’s so handsome! He stood to show his full graduation gown and Ellery is tall, with his cap nearly touching the top of the outdoor patio roof. On his feet he wore a pair of super cute koala bear slippers, as the family’s two dogs — a husky and a black lab — were seen relaxing on either side of the new grad. In the fourth pic he sat down next to the pups with a slight grin on his face.
The slippers caught the eye of Laura’s good friend and Big Little Lies co-star Reese Witherspoon, who wrote in the comments, “Congrats El! Those Koala slippers are 100…and graduating high school is amazing too!” More of Laura’s famous friends chimed in with celebratory messages, including actress Julianne Moore, who seemed to give a hint that Ellery will be departing L.A. for New York, either for school or his modeling career. “Congratulations Ellery!! Can’t wait to see u in NYC,” Julianne beamed, along with adding four heart emojis. How sweet! Best of luck to the new grad.