Reese Witherspoon Recalls Icky 'Legally Blonde' Audition Story Where She Was Told To Dress 'Sexy'

Reese Witherspoon and her iconic Legally Blonde character might have a lot more in common than we thought!

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter for the mag’s 2019 Women In Entertainment cover story, the 43-year-old actress revealed a little-known, uncomfortable detail about the audition process for becoming Miz Elle Woods.

According to Witherspoon, it was hard for studio executives and casting directors at the time to envision her in the lead role because of a pretty harsh, preconceived notion:

“They thought I was a shrew.”

Apparently, the star’s standout performance as an overzealous and straight-A student in the 1999 indie drama Election left such a lasting impression, it was difficult to separate her from the part. Talk about judging a book by it’s cover!

At the risk of not being type-casted and missing the opportunity, Reese’s management encouraged her to kick things up a notch during auditions. She recalled:

“My manager finally called and said, ‘You’ve got to go meet with the studio head because he will not approve you. He thinks you really are your character from Election and that you’re repellent.’ And then I was told to dress sexy.“

As if the Golden Globe nominee’s sheer talent wasn’t enough! Unfortunately, though, we’re not entirely surprised to hear this kind of approach considering sex appeal does sell and this was years before more nuanced conversations about women in Hollywood were taking place.

Reese explained that at the time, she was a young mom to her and then-husband Ryan Phillippe‘s daughter, Ava Phillippe, and desperately needed more financial support. The desire to provide influenced her to go out for the part despite the icky circumstances:

“And you’re 23, you have a baby at home, you need the money and you’re being told that by people who know what they’re doing. It’s funny to think of all the things we were told to do back then because now you’re thinking, ‘Oh, God, if somebody told my daughter to do that, she’d be like, ‘I really hope you’re joking.'”

Unfortunately, the experience was as problematic as expected by the time she got in the audition room:

“I remember a room full of men who were asking me questions about being a coed and being in a sorority, even though I had dropped out of [Stanford University] four years earlier and I have never been inside a sorority house.”

Reese Witherspoon encountered sexism early on in her career. / (c) WENN/Instar

As our readers know, the thespian eventually got the part and the rest became history! After starring in the 2001 hit film, Witherspoon executive produced and starred in the sequel, Legally Blonde 2, two years later.

These days, the Cruel Intentions alum appears to still be at the top of her game! She’s got a heavy workload serving as a cast member and executive producer for HBO‘s Big Little Lies and an upcoming miniseries, Little Fires Everywhere, among other projects.

Did we forget to mention the starlet is raking in a $2 million payout per episode starring alongside Jennifer Aniston on their new Apple TV gig, The Morning Show? Cha-ching!

At THR‘s Women in Entertainment event this week, the Emmy winning actress described how she learned to turn past negative criticism into positive and empowering self-motivation:

“The definition of the word ‘shrew’ as pertains to a woman is technically ‘a woman of violent temper and speech.’ Which nowadays I understand to be a woman who speaks her mind and raises her voice against the system which underestimates her. So I would like to just say ‘Thank you. I am a shrew.’ Be the first person to say, ‘Hi.’ Send the first email. Break the silence in a room. Ask the first question. Embrace your inner shrew and do something.”

Perezcious readers, got anything to say about this? Sound OFF in the comments with your best Elle Woods-esque reaction!

[Image via YouTube]