Reese Witherspoon Reveals Hilarious Jury Duty Moment When She Was Mistaken for a Real Lawyer
Reese Witherspoon may have played a lawyer in Legally Blonde, but it turns out, some people took her character a little too seriously! The Hollywood starlet recently shared a hilarious story on The Graham Norton Show, where she was mistaken for a real-life lawyer while serving jury duty.
In her classic, down-to-earth style, Reese shared how, years after Legally Blonde took the world by storm, she was called to serve as part of a Beverly Hills jury. “Listen, I did not want to do jury duty,” she admitted, laughing. “But I remember… it was probably seven years after Legally Blonde, I got called for jury duty and it was in Beverly Hills. I thought, ‘Surely they’re not gonna pick me.”
Well, they did. And it wasn’t just any jury duty—it was a two-week dog bite case. “They picked me for a long trial, y’all. It was probably two weeks,” Reese explained.
When the jury went into deliberation, Reese got voted as the foreman because they were convinced she was a lawyer. “We went to deliberation and so at the very end they say, ‘OK, well somebody in this group has to be the foreman.’ And they all unanimously are like, ‘Her,’” the 48-year-old recalled.
“Me! Me?” she asked in disbelief. “They were like, ‘You went to law school.’ I was like, ‘Y’all, this is really upsetting. I definitely did not go to law school, I didn’t finish college.”
The Louisiana-born celebrity had to break the news that, despite her impressive portrayal of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, she wasn’t actually a Harvard Law grad in real life. “I played a lawyer in a movie once,” she joked. “But they fully made me the foreman. And I started realizing, people don’t know much about the law.”
The story is classic Reese—charming, funny, and totally relatable. Who could blame the jurors, though? With Reese’s standout performance as Elle Woods in the iconic 2001 film, it’s easy to see how they might have confused her for a legal expert. After all, Elle is one of the most iconic, pink-loving lawyers to ever hit the big screen.
Rumor has it Reese isn’t done with Elle just yet. Talks of a Legally Blonde 3 have been circulating for years. In May 2024, Reese shared a video on social media where she dressed up as Elle Woods and teased the upcoming show. “Before she became the most famous Gemini vegetarian to graduate from Harvard Law, she was just a regular ‘90s high school girl. And all of you are going to get to know her, next year on @primevideo ✨ I’M SO EXCITED!” Reese exclaimed.
