Reese Witherspoon recounts how her ‘Legally Blonde’ role once complicated things at jury duty

Reese Witherspoon poses for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film 'You Are Cordially Invited' on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

It’s a civic duty that everyone eventually has to deal with – even movie stars – but Reese Witherspoon had a particularly interesting story to share when it comes to jury duty.

On Friday night‘s episode of “The Graham Norton Show,” Witherspoon shared how she once had to serve on the jury for a two-week dog bite trial in Beverly Hills a few years after her movie “Legally Blonde” came out.

When the time came for deliberation and the jury had to pick a foreman, Witherspoon recalled how everyone unanimously pointed at her.

“Me! Me!” she exclaimed, pointing at herself, while fellow guest Ariana Grande seemed to not be shocked at all, saying, “Well, yeah.”

“I was like, ‘Why did you pick me?!” Witherspoon responded. “And they were like, ‘You went to law school.’”

This was, of course, is a reference to her turn as Elle Woods in the 2001 film “Legally Blonde,” in which she gets into Harvard Law school to be close to the man she loves (“What, like it’s hard?”).

She then said she explained to her fellow jurors that she “definitely did not go to law school,” and that she didn’t finish college. “Like, I played a lawyer in a movie once!”

Witherspoon went on to say how important it is to serve on a jury, since “some bad stuff goes down in there” because “people do not know much about the law.” Regarding the case, she explained how some of the jury wanted to convict the defendant because they didn’t like the way she looked.

When her fellow guest Will Ferrell asked what the verdict was, Witherspoon explained how at the end of it all, it became a simple matter of someone breaking the very basic rule to never put your hand in a dogfight. “What did your mother always tell you, don’t put your hand in a dogfight!” Witherspoon said.

Ferrell then joked, “I have always told my children, ‘Put your hands in dogfights!’ I feel terrible!”

Witherspoon and Ferrell are soon to team up in the new Amazon Prime wedding comedy “You’re Cordially Invited,” out January 30.