She now calls her decision a "stupid move," but says Reese Witherspoon "deserved" it.
How's this for a little movie trivia?
Christina Applegate had the chance to bend and snap as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.
At the Los Angeles premiere of her new movie, Vacation, on Monday, the 43-year-old actress dished to ETonline that she "got scared" of the role that was eventually made famous by Reese Witherspoon in the hit 2001 comedy.
"The script came along my way and it was right after I had just finished, Married [...with Children], and it was a blonde who in that first script didn't win it but ends up going to Yale, or Harvard, I don't remember," Applegate revealed. "I got scared of kind of repeating myself."
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While Applegate, understandably, was hesitant to play another ditzy blonde like she did for 10 years as Kelly Bundy on Married… with Children, she now admits that turning the part down may not have been the wisest decision.
"What a stupid move that was, right?" she said.
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But like any actress who passes on a part, or simply doesn't get it, Applegate is definitely happy with the way Legally Blonde turned out. "Reese deserved that. She did a much better job than I ever could, and so that's her life," she explained. "That's her path."
For Applegate, her path landed her the hilarious role of Debbie Griswold in Vacation, out in theaters on July 29. Check out how the cast of the reboot geeked out over working with the original stars in the video below.