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WHAT, LIKE IT'S HARD?

‘Legally Blonde’ Reboot Star Roasted for Looking ‘Nothing Like Reese’

The 25-year-old actress claims people have noted their resemblance for years.

Cailey PetschHealth and Beauty Intern

PublishedJun 18, 2026, 4:32 PM EDT

UpdatedJun 18, 2026, 4:32 PM EDT

Updated Jun 18, 2026, 4:32 PM EDTPublished Jun 18, 2026, 4:32 PM EDT

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In her Harvard graduation speech, Legally Blonde’s protagonist Elle Woods states, “First impressions are not always correct.” Unfortunately, it may be difficult to change fans’ poor first impression of the actress taking over the iconic role originally portrayed by Reese Witherspoon.

In the 2001 blockbuster, Witherspoon played loveable law student Elle Woods. After a bad breakup, the pink-loving sorority sister sets her sights on Harvard Law School, where she gradually realizes her natural courtroom talents.

Lexi Minetree, 25, will play a teenage version of the peppy blonde in the upcoming Prime Video prequel series, Elle.

It is by far the biggest acting gig to date for the young star, whose latest projects include the 2023 drama The Paramedic Who Stalked Me and 2025’s My Amish Double Life, both made-for-TV movies for Lifetime. In 2024, she appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a law student, possibly foreshadowing her future role.

On July 17, Minetree appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote the series ahead of its July 1 premiere.

​“Elle [the series] is a prequel to the Legally Blonde movies, and you play Elle, who is Elle Woods, who is played by Reese Witherspoon,” Fallon told Minetree. “And you have a good look—you look like Reese Witherspoon.”

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​The audience remained silent as Minetree thanked the host.

Fallon continued, “Have you heard that before?”

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The Elle star jokingly replied, “Never, never,” while flashing a smile and nodding her head.

Witherspoon was 24 while filming her breakout role—nearly the same as Minetree. According to fans, that’s where their similarities end.

​“No, it’s actually spooky, because even when I was brunette, random people would come up to me and say, ‘You know who you look like? You look like Reese Witherspoon,’” Minetree, a Georgia native, said as she switched to a Southern accent.

​The actress continues to say that she thanked those who made this comparison because it was a “huge compliment.”

During her monumental primary talk show appearance, Minetree wore a Reese Witherspoon red carpet hand-me-down.

The pink-and-black mini mermaid dress was a Legally Blonde artifact.

​“I mean, please, this is actually even more bizarre,” Fallon said, holding up a photo. “The beautiful dress you’re wearing right now was the same dress that Reese Witherspoon wore at the Legally Blonde premiere 25 years ago.”

​Following the late-night appearance, viewers voiced discontent for Minetree’s casting, flooding the comment section of an interview clip posted to Instagram with their frustration.

“I don’t see the resemblance at all,” one commenter wrote.

“She looks nothing like Reese,” another said, adding, “but she is pretty.”

​A few fans defended the actress’s likeness, but most appeared to struggle with finding parallels.

“You don’t look anything like Reese Witherspoon,” one fan wrote, to which another said, “[She] doesn’t have to, but she got a role anyway, and Reese is the one who chose her.”

​Minetree had creatively filmed her audition for the role in the style of Elle Woods’s Harvard application video. After an influx of submitted tapes, Witherspoon made the final casting decision.

Minetree told Fallon, “I edited it, I put music behind it, spent hours. I was like, you know what, casting probably won’t ever see it, because I think everyone and their mother was probably applying, but if they do see it, I think they might like it.”

​In February, Witherspoon personally informed Minetree that she had gotten the part.

The young actress posted the conversation in an Instagram reel, in which she calls her mother to share the good news. On speakerphone, her mom says, “Y’all sound exactly alike.”

​Witherspoon responds, “Isn’t it crazy? When I saw her tape, I was like, ‘Are we the same person? This is so weird.’”

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Cailey PetschHealth and Beauty Intern

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