{"id":803937,"date":"2026-07-16T12:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803937\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T12:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:44:18","slug":"lexi-minetree-the-star-of-legally-blonde-prequel-reveals-the-advice-she-was-given-by-reese-witherspoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803937\/","title":{"rendered":"Lexi Minetree: The star of Legally Blonde prequel reveals the advice she was given by Reese Witherspoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s been a quarter of a century since the sparky, Chihuahua-toting criminal defence lawyer Elle Woods first charmed a generation of Millennials in the 2001 hit Legally Blonde, turning the blonde bimbo stereotype on its coiffed head.<\/p>\n

Despite being just a few months old when the original film premiered, American actor Lexi Minetree \u2013 the star of the film\u2019s TV series prequel Elle \u2013 grew up watching Reese Witherspoon\u2019s iconic character.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw the movie, I misunderstood it, as a lot of people do. You think you\u2019re watching a girl who is very ditzy and following a man, and then she learns to overcome these expectations. When in reality, I think Elle is capable from the get-go,\u201d says Minetree, who is now 25, the same age Witherspoon was when the role shot her to fame.<\/p>\n

\"LexiLexi Minetree as Elle Woods with puppy Bruiser.Prime Video\/AP\"\u201cBoth\u201cBoth of us are very silly. We both are very hardworking. We love our friends,\u201d Minetree says of her similarities to her character.Jessica Brooks\/Prime<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is very smart. She gets a 179 on her LSAT [Law School Admission Test]. That\u2019s a really good score to get [just one point shy of a perfect 180], and she does that even before the arc of her character growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minetree (pronounced MIN-eh-tree) is sitting in a suite at Sydney\u2019s Intercontinental Hotel. She\u2019s weeks into a gruelling global press tour (styled exclusively in pink), but on this rainy Thursday afternoon, outfitted in a musk and green beaded mini dress, she\u2019s beaming. It\u2019s her first time in Australia, and she turns to look out the window at the famous Sydney vista behind her. \u201cMy security guy, Andrew, was saying that people climb the bridge over there. And I want to do that really bad,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

For Minetree, the film has morphed from being just a fuzzy childhood watch to her entire world. She has now watched Legally Blonde hundreds of times more, studying the character\u2019s micro expressions (eager, expressive), gait (bouncy, assured) and intonation (bubbly, airy) with forensic-level fervour to prepare.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I start getting into her, she lifts me up,\u201d says Minetree. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the adrenaline rush or what, but she always lifted my spirits whenever I got to play her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set in 1995, the show, which has already been commissioned for season two, follows a young Elle Woods, whose family is forced to flee California to the grungy streets of Seattle after her cosmetic surgeon father botches a famous client\u2019s nose job.<\/p>\n

\"LexiLexi Minetree stars as the teenage version of Legally Blonde\u2019s Elle Woods in the prequel series Elle. Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n

Elle\u2019s sunny disposition initially grates with her Nirvana-loving, feminist-card-toting classmates, but, as in the original, she eventually wins everyone over with her tenacity and kindheartedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I\u2019ve seen it, it\u2019s about someone who knows they\u2019re capable of things, because they\u2019ve achieved hard things before,\u201d says Minetree. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be people out there who judge you based on how you look or what they think you are like, but ultimately, it only matters what you think and that if you\u2019re true to yourself, people will start to recognise that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series grapples with heavier themes such as grief, as well as tackling sexual identity in a more nuanced way than the original by putting queer characters front and centre (Minetree admits some gay jokes in Legally Blonde have not aged well). \u201cThe show is obviously showing the \u201990s, but it\u2019s also to me, what the \u201990s maybe could have been [aspirationally] if we had more openness,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Minetree thinks the feminist politics of the original have stood up well \u2013 even if the \u201cblonde bimbo stereotype\u201d may not be entirely gone from pop culture. She even studied real-life, misunderstood \u201cbimbos\u201d of the 2000s \u2013 Britney Spears and Paris Hilton \u2013 for the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018respect them\u2019. But I think that Elle Woods shows a woman who is trying to escape that stereotype,\u201d says Minetree. \u201cThe world constantly underestimates women, particularly very feminine-looking women, and I think that\u2019s such a shame because we\u2019re so much more than our looks.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Alex<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re putting care into aesthetics, then what\u2019s not to say that you\u2019re not going to put care into your job or care into your family and friends. So, the movie also shows, \u2018Hey, this thing about her is actually what makes her stand out and gives her a leg up over other people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Minetree says Elle\u2019s experience of constantly coming up against the odds \u2013 and sometimes failing \u2013 was all too familiar. \u201cI\u2019m an actor, we get rejected for a living,\u201d she quips.<\/p>\n

To nab the role, Minetree pulled out all the stops, donning a pink bikini and re-creating Elle\u2019s now iconic Harvard Admission\u2019s video essay<\/a> with her own twists (\u201call those in favour of Lexi being the next Elle Woods, say aye\u201d).<\/p>\n

And it worked.<\/p>\n

\"Minetree,Minetree, wearing the same Marc Jacobs dress Reese Witherspoon wore to the 2001 Legally Blonde premiere, with her predecessor in New York City in June.Getty Images\"Minetree,Minetree, as Elle Woods, with Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael as her parents Wyatt and Eva, in Elle. <\/p>\n

Minetree beat 5000 other hopefuls, having been hand-picked by Witherspoon, whose production company, Hello Sunshine, is behind the series. Witherspoon even captured the moment Minetree was cast on Instagram. \u201cWhen I saw her tape, I was like, \u2018Are we the same person? This is so weird\u2019,\u201d Witherspoon said.<\/p>\n

Minetree, who is a year younger than Witherspoon\u2019s daughter Ava, says the veteran actor doled out some motherly advice. \u201cShe really emphasised taking care of myself, mentally, spiritually, physically. It was a marathon of a shooting process because I was there for 15 months, 16 hours a day,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Despite her uncanny portrayal of the bubbly blonde, Minetree says they\u2019re not as similar as some may think \u2013 for one, she is not a Gemini, nor is she a vegetarian.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of us are very silly. We both are very hardworking. We love our friends,\u201d she says, adding: \u201cBut I\u2019m more chill than she is. Aesthetically we\u2019re very different. I like a boho, silly vibe. I wear ridiculous T-shirts and skirts and purples and greens and browns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minetree is also a natural brunette. Fortuitously, she dyed her hair blonde a few months before auditioning for Elle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I dress like Elle, I feel like a different person. I can feel my posture getting better. But in terms of how people have perceived me, mostly it\u2019s stayed the same,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"MinetreeMinetree and Gabrielle Policano as her grungy musician classmate Liz in Elle.<\/p>\n

Their high school experiences are also where their stories diverge. Minetree was, by her own admission, less future sorority president and more of a nerd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was insufferable, that\u2019s what I was,\u201d Minetree jokes. \u201cNo, I was a big theatre kid. I was drama club president, thespian vice president. I loved my [Nintendo] DS. I was a big teacher\u2019s pet \u2013 I did 13 Advanced Placement classes [college level classes offered in American high schools]. I was a try-hard. And I had a giant side part coming out the side of my ear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick<\/p>\n

As the series lead, Elle is a firm breakout role for the actor, and a sharp left from her previous film and TV credits \u2013 including small roles in Law & Order SVU and The Murdaugh Murders \u2013 which are more scream queen than sorority queen.<\/p>\n

Minetree also has an upcoming part alongside Nicole Kidman in horror filmmaker Osgood Perkins\u2019 The Young People (coincidentally, Perkins appeared in the original Legally Blonde film).<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore this, I would have sworn on my life I was a dramatic actor. I was always being attacked, stalked, running for my life in the hospital. I have a victim face, apparently,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Tapping into a bouncier, more comedic side (or her inner blonde), then, was a welcome change. \u201cI didn\u2019t know I had that in me. People are saying I\u2019m funny and I\u2019m like, \u2018Wait you guys, what?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Like her predecessor Witherspoon, Minetree is a southern girl. The eldest of four, she was raised in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, by two accountant parents who have since divorced but with whom she remains close. \u201cMy mum really instilled my work ethic, and my dad really instilled my sense of humour. So I think both of those combined helped me with the project,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school, she double majored in theatre and public relations at the University of Southern California (funnily enough, where much of the original Legally Blonde film was shot).<\/p>\n

Her younger sister, 10 years her junior, looks set to follow in her footsteps, having starred in a high school production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, which Minetree was in the audience for while shooting the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did a [Elle] watch party with 20 of her friends, and my stepmum would send me videos of their reactions after each episode. It was, like, the best experience of my life,\u201d says Minetree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were all screaming over each other about all the plot twists and who they were mad at that episode. To me, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about \u2013 let\u2019s bring girls together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elle is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. <\/p>\n

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