Christina Applegate regrets passing on 'Legally Blonde'

LOS ANGELES, July 30 (UPI) -- Christina Applegate says she wishes she hadn't passed on Legally Blonde.

The 43-year-old actress revealed as much in an interview with Entertainment Tonight this week. Applegate had the chance to pursue the role of Elle Woods, but was reluctant to play a character similar to her Kelly Bundy on Married with Children.

"The script came along by way, and it was right after I just finished Married, and it was a blonde who was in that first script dimwitted but ends up going to Harvard," the star recalled. "I got scared. I got scared of repeating myself. What a stupid move that was, right?"

"Reese [Witherspoon] deserved [the part], and she did a much better job than I ever could," she lauded. The movie catapulted Witherspoon to greater fame and was a box office and critical success, earning over $141 million in theaters.

To clarify I did not pass on that movie. The script came my way. It was never offered to me. Gotta clear that up.

— christina applegate (@1capplegate) July 29, 2015

Applegate instead went on to star in such movies as The Sweetest Thing and Anchorman. The actress most recently appeared in National Lampoon film Vacation, which opened Wednesday, and is scheduled for Youth in Oregon with Billy Crudup.