Christina Applegate on Turning Down 'Legally Blonde,' Explains RuPaul 'Jerk' Comment

Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini really love one another, which could be why they trashed each other throughout their appearance on "Watch What Happens Live" while talking about "Legally Blonde," "Freaks and Geeks" and why Christina was such a "jerk."

The actresses and close friends nearly co-starred in the Reese Witherspoon film "Legally Blonde," but Christina wanted to make it very clear that she didn't turn down the role. At least, not exactly.

"The story's been out there but I wasn't like actually offered it," she explained. "The script came to me, but at that time I had just gotten off of 'Married... with Children' and I felt like it was too close to what I had just been doing."

She was worried about being typecast as that kind of blonde bimbo stereotype, which is reasonable after a decade as Kelly Bundy. So does she have any regrets?

"No," she insisted. "I don't regret it because Reese Witherspoon did a much better job than I ever could and she has now way more money than I do and way more success. And so why would I even regret that?" She said this last with a wry smile.

It makes perfect sense, though, when you consider that this was the same time she was a self-describe "jerk," per what she called herself on RuPaul's podcast recently. She did seek to clarify the comment, though, in that she wasn't necessarily referring to "jerk" in the way most people might think of a rich, young Hollywood star.

"I think I was a jerk towards what all of this meant," she said, gesturing around Andy Cohen's studio. "Like, they wanted me to go on this thing or this thing and I was like, 'I don't do that kind of stuff. I want to do independent films.'"

But that youthful snootiness never carried over into her relationships with and treatment of the people working around her. "I was always told that you have to be professional and kind and loving to everyone that's around you and that everyone's working harder than you are," she said. "And so I've always kept that as part of my work ethic."

A funny -- but sad -- anecdote came out during an otherwise fairly standard game of "Never Have I Ever" in the dark. Andy gave the ladies each a flashlight to turn on if they'd ever done any of the things he listed off. The end result is that either the women have been pretty good throughout their careers, or they're not fessing up to everything.

But Linda's awkward moment came when Andy asked if either of them had gone to the theater to see one of their own movies. Christina said she'd never done it by staying in the dark, but Linda lit up to confess that she'd actually gone to see the movie Christina didn't do.

"I went to go see 'Legally Blonde' because I missed the premiere," she explained. But it wasn't the positive experience she was probably going for. "When I came on-screen someone went, '(gasp), ew!' And it really hurt my feelings," she laughed.

At the same time, she had to admit, "That's kind of what I was going for.

Linda also added some texture to another sad story from her career, this one about the moment she found out her TV series "Freaks and Geeks" had been canceled. As reported, she found out just before she was going to go on David Letterman's late-night show. But she didn't quite get it.

"I really, really wanted to be on David Letterman; that was like one of my all-time dreams," she said. "I got off the plane and I was sitting in the limo and I got a phone call and they said they show's been canceled and my first thought was, 'Oh my god, David Letterman's been canceled.'"

Alas, that wasn't the case at all and "Freaks and Geeks" would get canceled after airing only 12 of its 18 total episodes. Nevertheless the critically-acclaimed cult classic launched its young cast into stardom, including Cardellini, Busy Philipps, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and James Franco.

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