Reese Witherspoon Recalls Parking Denzel Washington's Porsche as Teen Intern: 'Stripped All the Gears'
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Reese Witherspoon and Denzel Washington go way back!
The Your Place or Mine actress, 46, is opening up again about her time parking the Training Day actor's Porsche when she was an intern — and this time, her story ends with a surprise twist.
On Thursday's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Witherspoon spoke about her stint as a pre-production intern on Washington's 1995 film Devil in a Blue Dress, when she was still a teenager and already parking expensive cars.
"Whenever Denzel came in, I had to park his Porsche. Which is not a good idea for a 17-year-old kid with a brand-new drivers license. Oh my God, I stripped all the gears, it was terrible," she said.
Witherspoon then told host Jimmy Kimmel that Washington, 68, eventually heard her tell the story himself and approached her with some insight she wasn't aware of — as it turns out, one of Washington's daughters assisted the actress years later!
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Michael Loccisano/Getty, Michael Loccisano/Getty Denzel Washington; Reese Witherspoon
"But the funny story is I saw him a few years ago at a wedding," Witherspoon said. "And he's like, 'I heard you tell this story about how you used to park my Porsche.' And I was like, 'Yes, I did.' And he's like, 'But, did you know, your costumes for [2011's] Water for Elephants, who took them in and out of your trailer?' No, I have no idea. He's [like], 'My daughter.' "
"And I was like, 'That is amazing.' So it [was] full circle," she continued.
After Witherspoon revealed the full-circle moment, Kimmel, 55, joked, "You should let her ruin your car. It's only fair." Witherspoon wasn't totally opposed to the idea, either, explaining that now one of her kids has to intern for Washington and "destroy" his next vehicle as tradition.
Witherspoon's Kimmel appearance was also in promotion of her upcoming Netflix film Your Place or Mine, which she stars in alongside Ashton Kutcher. In the movie, she and Kutcher, 44, appear as "best friends and total opposites" who learn a valuable lesson from a life-swapping reality check.
"She craves routine with her son in L.A.; he thrives on change in N.Y.," reads an official Netflix logline. "When they swap houses and lives for a week, they discover what they think they want might not be what they really need."
Kutcher, who compared working with Witherspoon in the rom-com to "hanging out with a best friend," previously told PEOPLE that signing onto the movie an "easy" decision, as he "finally got the opportunity" to collaborate with Witherspoon and writer Aline Brosh McKenna, "two women I have wanted to work with for years."
Witherspoon added that McKenna's "writing is so buoyant, hysterically funny and easy to relate to."
"When I read the part of Debbie, I immediately felt like she was an old friend I had known forever," she said. "Feeling vulnerable about getting older, wanting to reach for her dreams but always playing it safe so she doesn't get hurt."
The movie also stars Jesse Williams, Zoë Chao, Wesley Kimmel, Griffin Matthews, Rachel Bloom, Shiri Appleby, Vella Lovell, Tig Notaro and Steve Zahn.
Your Place or Mine is streaming Feb. 10 on Netflix.
