The Original "Legally Blonde" Ending Didn't Include Elle Woods' Iconic Valedictorian Speech

It's been 20 years since Legally Blonde's Elle Woods ditched post-grad sorority life and a prospective career in fashion merchandising to attend Harvard Law School — at first, all in pursuit of guy who broke up with her because she was a just little bit too Marilyn, not quite enough Jackie, for him and his super serious career plan.

Of course, Elle (played by Reese Witherspoon) found success at Harvard without sacrificing her love of scented resumes or the color pink.

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She landed a coveted internship, helped solve a murder case, and gloriously turned down her ex's eventual attempt at reconciliation.

Legally Blonde's final scene sees Elle standing before her class at graduation, delivering the valedictorian speech.

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It was the ultimate conclusion to a film that would go on to receive praise for its feminist lessons, but it actually wasn't supposed to wrap up this way.

Members of Legally Blonde's cast and crew shared details about its rewritten final scenes during a New York Times interview this week, and each draft was so different from the one that appears onscreen.

"The first ending was Elle and Vivian [Selma Blair] in Hawaii in beach chairs, drinking margaritas and holding hands," said actor Jessica Cauffiel, who played one of Elle's friends. "The insinuation was either they were best friends or they had gotten together romantically."

"The second or third ending was a musical number on the courtroom steps, and as Elle came out, the judge, jury and everybody in the courtroom broke into song and dance," she continued. "I've been waiting for somebody to leak that for 20 years."

All very interesting ideas, but personally, I'm glad they went with this one.

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You can read the full New York Times interview here.