Reese Witherspoon has admitted that hosting the first Saturday Night Live after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 was “too much responsibility” for a young star.
The Legally Blonde star, 49, spoke on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast on Monday to explain that she was originally scheduled to be the host of that season’s premiere episode until it was canceled and pushed to September 29 in the wake of the attacks.
“[SNL creator] Lorne Michaels called me, and he said, ‘I really need you to show up. I really, really need this. Rudy Giuliani is gonna be here. All the firefighters are gonna be here. Paul Simon is gonna be here,’” she said on the podcast. “‘I just need you to come out and do something a little light and tell America that we gotta laugh again. We’ve got to get back the national spirit.’”
At the time, Witherspoon was only 24 years old and felt a large amount of pressure to follow through on the commitment.
“I also had a baby. I had a 1-year-old. I was a new mom. I had the biggest movie come out that summer,” she referred to her 26-year-old daughter, Ava, and her hit 2001 movie Legally Blonde.
Michaels did let Witherspoon know that she was allowed to back out if she “didn’t want to do” the show, but she chose not to “quit.”
“But we did it. And it was good. And it was Amy Poehler‘s first show, Seth [Meyers],” she said.
Throughout the live taping, The Morning Show actor continued saying she “completely left [her] body.” She did not end up hosting the sketch comedy show again for almost another 15 years, with her most recent episode being in May 2015 during season 40.
“It’s not the show’s fault. It was just too much responsibility for a 24-year-old girl,” Witherspoon added.
Throughout her opening 2001 monologue, the actor did not mention the events of 9-11, which some staff members of the show at the time did not agree with.
“Not only was she not addressing 9-11, but, we’re going in the opposite direction. We’re not saying terrorism. We’re having a host that’s telling an old joke about a polar bear,” previous SNL writer Hugh Fink told Rolling Stone for an oral history of the episode for its 20th anniversary, noting that Witherspoon’s monologue was a “disconnect” overall.
The devastating event was later acknowledged by the then-mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, who made a speech surrounded by first responders.
