Reese Witherspoon Screamed Like She ‘Was Going to Die’ When ‘Magnificent’ Kate Middleton Invited Her to a Fundraiser
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle aren’t the only royal family members rubbing elbows with Hollywood celebrities. Reese Witherspoon revealed that Kate Middleton once invited her to a fundraiser, and in response, she screamed so loud that a bystander might have thought something terrible was happening.
Learn more about the invite, the day Witherspoon met “compassionate, socially conscious, deeply caring” Kate, and what the actor’s husband calls the child-like smile she flashed when making acquaintance with the Princess of Wales.
Kate Middleton invited Reese Witherspoon to a fundraiser
Witherspoon shared the story of Kate’s invite in her book Whiskey in a Teacup, revealing Kate and Prince William requested her presence at a fundraiser in Los Angeles. This happened in 2011, shortly after William and Kate’s historic wedding.
“The scream that issued from my lips upon receiving [the invitation] — you would have thought I was going to die,” Witherspoon wrote (per Marie Claire). She noted that she usually gets up early but was up extra early on that big day.
“‘I’ve never seen you this excited,’” my husband said. He wasn’t kidding,” she recalled, adding he took photos on the way. “You can see rays of happiness shooting out of my face. I love Kate Middleton that much.”
Reese Witherspoon said Kate Middleton ‘did not disappoint’ her
It sounds like Kate had a lot to live up to, but Witherspoon shared in Whiskey in a Teacup that the then-Duchess of Cambridge “did not disappoint” her. “She was just lovely and warm, elegant and composed,” she listed, adding the royal has a sense of humor.
“She also told a joke, and I immediately fell under her spell,” the Legally Blonde star confessed. “She’s just as magnificent as she seems to be. She’s a very compassionate, socially conscious, deeply caring person.”
That’s a lot of love for Kate, but Witherspoon wasn’t done there. She knows what it’s like to live life in the spotlight, and she shared that she admires how the royal handles it all in regal stride. “It takes a very special person to decide to commit to that kind of life, to choose to be under public scrutiny every moment,” she explained.
“Now that she’s in that position, her entire life is in service, forever,” Witherspoon wrote. “I am so in awe of that kind of dedication.”
Reese Witherspoon said meeting Kate Middleton was ‘like Christmas’
While chatting with Ellen DeGeneres about her encounter with Kate, Witherspoon said she flashed what her husband Jim Toth calls her “double barrel” smile because she was so excited. “That’s when I smile so big I look like a child,” she explained.
After a picture of Witherspoon’s grin at Kate was displayed on the screen, she confirmed, “That’s it,” and added she looked like “it was Christmas or something.”
DeGeneres commented on Witherspoon’s apparent happiness in the photo, and the actor declared she was “so excited to meet her,” noting, “She’s so pretty.”
