NEWSLegally Blonde: The Search For Elle Wood's winner makes her debut!
July 28 2008, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Ya'll know how much I love my Broadway.
When MTV's reality competition, Legally Blonde: The Musical, The Search for Elle Woods, announced 20-year-old preacher's daughter Bailey Hanks as the winner, I had my front-row tix in hand.
I took along my fellow fanatics, OK!'s Rob Shuter and Rana Meyer to see Bailey in her Broadway debut.
We scored a few minutes with Broadway's newest darling after she received a standing ovation.
"I really wasn't nervous. I was so excited and ready for this moment," Bailey shared.
Bailey had to keep the secret that she'd be stepping in the role of Elle since the the reality competition finished taping last March.
"I grew up in a small town. When I saw people, they'd ask, 'Did you win?'
"When I had to move to New York City for the role, it got really difficult. I just told people I was going there for opportunities that had come up from doing the show."
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Speaking of the reality competition, Bailey wanted to set the record straight about her tear-inducing haircut.
"Of course a girl is attached to her hair." Bailey said. "But more or less it was me being very emotional. I was missing my family, and I wanted to talk to them. We didn't get to talk to our families the entire process."
But it was worth it for Bailey, whose family came to see her opening night.
There are two more people Bailey would love to see in Legally Blonde: The Musical audience.
"Reese Witherspoon (who played Elle in the movie), is a phenomenal actress," said Bailey. "She's such a classy, beautiful person, and she's from the south."
And the other?
"Justin Timberlake. If I saw him in the audience, I would probably pass out."
To catch Bailey in Legally Blonde: The Musical, click here.
