America's Sweetheart Reese Witherspoon was arrested two weeks ago for sassing the cops when her husband was nailed for drunk driving.

Witherspoon later apologized via her publicist, but she's now spoken on-camera about the incident.

In her own words, Witherspoon described the night in question to Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos:

"It was one of those nights. We went out to dinner in Atlanta, and we had one too many glasses of wine, and we thought we were fine to drive, and we absolutely were not, and it’s just completely unacceptable, and we are so sorry and embarrassed, and we know better, and we shouldn’t have done that."

When asked why she pulled the uncharacteristic-for-her "do you know who I am?" card, Witherspoon replied:

"I have no idea what I was saying that night. When I saw him arresting my husband, I literally panicked, and I said all kinds of crazy things. I told him I was pregnant! I’m not pregnant. I said crazy things. If you hear me laughing, it’s only because I have no idea what I was talking about.

"I am so sorry, and I was so disrespectful to [the arresting officer], and I have police officers in my family. I work with police officers every day. I know better. And it’s just unacceptable."

Hard as the media glare has been, the Oscar-winning actress says explaining the situation to her children was even worse, but apparently it was one of those teachable moments -- for everyone.

“There are so many lessons learned … When a police officer tells you to stay in the car, you stay in the car. I learned that for sure," she explained, wryly adding, "I think I played a lawyer in a movie so many times, I think I am a lawyer."

More From The New 96.1 WTSS