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Vanity Fair
Everyone, of course, knows Reese Witherspoon, but did you know that’s not exactly her real name?
For those of you who didn’t know, the actress revealed she was born Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon in a recent Vanity Fair interview … while sitting down for a one-on-one chat with her good buddy, Nicole Kidman, to reminisce about shooting their TV series, “Big Little Lies,” with costar Laura Dern.
At some point during their discussion, Witherspoon brought up that she shares the same first name as Dern. Here was her back and forth with Kidman about the big reveal.
Kidman says, “I hate how you call her Dern though. It sounds weird. I’m always like, ‘Laura’ and you’re like, ‘No, Dern, Dern, Dern.'”
Witherspoon then replies, “Do you know why? Because my name is Laura and her name is Laura and it’s confusing to me.'”
Kidman remembers Reese isn’t actually Reese, and Witherspoon continues, “So I get confused and so I call her Dern because we can’t both be Laura.”
The convo went on a bit more about Witherspoon’s real name … but you get the gist. Check out the clip for yourself, It’s worth the watch.
Anyway, mystery solved! However, it’s unclear why Witherspoon changed her name at the start of her Hollywood career.
Daily Mail reported that it had something to do with taking her mom’s maiden name, which helped propel Witherspoon to stardom, but we haven’t been able to confirm that.