Fans in disbelief as Reese Witherspoon’s real name revealed to be a common 80s one-Laura Harman-Entertainment – Metro

Reese Witherspoon’s real name has been revealed and fans are shocked (Picture: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock for SAG)

Reese Witherspoon has shocked fans by simply revealing her first name – and it isn’t Reese.

Since the noughties, Reese, 48, has been a beloved A-lister with iconic rom-coms under her belt such as Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama.

She has since become a television fixture with programmes including Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere and The Morning Show capturing the hearts of fans in recent years.

She also has her own production company funding TV shows and films based on books from her bookclub – most recently including Where the Crawdads Sing.

With her incredible fame and success, you’d have thought that most of us would know her name by now – but many were surprised to learn she’s not actually called Reese.

The actress appeared on Vanity Fair with Nicole Kidman and spoke about why she calls Laura Dern by her surname.

Nicole said in the interview: ‘I hate how you call her Dern,’ adding that it ‘sounds weird.’

Laura and Reese worked on Big Little Lies together (Picture: Broadimage/REX/Shutterstock)

‘I’m gonna tell you why,’ said Reese. ‘Because my name is Laura, and her name is Laura and it’s confusing to me. My real name is Laura Jeanne.’

Nicole seemed as if she’d only just remembered this fact about her Big Little Lies co-star and said: ‘That’s right! So you call her Dern.’

The name Reese is actually the actress’s mother’s maiden name, which she used instead of Laura or Laura Jeanne when she began her acting career back in the 90s.

Reese pictured in 1998 when she was beginning her career (Picture: Bei/REX/Shutterstock)

Fans of the actress were surprised to discover her real name and took to social media to express their shock.

‘I was today years old when I found out Reese’s real name is Laura lmao,’ said Lee.f.johnson.

‘Wait her name isn’t Reese 😐😐😐😐,’ said Michkapmv.

The name Laura was hugely popular in the 1980s in the US and remained popular in the UK along with other versions such as Lauren in the 1990s.

In the past 30 years, the name has dropped out of popularity ranking as the 365th most popular girl name in the US after peaking at the 14th in 1985.

The star began acting when she was a teenager in 1991 (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Nicole, Reese and Laura all starred in the comedy-drama series, Big Little Lies, which was released in 2017 and the second season in 2019. 

Nicole and Reese joked in the Vanity Fair interview that they weren’t sure if the series would be a hit because of their very different approaches to their acting roles.

The Hello Sunshine producer added: ‘My favourite thing I called her like a weekend of shooting, and we were shooting Big Little Lies, and I called her and I was like, “Dern. I was so funny today…And then I went into work today and Nicole is in the most serious drama I’ve ever seen,” and I was like, “This show is not gonna work.”‘

Of course, the show was a huge hit, earning several Emmys and Golden Globes. 

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