Reese Witherspoon recently reminded a puzzled Nicole Kidman that in her daily life, she answers to a completely different name.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Witherspoon was joined by her Big Little Lies co-star, Kidman, who humorously scolded her for calling Laura Dern by her last name.
“I hate how you call her Dern though! Because it sounds so weird. I’m always like ‘Laura,’ and you’re like, ‘No, Dern!’” Kidman quipped.
However, the Morning Show star had a legit reason for skipping Dern’s first name.
“You know why? Because my name is Laura, and her name is Laura. And it’s confusing to me,” Witherspoon shot back.
It turns out, Reese’s given name is Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon.
“Oh! That’s right,” Kidman replied.
“So, I get confused and just call her Dern,” Witherspoon explained. “We can’t both be Laura.”
Nicole Kidman Questions Reese Witherspoon’s Name Logic…
Still, Nicole pushed back just a bit. Kidman noted that Dern never addresses Witherspoon as “Laura.”
“She doesn’t call you Laura, though,” Nicole pointed out.
“I don’t understand your point,” Witherspoon quipped back. “I don’t like your tone. You’re trying to understand something, so it just makes no sense.”
Witherspoon then reminisced about a cherished moment she shared with Dern on the set of the acclaimed HBO show.
“I called her, and I was like, ‘Dern, I was so funny today.’ And she’s like, ‘Oh my God. Reese, Reese, I was so funny in my scene yesterday.’ I was like, ‘I know, I know. But hold on. Then I went to work today, and Nicole’s in the most serious drama I’ve ever seen,'” Witherspoon recalled.
“That’s right!” Kidman agreed as the pair guffawed together.
Meanwhile, Reese’s name correction follows her ex Ryan Phillippe recently sharing a nostalgic photo of the former A-list couple on his Instagram Stories.
“We were hot and drenched in late 90’s angst @reesewitherspoon. (such a cooler time than today),” Ryan wrote alongside the throwback image. In the photo, the stars cozy up, with Reese flaunting a chic chin-length bob that stylishly clashes with Ryan’s daring edge-lord mohawk.
The former couple first crossed paths at Witherspoon’s 21st birthday party in 1997. Two years later, they shared the screen in Cruel Intentions alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar. Their on-screen chemistry soon blossomed into a real-life romance, ultimately leading to marriage.
They divorced nine years later.
They had two children together before eventually parting ways: Ava, now 24, and Deacon, 20.
Witherspoon later married Jim Toth, and together they welcomed their son, Tennessee, now 11. Sadly, the couple announced their separation in March 2023. Phillippe, in contrast, never remarried but has a 12-year-old daughter, Kai, with his former girlfriend, Alexis Knapp.