Originally appeared on E! Online
Reese Witherspoon‘s been living a big little lie.
After Nicole Kidman questioned why Witherspoon calls their “Big Little Lies” costar Laura Dern by her last name, the “Legally Blonde” actress had to give her pal a gentle refresher on her own moniker.
“I hate how you call her Dern,” Kidman confessed to Witherspoon in a video for Vanity Fair published June 5, “It sounds so weird. I’m always like ‘Laura,’ and you’re like ‘No, Dern, Dern,’ and I’m like, ‘Why?'”
Witherspoon quickly interrupted her pal’s rant to explain the nickname, saying, “‘Cause my name is Laura, and her name’s Laura, and it’s confusing to me.”
“The Morning Show” star went on to remind Kidman that her birth name is Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon, which she shortened to her mother Betty’s maiden name before pursuing a career in acting.
And while Kidman, 56, admitted she “forgot” her castmates shared a first name, she still expressed some confusion over the whole situation, noting that Dern “doesn’t even call you Laura, though.”
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Witherspoon, 48, didn’t have a rebuttal for that argument, quipping, “You’re trying to understand something that just makes no sense.”
The actress, 47, who is nominated for “The Morning Show” and “Daisy Jones & The Six,” brought her eldest son Deacon Reese Phillippe as her date for the award show on Jan. 7.
Of course, Witherspoon has been publicly going by her stage name for most of her life. After all, the Oscar winner got her start in the entertainment industry at age 7, when she starred in a florist’s commercial. Seven years later, she made her feature film debut in “The Man on the Moon,” a role that she’s previously credited with kickstarting her road to stardom.
“I had no idea the journey that lay ahead of me,” wrote Witherspoon of the 1999 film in a 2021 Instagram, “but I am so deeply grateful for all the ups and the downs that brought me to this moment.”