Reese Witherspoon leaves fans shocked after revealing her real name

Fans of Reese Witherspoon have been utterly bowled over by the world-shattering revelation that Reese Witherspoon's name isn't actually Reese Witherspoon.

Even though I have also just called Reese Witherspoon by the name Reese Witherspoon, that's simply because it's the name everybody knows her by.

She was chatting to Nicole Kidman as part of a collaboration with Vanity Fair when they got talking about Laura Dern, or just 'Dern' as Witherspoon calls her.

This is Reese Witherspoon, only the front half of her name is missing. (Steve Granitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

According to her, that's 'cause my name is Laura, and her name's Laura and it's confusing to me' .

"My real name's Laura Jeanne," Witherspoon said as part of the interview, and Kidman remembered that was true.

If you're wondering why Laura Jeanne is going by the name Reese instead, that's because it's her mother's maiden name, so the moniker everybody knows her by is actually both of the surnames of her parents combined.

She's one of many Hollywood stars who uses something slightly different to their actual name when they're performing, though in many cases the name changes are enforced because there's already another actor who goes by it.

Screen Actors Guild rules say that no two performers can have the same exact name, so many of the performers you've seen plenty of go by another name in their personal life.

Emma Stone is actually Emily Stone, Michael Keaton was originally Michael Douglas and Jack Black was originally Thomas Jacob Black.

Some of them changed it because the name was already taken, and others go by the name they just much prefer to be called.

In Witherspoon's case there wasn't already a Laura Jeanne Witherspoon working in Hollywood, but she still wanted to go by the name Reese instead.

Naturally, this revelation was enough to flabbergast her fans, who fell about in shock as they 'never knew' what her real name was.

Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman discussed the Legally Blonde star's name. (Vanity Fair/YouTube)

It's been quite the earth-shattering news, perhaps even more so than that time people called her out for eating the snow that had piled up on her car.

She scooped it up as though her name was Laura Jeanne Reese Withermug, but you ought not to try that at home.

Someone else joked that Witherspoon was 'acting like ANYONE calls her Laura', and to be honest with a name as distinctive as Reese you'd probably want to keep using that as it stands out.

"I was today years old when I found out Reese's real name is Laura lmao," another one wrote.

lmao indeed, internet commenter.