Reese said: “That’s my middle name.”
Jennifer marvelled: “Laura Jeanne Reese. What made you go with Reese for your acting name?”
The 49-year-old actor replied: “I didn’t change it, my name was always Reese. I don’t know your middle name.”
The former Friends star revealed hers is Joanna, prompting Reese to give her a new nickname.
She said: “I was today years old. Does anyone call you J.J.?”
Jennifer said: “Ummm no.”
Reese insisted: “Well, I do now!”
Jennifer isn’t the only one of Reese’s co-stars to be surprised by her real name.
The Legally Blonde actor previously explained she calls her Big Little Lies co-star Laura Dern by her surname because it feels too “confusing” to use her first name, much to the bafflement of castmate Nicole Kidman.
In conversation for Vanity Fair last year, Nicole said: “I hate how you call her Dern. It sounds so weird.
“I’m always like ‘Laura’, and you’re like ‘No, Dern, Dern’, and I’m like, ‘Why?’”
Reese quickly interjected: “Beause my name is Laura, and her name’s Laura, and it’s confusing to me. My real name’s Laura Jeanne.
“So, I get confused so I just call her Dern. Because we can’t both be Laura.”
Nicole forgot her castmates share the same first name, but she was still confused by the whole situation.
She pointed out: “She doesn’t even call you Laura, though.”
Reese quipped: “You’re trying to understand something that just makes no sense.”
