Celebrities who have spoken about keeping their last names after marriage
Kris Jenner and Camille Grammar.
Getty Images (2)Out of Kris Jenner To Camille GrammerNumerous stars have proven that their married names were not simply borrowed.
Although Kris considered changing her last name back to Kardashian (she was married to Robert Kardashian from 1978 to 1991), while she was still married to Caitlyn Jennershe decided to stay with Jenner even after she and Caitlyn divorced in 2015.
“Everyone thinks I’m Kris Kardashian,” Kris told a skeptical Caitlyn during an episode of the sixth season of Keeping up with the Kardashianswhich aired in 2011. “It’s all about the brand.”
Kris later told Australian radio presenters Kyle Sandilands And Jackie O’Henderson in an interview in July 2016 that she was “too busy right now to worry about what my last name is.”
That’s how it was. After 22 years of marriage and raising a blended family together, Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner announced their separation, two years before the former Olympian was publicly outed as transgender. “We live separately,” the Safely founder revealed to Us Weekly in October 2013. “But there is no animosity. We are united (…)
Keep scrolling to see which stars have spoken out about keeping their married names after divorce:
LaLaAnthony
La La was married to a former NBA star Carmelo Anthony from 2010 to 2021. She decided to keep his last name because the couple had a son together, Kiyan, in 2007.
During a panel discussion at Fanatics Fest in August 2024, La La noted that Kiyan has the potential to follow in his father’s footsteps as a basketball star and that she wants to one day wear their shared name on her back when it appears on a professional jersey.
“That’s why I haven’t changed my last name yet,” she said, according to Page Six. “I’ll keep it for a while!”
Olivia Plath
Olivia got married Ethan Plath in 2018, a year before the TLC series of the Plath family, Welcome to PlathvillePremiere. Their marriage was featured on the show before they split in 2023.
“My last name is Plath, it has been that way my entire adult life,” Olivia, who was 20 at the time of the wedding, told exclusively We weekly in July 2024. “I got married as a sheltered child and changed my name then. There is no reason why I should go back to my maiden name. I am not that girl anymore.”
Plath added that there was a “staunch feminist” in her who was “very much against the idea that surnames belong to men.”
She continued, “It’s an assimilation of letters that we use to identify people, and who cares if it’s my name? It doesn’t harm or hurt anyone else.”
Kris Jenner
Although Kris expressed interest in changing her name back to Kardashian, she has remained a Jenner. She attributed the decision to her daughters Kylie Jenner And Kendall Jennerwhich she shares with Caitlyn.
“There are two younger girls who have a great dad and I think I’m staying right where I am,” she said during an appearance on Australian radio show KIIS 1065 Sydney in July 2016. “(Changing my name) sounded good for a minute, but I thought, ‘You just have to respect the relationship of the whole family.'”
Camille Grammer
Camille is married to David C. Meyer since 2018, but she kept the surname of her first husband, Kelsey Grammerafter her divorce in 2011. She noted during an October 2017 appearance on The Wendy Williams Show that she made this choice because of her children with Kelsey: her daughter Mason, born in 2001, and her son Jude, born in 2004.
“Our kids are named Grammers, and because of our kids, it’s easier to keep the last name Grammer,” she explained. “There’s so much paperwork involved with name changes, and I’m in the middle of this custody battle and all this legal stuff right now. Maybe I’ll change my name when that’s all done. But for now, it’s easier to keep it.”
Nicole Mitchell Murphy
Nicole was married to Eddie Murphy from 1993 to 2006. At a performance in July 2024 at Comedy hypeNicole explained why she never had the desire to take her maiden name again after the divorce.
“Look, I was married to this man for years. I earned my name. I deserve my name. I have five children with that name,” she said. “I saw no harm in keeping my last name. It doesn’t matter.”
Eddie Murphy has had 10 children over the years – and he has praised each member of his patchwork brood highly. “I’m so blessed with my children. I don’t have a single black seed,” the former Saturday Night Live singer said during a March 2021 appearance on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast. “I don’t have one like (…)
Nicole and Eddie have daughters Bria, born in 1989, Shayne, born in 1994, Zola, born in 1999, and Bella, born in 2002, as well as a son Myles, born in 1992.
Shaunie Henderson
Shaunie was married to Shaquille O’Neal from 2002 to 2011 and kept the basketball star’s surname until her marriage Keion Henderson in 2022.
During the 2022 VH1 special Shaunie and Keion’s goal “I do”she explained that she stayed with O’Neal for the sake of her and Shaq’s four children: sons Shareef, born in 2000, and Shaquir, born in 2003, and daughters Amirah, born in 2001, and Me’arah, born in 2006. Shaunie also has a son, Myles, born in 1997, from a previous relationship, while Shaq shares daughter Taahirah, born in 1996, with his ex-girlfriend. Arnetta Yardbourg.
“After my divorce with very young children, I kept (O’Neal) for the sake of my children,” Shaunie explained. “The name change allows me to have a fresh start and I feel like a whole new person.”
