“This Is Us” Unveiled New Season 2 Footage and We Officially Can’t Wait for the Premiere

Simone Ashley says 'Bridgerton' season 4 "feels like home."

We already had confirmation that Simone Ashley would return to Bridgerton season 4 as Kate Sharma, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask if she could tease what's in store for viewers. "I can't tease anything, but I can say I was filming a couple of weeks ago, with the girls," she tells Brit + Co. "I'm super excited to be back on the show. I'm so grateful for everything that that show has given me, and whenever I go back it, it just feels like home."

Okay, Simone might have said she couldn't tease anything but if you ask me "filming with the girls" is a tease in and of itself! I'm hoping we see Kate, Eloise, and Penelope get some serious girl time after all the drama during season 3. Kate was able to give Eloise some beautiful advice, and since season 4 focuses on Benedict's love story, I have my fingers crossed it'll be more or less smooth sailing for our favorite ladies.

Simone Ashley's character in Picture This, a portrait photographer named Pia, reminds me a lot of Kate. She's passionate, driven, and an eldest daughter who's constantly being told time is running out. When I ask Simone what she's excited about for the future, she admits she feels a mixture of anticipation and nerves.

"Yeah, I'm excited. And I'm gonna phrase it this way because I think excited is such a positive word and it's an amazing thing, but I think excited-scared is also a positive word," she says. "I'm excited-scared because so much mystery and change and possibilities that could happen in the future, right, that we don't know about."

However, she says that growing up and accepting the curve balls life throws at you is "like taking that jump for change."

"It's excited-scared, and then it's like when you jump into water and then you realize the water temperature's fine."

I couldn't agree more, Simone.

'The Summer I Turned Pretty' season 3 will be the final chapter.

After I noticed The Summer I Turned Pretty Instagram account had changed its profile picture and bio on March 6, I figured we were in for an announcement this week. And on March 7, the streamer announced The Summer I Turned Pretty: We'll Always Have Summer would be the final installment of the show.

They also confirmed the 11 new episodes will drop this July. Even though I'm heartbroken that this will be the last season, releasing the show in July is the perfect way to honor Susannah and all the Cousins Beach traditions, which is what TSITP is really all about.

I love this new look at Belly because of how grown up she looks. She's not the awkward 16-year-old we meet at the beginning of season 1, unsure of herself and unsure of her future. She might not have all the answers in season 3, but she definitely has more confidence, agency, and power to figure things out than ever before. And I'm rooting for her the whole way.

We don't have a trailer or official release date yet (aside from sometime in July), but we do know the season 3 cast will include Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Jackie Chung, Sean Kaufman, Rain Spencer, and (hopefully) Rachel Blanchard.

Prime Video gave us an unexpected first look at season 3 when they gathered the cast — all styled with their season 3 looks — to rewatch some episodes and offer exclusive commentary. You can see Steven and Taylor have both grown out their hair, while Conrad's rocking some blond. Overall, it's very Americana and, most importantly, very beachy.

And we won't have to wait long to see them back in action because new episodes are dropping in just four months. I'll be counting down every single day.

1. Emma Stone

Real Name: Emily Jean Stone

Back when Easy A alum Emma Stone was trying to break into the industry as an actress, she chose to go by a different name because there was already a person with the same moniker in the SAG.

So, in a 2017 interview with W Magazine, the Poor Things star shared that she wanted to go by Emily J. Stone, but decided against it. “So to ask a 16-year-old to pick a new name is really an interesting process, because I was like, ‘I’m going to be Riley’... And so my name was Riley Stone for about six months,” she told the publication at the time. “I changed it to Emma because you know it’s closer to Emily, but most people call me ‘M,’ that know me well.” Honestly, I think you could've pulled off the J, Emma.

2. Lady Gaga

Real Name: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

Turns out, the Bad Romance singer wasn’t gaga for her real name when she decided to break into Hollywood. Before entering the music industry, Germanotta chose her stage name “Lady Gaga” after she was apparently inspired by the 1984 Queen single “Radio Gaga.” Huh, who would’ve thought?

3. The Weeknd

Real Name: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye

Years before the world knew him as “The Weeknd,” Tesfaye chose his professional name when he left home at a young age. During a Reddit Ask Me Anything segment, the singer revealed, "I left home when I was about 17 dropped out of high school and convinced [my friend] Lamar to do the same.”

He continued, “We grabbed our mattresses from our parents threw it in our friends sh—ty van and left one weekend and never came back home. It was gonna be the title of HOB [House of Balloons]. I hated my name at the time though so I tried it as a stage name. It sounded cool. I took out the “e” because there was already a Canadian band named the weekend (copyright issues).”

4. Gigi Hadid

Real Name: Jelena Hadid

In case you didn’t know, the proud mom went by “Gigi” early on in her childhood. (FYI: Gigi was also her mom’s childhood nickname too.) But in a 2015 interview with Vogue, Hadid shared that everyone started calling her “Gigi” once she started grad school.

“In first or second grade, there was a girl named Helena and it got confusing with the teacher who had to call out our names, and so the teacher asked my mom, ‘If I needed to call Jelena a nickname, what would it be?’ And my mom was like, ‘I call her Gigi sometimes,’ and the name stuck,” the supermodel explained at the time.

5. Millie Bobby Brown

Real Name: Millie Bonnie Brown (Bongiovi ;))

Millie Bobby Brown revealed in a The Electric State interview that her name is actually Millie Bonnie Brown, and that she created the stage name for "sh—ts and giggles."

"It's not Bobby," she says. "It's Millie Bonnie Brown...I've never told anyone that."

6. Brad Pitt

Real Name: William Bradley Pitt

Apparently, Brad Pitt is another celebrity who likes going by his middle name. But, according to Page Six, the longtime actor actually prefers introducing himself by his first name when he’s flirting with women.

7. Marilyn Monroe

Real Name: Norma Jeane Mortenson

We're throwing it back with this celebrity name! Fun fact: Mortenson took the name Dougherty after her first marriage. But how did she come up with the name we're all so familiar with? Per Time, the beloved actress chose to say goodbye to her last name after a 20th Century Fox studio executive thought that there would be too many mispronunciations with her last name. So, she decided to drop her last name in exchange for her mom’s maiden name: Monroe. In addition, the exec gave her the name “Marilyn” because she reminded him of a 1920s Broadway star named Marilyn Miller.

8. Natalie Portman

Real Name: Neta-Lee Hershlag

Originally, Portman was given a traditional Hebrew name before immigrating to the United States in 1984, where her family changed their surname to Portman. Then, the actress’s first name, Neta-Lee (which was her maternal grandmother’s maiden name) later became Natalie.

9. ​Cardi B

Real Name: Belcalis Almanzar

Though everyone knows her as Cardi B, her diehard fans can attest to the fact she was given a different name at birth. Born Belcalis Almanzar, her stage name is actually short for Bacardi (you know, like the rum). While appearing on an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the rapper shared the origin of her pseudonym.

“My sister's name is Hennessy,” the rapper told Fallon. “So everyone used to call me Bacardi, and I started calling myself Bacardi, which eventually was shortened to Cardi B.”

10. Chloe Bennet

Real Name: Chloe Wong

While promoting her new show Interior Chinatown, Chloe Bennet sat down with Brit + Co and shared why she felt the need to go by a different name than what she was given at birth, which is Chloe Wong. “Early on in my career, my mixed race seemed to be so much more of a thing than I ever understood it as growing up,” the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D alum explained. “I come from a very diverse household and my dad is Chinese. I think I felt more Chinese than what the world perceived me as and that was a weird concept for me.”

The 32-year-old actress went on to share how she changed her surname to Bennet (aka her father’s name) on her resume and she started booking more roles. “I am still not Chloe Bennet. I am Chloe Wong,” she says in the interview.

11. Kit Harington

Real Name: Christopher Catesby Harington

Many of us are taught how to pronounce our given name from a very young age. But for Kit Harington, the Game of Thrones star wasn’t told his first name until he was 11 years old. In a 2014 interview with Glamour, the British actor explained how his parents refrained from telling his real name because “they could see that I wanted to be Kit, but Christopher was a bit of a tradition.”

He continued, "My brother’s name is Jack, but his real name is John. Kit is traditionally an offshoot of Christopher, it’s just not used that often. My middle name is Catesby.”

12. ​Jamie Foxx

Real Name: Eric Marlon Bishop

Did you know Eric Marlon Bishop chose his stage name “Jamie Foxx” when he first started doing stand up? Back in 2015, Foxx sat down with David Letterman and explained how he tried aiming for a “unisex name” when it came time for him to choose a professional alias.

“I noticed that like 1,000 guys showed up and only three girls, but the three girls would always get a spot,” the singer and actor revealed when recounting the time he signed up for a slot in the standup lineup. “So I went to the list and wrote down a unisex name…Jamie Foxx.” And it looks like the name just stuck.

13. ​Lana Del Ray

Real Name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant

Until the age of 25, Lizzy (aka Elizabeth) Grant reinvented herself and took on a new name when she tried breaking into the music biz—and that’s how Lana Del Rey came to be. According to The Guardian, she not only changed her name, but her entire persona and image. #Iconic

​14. Bruno Mars

Real Name: Peter Gene Hernandez

Before he caught a grenade for us, the Finesse singer was called Bruno by his family because, when he was a baby, he resembled the professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino. But when it came to his last name, the Hawaiian-born musician thought it would be best to drop it and adopt the Mars surname. “Your last name’s Hernandez, maybe you should do this Latin music, this Spanish music...Enrique's so hot right now,” he jokes in a 2013 interview with GQ.

​15. Demi Moore

Real Name: Demetria Guynes

Long before she starred in The Substance, the longtime actress (born Demetria Guynes) tied the knot with rock star Freddy Moore at the age of 17 and took his last name. Though the marriage ended after four-and-a-half years, she’s been known as Demi Moore ever since.

16. ​John Legend

Real Name: John Roger Stephens

Tonight’s the night that…you’re going to learn how John Legend got his stage name! In a 2008 interview with MTV News (via People), the EGOT winner shared the story behind how he came up with his professional name. “John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name,” he said at the time. “‘Legend’ is something that I never would have chosen for myself originally. It grew to the point where more people in my circle would know me by that name than by my real name.”

17. Miley Cyrus

Real Name: Destiny Hope Cyrus

Don’t worry, Destiny Hope Cyrus can buy herself flowers! As it turns out, the Grammy-award winner’s stage name dates back to her childhood, when her family would call her “Smiley,” which ultimately turned into “Miley.” And the rest is history.

18. Halsey

Real Name: Ashley Frangipane

Turns out, Halsey’s stage name is not anagram of her first name, Ashley. Back in 2015, the singer sat down with VEVO and revealed that she was inspired by Halsey Street in Brooklyn, where she would spend weekends making music with her friend.

19. Meg Ryan

Real Name: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra

Apparently "Meg Ryan Fall" isn't a totally accurate moniker because Meg's real name is Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra! Meg is a common nickname for Margaret, but she got Ryan from her maternal grandmother's maiden name.

20. Nina Dobrev

Real Name: Nikolina Kamenova Dobreva

Originally born Nikolina in Bulgaria, our favorite Vampire Diaries star (and recent fiancée!) adopted "Nina" for her stage name because she reportedly figured it would be easier for fans to remember.

21. Reese Witherspoon

Real Name: Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon

Speaking of Jeane's, did you know Reese Witherspoon's name is actually Laura Jeanne? Yup, according to Vogue, the Legally Blonde star took on her mom’s maiden name early on in her career and the moniker Reese Witherspoon was born. It's also why she only calls Big Little Lies costar Laura Dern "Dern."

22. ​Lucy Hale

Real Name: Karen Lucille Hale

Lucy Hale has a secret…her full name is Karen Lucille Hale. As it turns out, the Pretty Little Liarsalum decided to ditch her first name and go by the nickname of her middle name: Lucy.

23. Meghan Markle

Real Name: Rachel Meghan Markle

Before she became the Duchess of Sussex, Markle simply went by her first name: Rachel. But now, she goes by her middle name professionally. Markle is rarely addressed by her first name in public. However, an exception was made in 2018 when The Sun reported that the late Queen Elizabeth II blessed Markle’s marriage with now husband Prince Harry and addressed the duchess by her full name.