10 Facts About Celebrities That I Truly Never Knew Until Now

1.Macaulay Culkin let fans give him a new middle name.

Back in 2018, Macaulay took to Twitter to vent about strongly disliking his middle name. He wrote, “My middle name is something dumb. Larry? Orange? Honestly, I can’t even remember it.”

So the Home Alone star, born Macaulay Carson Culkin, decided to make a change. He asked his fans to vote for a new middle name on his website Bunny Ears and he would legally change it to whichever name received the most votes.

Robin Marchant / Getty Images

After going through the submissions, he landed on five top contenders: Publicity Stunt, TheMcRibIsBack, Kieran, Shark Week, and Macaulay Culkiin.

With nearly 61K votes, Macaulay Culkin won. So, on Christmas Day 2018, Macaulay revealed that beginning in 2019 his new legal name will be Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin.

Merry Christmas to me, from all of you! My new middle name has been chosen. You voted and the winner is clear. In 2019 my new legal name will be:Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin. It has a nice ring to it (if you like my name).#MerryChristmas

— Macaulay Culkin (@IncredibleCulk) December 25, 2018

Macaulay Culkin / Twitter: @IncredibleCulk

2.Pete Wentz has an interesting connection to President Joe Biden

Pete Wentz, smiling, with hair tied back, wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, at an event — Fall Out Boy’s bassist and lyricist revealed his parents actually met while working for Joe Biden in the ’70s. So, I guess you could say that without Joe Biden, there would be no Pete Wentz.

Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images

He shared this sweet throwback photo on his Instagram when Biden was elected. It features a young Pete being held by then-Senator Biden while Pete’s mother smiles affectionately for the photo.

3.Several celebrities have bugs named after them, like Beyoncé:

Beyoncé smiles while holding an award in one hand. She wears a black leather outfit and a black wide-brimmed hat during her on-stage appearance — In 2012, an unnamed species of horsefly was named after the Cowboy Carter singer — *scaptia (plinthina) beyonceae.* According to Live Science, researchers opted for that identification because, like Queen Bey, this particular horsefly is an “all-time diva of flies.”

Michael Buckner / Billboard via Getty Images

…as well as Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. Can you guess the connection?

Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire at separate events. Garfield is in a dark double-breasted suit, while Maguire wears a casual button-up shirt — Of course, the original Spider-Man would get a spider named after him. In 2015, after discovering a new species in Iran, arachnologists Yuri M. Marusik and Alireza Zamani honored the actor by naming it *Filistata maguirei*. That same year, those same arachnologists discovered another spider species and named it *Pritha garfieldi*.

Marleen Moise / Getty Images, Phillip Faraone / Getty Images

…Jennifer Lopez too:

Jennifer Lopez poses elegantly with long straight hair, wearing a chic, high-neck outfit at a Four Seasons Hotel event in Toronto — In 2014, a research team discovered a new species of water mite in Puerto Rico. According to Entomology Today, they named it *Litarachna lopezae,* because “J.Lo’s songs and videos kept the team in a continuous good mood” while they worked.

Emma Mcintyre / Getty Images

4.Millie Bobby Brown kept an interesting memento from the Stranger Things set.

Millie Bobby Brown poses on the red carpet in a stylish, patterned dress — Millie’s character Eleven is known for getting nosebleeds whenever she uses her powers. So, when she was asked if she kept anything from the *Stranger Things* set during a 2017 Variety video shoot, Millie revealed she kept a bottle of Eleven’s blood (which is actually corn syrup).

In an interview with Us Weekly, Millie explained how they actually get the nosebleed scenes to work: “It’s just a pot of blood and it’s got a squeezy bottle. Then you just lift up your head, you squeeze it in and then whenever you feel it, I put my head down and I say, ‘OK guys, everybody ready … roll camera, action!’ and then wait.”

Variety / Variety via Getty Images

Watch her full interview below:

5.Ambika Mod doesn’t sleep with her eyes closed.

Person posing on the red carpet at an Into Film event, wearing a black blazer, white top, and blue jeans — While visiting *The Graham Norton Show* earlier this year, Ambika revealed that she sleeps with her eyes open. Graham, as well as the other guests Sir Ian McKellen, Michael Sheen, Josh Widdicombe, were all shocked. But she reassured everyone that they aren’t wide open, which is what people typically imagine when she tells people.

“I sleep with my eyes open, so they just sort of widen slightly,” said the *One Day* star. She said she’s slept this way since she was a baby. Ambika added that she finds it “hard to close” her eyelids in general, because she has dry eyes and doesn’t believe her eyelids are big enough to cover her eyeballs.

Dave Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images for Into Film

Watch Ambika explain it all below:

6.Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King paid for Julia Roberts’ birth.

Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at a microphone, and Julia Roberts in a sparkly black gown smiles at a premiere event — Yes, I know it sounds wild, but it’s true! During an intimate History Channel’s HISTORYTalks live interview with Gayle King, the actor revealed her surprising connection to the Civil Rights leader.

“My parents had a theater school in Atlanta called the Actors and Writers Workshop. One day, Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be a part of the school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids.”

Despite the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Ed. Act ruling segregation in schools unconstitutional and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawing segregation in public spaces, bias and racism still ran rampant throughout the United States during this time.

Julia’s parents let the King children attend their school and both sets of parents “eventually became friends.” The Kings would later pay them back by helping them “out of a jam”…that jam being the expensive hospital bills they accumulated after Julia’s birth on Oct. 28, 1967.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images, Presley Ann / Getty Images for SeeHer

Advisor Zara Rahim shared the interview on Julia’s 55th birthday. Watch the Leave the World Behind star explain the connection below:

History Channel / Twitter: @ZaraRahim

7.John Cho refuses to take on roles that require an accent.

John Cho posing in a suit on a red carpet at an event — According to a 2016 GQ article about John beating racial stereotypes for Asian actors, when he was featured in the 2002 hit movie *Big Fat Liar* alongside Amanda Bynes, Frankie Muniz, and Paul Giamatti, he was initially asked to do an accent.

John, who is South Korean, turned down the role because he didn’t want viewers to believe it was acceptable to laugh at someone with an accent. The director eventually agreed. Looking back through his resume, you’ll find John has yet to take on a role where he’d have to fake an accent.

Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images

Read the full write-up here.

John Cho, sitting in a chair lifted by a metal structure, holding a megaphone and gesturing with his other hand, wearing casual attire and sunglasses — Universal / Â©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

8.Samuel L. Jackson worked at the same apartment building where Alicia Keys was born.

Alicia Keys in a sleeveless dress and Samuel L. Jackson in a — That’s right, Samuel L. Jackson earned a paycheck as Manhattan Plaza’s first security guard/doorman. This apartment complex was also where multi-Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys was born, which is why it acts as the backdrop of Alicia’s hit Broadway play *Hell’s Kitchen*, which is loosely based on her life. These revelations and more were revealed about the iconic NYC apartment complex in the documentary *Miracle on 42nd Street*, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Handout / WireImage / Getty Images

The federally subsidized apartment complex opened in the late 1970s and became a creative hub for actors and aspiring artists. In fact, some other famous tenants included Larry David, Terrence Howard, Patrick Dempsey, Tennessee Williams, Angela Lansbury, Mickey Rourke, Tom Fontana, and casting director Mary Jo Slater. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino would visit their friend Jack Warden there as well.

Terrence Howard, Patrick Dempsey, and Matt Dillon at the Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Male Awards event. They are dressed in formal suits and smiling — John Sciulli / WireImage for Susan Portnoy Public Relations / Getty Images

9.Willem Dafoe needed a body double in Lars von Trier’s 2009 psychological horror film Antichrist.

Willem Dafoe in a dark, tailored jacket, standing and smiling in front of a textured background — According to an interview with director Lars von Trier, he hired a body double for some of Willem’s sex scenes so viewers wouldn’t get distracted by the size of his penis, and focus on the film.

Karwai Tang / WireImage / Getty Imagess

Lars said, “I wouldn’t let him treat her in any other way than with his dick, he has an enormous dick, but that maybe I took also…he’s extremely well-equipped. And we had to kind of take the scenes out of the film, we had a stand-in for him, we had to take the scenes out with his own dick.”

Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in a close, emotional moment, with their foreheads touching and eyes closed — Ifc Films / Â©IFC Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

10.Lastly, Kris Humphries could’ve been an Olympic swimmer.

Kris Humphries wearing a basketball jersey, smiling and looking at the camera — According to USA Today, retired NBA power forward Kris Humphries, who made headlines for having a 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian, was a phenomenal swimmer when he was younger. When he was just 10 years old, he broke multiple records in 1994 and 1995. “He was even faster than two future US gold medal Olympic swimmers: Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Elsa / Getty Images

Kris dominated in the following events: 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly, 50-meter backstroke, 50-meter breaststroke, and 200-meter individual medley. But he gave up swimming to pursue his passion for basketball. Kris played professional basketball for 12 years, so he made a great choice either way.