Kristen Bell made her parents call her 'Smurfette'

Kristin Bell hated her name
(Image credit: Jimmy Kimmel Live)

When she was a girl, Kristen Bell "hated the name Kristin," the actress told Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live. "When I was about 3 and a half, I said 'No more — you will call me Smurfette or nothing at all.'" Her parents kind of went along with it for a few weeks, but then they put their foot down, Bell said. So she told her parents, "Fair enough, my name is now Matthew." They negotiated until they landed on Annie, the name she kept through high school. In Catholic high school in Detroit, Bell added, she tried to act tough — which leads to her rapping the beginning to Too $hort's "Blow Job Betty" for Kimmel and his audience. Don't worry — all the NSFW words are beeped out. —Peter Weber

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.