Lea Michele Changed Her Last Name To End Bullying

Lea Michele

It turns out Lea Michele and Rachel Berry aren't all that different after all -- they both know what it's like to be the victim of school bullying. Like her character on Glee, Michele was tormented in her younger years -- but instead of getting a slushy to the face, she was picked on for having a funny last name. In fact, the teasing became so bad she decided to completely change it in order to stop the bullying.

The starlet opened up about the experience to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show on Wednesday night, and revealed her true last name. She said, "Sarfati. That's my real last name. I don't use it a lot because I got Lea So-fatty, Lea So-farty at school." Additionally, Michele explained when this changeover occurred, saying, "When I was little and I went on my first audition, they were like, 'And may we have your name?' And I was like, 'Lea Michele.' And I've been Lea Michele ever since."

I find this to be a rather interesting story because I assume -- based off the immature name jokes -- that this teasing happened in her elementary school years, which means her parents let her change her name before she could even cross the street without a crossing guard present. That had to be a difficult adjustment, right? I mean, writing in cursive was hard enough to begin with, but then you have to remember to start putting a completely different name at the top of your paper? Yet now I can't help but secretly resent my parents for not granting me the same creative freedom. (Kelly Taylor Thomas would've been a great name, right?). But I digress...

Everyone gets teased as a kid and I guess this was just her way of dealing with it. This just goes to show that even Hollywood celebs are capable of suffering  from the same insecurities as the rest of us.