# The Curse of the Married Stage Name **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458 "2001-10-30T04:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/1 "2001-10-30T04:07:52Z")
Over the years, quite a few well-known female celebrities have gotten married and changed their “professional” name. Then they got divorced. Pamela Anderson Lee Roseanne Barr Arnold Farrah Fawcett Majors Chris Evert Lloyd Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rahshad Patty Duke Astin Granted, celebrity marriages do tend to be short-lived anyway. But, have any that changed their stage names managed to stay married? (Jada Pinkett Smith and Courteney Cox Arquette come to mind, but it has only been a few years for them.) What is the reason for this phenomenon? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/2 "2001-10-30T04:17:40Z")
Well, there’s Mrs. Patrick Campbell, but she was rather before even my time. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/3 "2001-10-30T19:04:10Z")
Who’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/4 "2001-10-30T19:13:24Z")
Dont forget one of my favorite from my teen years, Merideth Baxter-Birney. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/5 "2001-10-30T22:02:35Z")
Susan Tomalin didn’t stay married to Chris Sarandon, but she’s still kept her married name 20 years after they divorced. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/6 "2001-10-30T22:13:02Z")
Yeah, but she became famous with the name “Susan Sarandon.” In the OP I was referring to celebrities who changed their name _after_ they had already become famous. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/7 "2001-10-30T22:17:11Z")
Ooo. I thought of a counter-example: Babe Didrikson Zaharias. She married in 1938 and stayed married until she died in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-the-married-stage-name/90458/8 "2001-10-30T22:24:40Z")
You’re missing the best one: Barbara Hershey who for a brief shining moment (when she was either married to or with one of the Carradine bros, David If memory serves), changed her name professionally to : Barbara Seagull. I seem to recall her ‘demand’ that the credits in her prior work be re-done to reflect this. The fanfare was distinctly less when she changed it back.