Nicknames You Didn't Know These Celebrities Had

We call stars a lot of things: Rich, famous, gorgeous, powerful, influential. But it turns out that before they were famous, they were called a lot of other things... and some of them weren't so nice. These celebrities all had nicknames that were weird, mean, or, in some cases, pretty adorable.

Hugh Jackman is, well, jacked, but it turns out he wasn't always known for his beefy physique. In fact, his legs were so skinny as a kid that his peers nicknamed him Sticks. He explained on The Tonight Show, "In real life, for about 12 years, [they called me] 'Sticks' for my skinny legs. I worked out and I cried, and now I'm Wolverine!"

Jennifer Lawrence's biggest nickname now is J-Law, but she used to go by "Nitro" when she was a kid, explaining to Conan O'Brien that she earned the moniker because she was "unstoppably and uncontrollably hyper."

"It was really embarrassing because every day I'd go to school and I'd be like, 'Today I'm going to get it together, I'm gonna be cool, I'm gonna be calm,'" she said. "And then I'd show up—I was like 13 and I peed my pants when I was in seventh grade. Or not peed my pants, I peed when I was sleeping. I wet the bed and I just thought, 'Who wets the bed when they're 13?' And so I couldn't wait to get to school and tell everybody. Then I went into the bleachers and was like, 'Everybody, I wet the bed last night,' thinking everybody was going to think that was so funny and cool and it was just silent."

Liam Payne is a lot of things: A former member of One Direction, a solo star, a dad, a hottie, and a ... Cheesy Head? Yep. He told The Sun in 2012 that not only did his big sisters used to dress him (sometimes in their outfits), but they also dubbed him Cheesy Head. "They used to call me Cheesy Head because I ate cheesy crisps all day," he said. Delicious!

Growing up, Iggy Azalea had two nicknames stemming from her height—she's 5'10"! One was a sweet dig from her grandfather, Stretch. The other was from jealous girls at school, who referred to the rapper as Olive Oyl.

Before he was Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe was a prawn. "I'm really not sure I ever had a decent nickname," Radcliffe told BBC. "I remember getting called Shrimpy a lot because I was very, very pale and very skinny."

Before there was Mimi, there was Mirage: Mariah Carey's high school nickname was Mirage because she was hardly ever in class! "I don't want to encourage anybody not to go to school or anything—far be it from me! But I liked school, I was more social in school than I was a student, and I always knew I was going to be a singer. It's my thing! I'm very lucky that I am, because who knows what I'd be doing? But I don't know—I had trouble getting up in the morning. I couldn't take getting to first period on time."

Cristiano Ronaldo, the most famous soccer star on the planet (and possibly ever), wasn't always such a good sport. His childhood teammate, Ricardo Santos, told Reuters that Ronaldo had a nickname as a kid that wasn't inspired by a Johnny Depp character, but by his weepy habits. "[We called him] Crybaby, yes," Santos said with a chuckle, "because Ronaldo already loved to win like he loves today and when he lost and when other kids didn't pass the ball to him he used to cry."

Drew Barrymore gave Bella Thorne a silly nickname on the set of their movie, Blended (2014). Barrymore explained to InStyle, "We would yap over hair and makeup forever, total girls. I feel like somewhere between a mom and a sister to her. I can't remember why I started calling her Pickle, but that's what she'll be for life." Thorne returned the favor and now calls Barrymore "Momma Pickle."

Growing up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Keanu Reeves was such an incredible goalie as a kid on his local hockey team that he was nicknamed "The Wall." (For the record, The Daily Mail reported that he was also stellar at basketball and baseball, but those didn't earn him monikers.) He later told The Hockey News that despite his skill, he never really took hockey seriously.

"I loved hockey, but I never wanted it to become too serious," said. "I never said, 'I'm going to play for the Leafs.' I just had this mental picture of a dressing room, guys with steam coming off their backs. It wasn't me."

Singer and former member of The Wanted, Nathan Sykes, had a somewhat crazy nickname as a kid: Psycho (or, er, Syko). "My last name is Sykes and they just put an O on the end to make me sound cool," he told BBC, "but I wasn't."

She's come a long way! When she was a kid, Cameron Diaz's classmates dubbed her "Skeletor" because of her thin, lanky frame and big smile. She had the last laugh, because chances are she'd make He-Man drool.

Before he was the Man Of Steel, Henry Cavill was a chubby kid, which earned him a cruel, if quite simple, nickname from his classmates. "I was fat," he told Details. "I was Fat Cavill. It's definitely a s***ty nickname, but kids are cruel. Whatever—I was fat ... [In boarding school] I became an easy target. I bawled on the phone to my mom four times a day." Ouch! That's proof that bullying can be kryptonite for anybody.

Aside from his rap name, Fat Joe, Joseph Antonio Cartagena was also nicknamed "Joey Crack." He explained on Chelsea Lately, "The truth is that since I was young I was overweight, and my pants would sag so the crack of my a** would show." Does this mean he also could have been the infamous Joe the Plumber?

Tom Hardy plays a bad boy in the movies, and he was a bad boy in his teens. He told GQ, "My nickname was something else back then. I think it was Weasel at the time. 'Cause I was a little s**t."

Redhead Karen Gillan's nickname was a relatively healthy one.

"[Kids called me] Upside Down Carrot," she told BBC, "because I used to wear this green top all the time, and it was like orange [hair] and then green."

Blake Shelton's mom revealed to Men's Journal that she calls him Toad because he was always collecting frogs and other critters as a kid. "We had to drag him into the house at night," she said. "He loved all animals: grasshoppers, locusts, lizards, snakes, worms. One time I had a flyswatter and I killed a fly, and he cried."

Shelton also got another nickname later in life. Gwen Stefani's son, Apollo, had a tough time learning the letter L, so Shelton's been unofficially dubbed "Bwake" in their house.

Henry Rollins' high school nickname is wide open for interpretation: His pals referred to him in his yearbook as "Hank the Crank."

Awww! When Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy was a baby, she preferred to "scoot" along with her butt instead of walking or crawling, earning her the nickname "Scooter." Too. Cute.

A high school pal of former President Barack Obama revealed to NBC News that when they shot hoops as kids, Obama's nickname was "Barry O'Bomber"—because he'd take hard shots and often miss!