Almost every celebrity magazine I read refers to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as “Brangelina.” So it got me thinking — where did these combination nicknames come from and who can I send a bouquet of flowers? The unlikely culprit is Dogma director Kevin Smith. It all started with a little couple known as “Bennifer.” Kevin Smith directed Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in the box office flop, Jersey Girl, and he used the nickname in reference to his terrible time with the couple. He said in an interview that he’s “learned absolutely nothing [in his career], except to never work with ‘Bennifer’ again.” He later described it as his “worst on-set experience.” To be fair, Smith isn’t the only person to blame. It was Chris Rock who turned his comment into the monster that it became. While hosting the Mtv Movie Awards, Rock used the nickname again, and the subsequent snowball effect couldn’t be stopped. So there you have it. And as a tribute to the best celebrity-couple nicknames of all time, I’ve posted a list below. Enjoy.
- TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes)
- Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie)
- Billary (Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton)
- Desilu (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz)
- Filliam H. Muffman (Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy — Thanks to Stephen Colbert)
- Bennifer 2.0 (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner)