Nicole Murphy, the ex-wife of actor Eddie Murphy, is unperturbed by people who think she should drop her ex-husband’s last name.
The former couple were married for 12 years, between 1993 and 2005, and had welcomed five children together when before filing for divorce nearly two decades ago.
As to why she won’t change her last name, Nicole said she would only do that after finding “true love” again.
“I always said I would drop Murphy if I got remarried,” she said in a recent interview with Comedy Hype on YouTube.
“Listen, I was married to that man for years, OK. I earned my name. I deserve my name. I have five children with that name. I didn’t see any harm in keeping my last name. It doesn’t matter,” she said, adding that she had no desire to go through the process of reinstating her maiden name, Mitchell.
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Her ex, Eddie Murphy, recently married his longtime girlfriend, Paige Butcher, and already has two young children, bringing Eddie’s total of kids to 10.
Nicole has yet to remarry. For six years, she dated former New York Giants player, Michael Strahan. They met in 2007 and were engaged by 2009; however, they never formally solidified wedding plans. In August 2014, they announced their breakup.
Last year, she went public with her boyfriend, Warren Braithwaite, who passed away earlier this year from cancer in March. Despite these incidents, the 56-year-old remains hopeful of finding a lifetime partner.
“For now, if I’m ever to get remarried, absolutely, I will drop Murphy in a heartbeat. Absolutely, because I think it’s important to take on my [yet-to-be-found] husband’s last name…But as far as right now, it’s gonna stay Murphy until I meet that man. Then I’ll change it,” Nicole added with laughter.
Some observers believed there were other reasons why Nicole was keeping her ex-husband’s last name.
“The real reason she kept it is that it’s more beneficial to keep it than it is to go back to her maiden name, and that’s the straight-up fact of the matter,” a fan wrote.
Another fan added: “Let’s be real; if Eddie was living out on the streets begging for change, like the character he played in ‘Trading Places,’ she would’ve changed that name back in a heartbeat!”
In July this year, Eddie Murphy spoke about how he felt about his son Eric dating Martin Lawrence’s daughter Jasmin, saying he was “happy to watch the two elderly people fall in love.”
In an interview on CBS Mornings, he noted that he and his fellow comedians supported the romance, and “if they ever get married and have a child,” he was expecting the child to be “funny.”
