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SALT LAKE CITY — Celebrity status must have its perks for the actors and athletes who are famous. But KSL found many Utahns share the names without the fame. What about them?
In our search for famously named Utahns, we first found Utah's own Carey Underwood. She, along with Lance Armstrong, Matt Damon, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and many others are among those who are both blessed and cursed with names identical to famous celebrities.
"I was in a fender-bender on 90th (South) by the freeway," our Carey Underwood said. "I called the police to come, (saying) 'This is Carey Underwood,' and there were 10 cops there that fast."
Utah's Matt Damon definitely has moves, but he was never People Magazine's sexiest man alive because at the time, he was on an LDS mission.
Our Matt is also seeing the benefits of his name. "We keep getting mysteriously upgraded at hotels," he said. "It's happened a couple of times."
Madonna, of Park City, said the only thing they share in common is a love of singing. Our Madonna sings in church, but would she expect her famous counterpart to do the same? "There's hope," she said.
When not recovering from major surgery, Martha Stewart from Brigham City can hold her own against the domestic diva of the same name, and even offered a cooking tip.
"You can bake your meatballs instead of fry and then they don't break up," Stewart told us.
Utah's Lance Armstrong says he has a lot of fun with his name. "There is sometimes where they joke, 'Hey, where's your bike?'" he laughed.
And Jimmie Johson of Nascar has nothing over Jimmie Johnson of Unified Fire authority.
"We both get to drive fast, we have a lot of excitement, there's crashes involved in both jobs," Johnson said.
Utah's Anna Nicole Smith says her name almost got her in trouble with the law when a doubting police officer told her "get straight or get arrested."
And sometimes a famous name and good timing are everything. Utah's "other" Bruce Lindsay recently joined me on the set to present the news ... a stunt KSL's Bruce Lindsay found mildly amusing.
"I'm not out of here quite yet," Bruce told Bruce. "Twenty-third of May, pal."
