British actress, Thandiwe Newton, who has been known as “Thandie” Newton in the movie industry for 30 years, is reverting to her real name – “Thandiwe” – three decades after it was misspelt in her first film.
The star, 48, whose full name is Melanie Thandiwe Newton, appears on the cover of the May issue of British Vogue with her name spelt correctly in a major publication for the first time.
The “Westworld” star revealed that Thandie was a careless misspelling in the credits of her first movie, the 1991 Australian film Flirting, co-starring Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor – and it has stuck ever since.
Actress Thandiwe Newton takes back her real name 30 years after a spelling mistake in her first film
In the film, she actually played a character called Thandiwe but in the end credits, it was spelt incorrectly.
Going forward, all her future screen projects will be credited as Thandiwe Newton, which translates to “beloved” in the Shona language of Zimbabwe, where her mother is from.
‘That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine,’ she told the magazine.
Thandiwe also spoke candidly about the abuse she received as a young actress in Hollywood in the latest issue of Vogue.
Referring to her past abuse, she said: ‘There’s a moment where the ghost of me changed, you know. And it was then, [I] was 16.’
Of her abuser, she goes on: ‘He derailed me from myself utterly. I was traumatised. It was a kind of PTSD for sure.
‘I was so distraught and appalled that a director had abused a young actress, and that it was happening elsewhere, minors getting abused and how f**ked up it was.
‘I was basically waiting for someone to come along and say, “Well, what shall we do about this?”
