Jennifer Lawrence, who burst into the spotlight with her role as Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games” after pulling her first Oscar nomination for “Winter’s Bone” the previous year, surprised fans by joining Instagram on Wednesday, September 9, after famously spending years without a public account. Her official public account can be found here.
New York based celebrity photographer Elder Ordonez was among the first journalists to point out the news, alerting fans in a caption shared alongside a video he previously filmed of the star.
Lawrence is unable to use her full name as her username, as has become the standard after the once-ubiquitous use of nicknames largely fell by the wayside, because another person who happens to share her name has already been using @jenniferlawrence on the platform for many years. That user’s bio cheekily reads, “I’m not famous but I do have a famous name.”
Meanwhile, the “Silver Linings Playbook” star took the situation in stride, joking in her own bio, “jenniferlawrence was taken.” She opted to go with the shorter handle @jlaw instead.
The 36-year-old hasn’t posted anything yet, but she’s already racked up almost 400k followers as of publishing on Wednesday evening. Among them are “Scandal” star Kerry Washington and fashion model Cara Delevingne.
Jennifer Lawrence Famously Avoided Having Public Social Media for Years
The mom of 2 previously revealed that despite having no public profiles since (other than her now-defunct Facebook which was run by her team) until now, she still dabbled in social media and even occasionally got into a passionate debates with strangers online.
In 2025, while promoting her and Robert Pattinson’s film “Die, My Love,” Lawrence laughingly admitted to her costar while being interviewed by Fandango, “I have like, a secret life on TikTok.” She even said she’s been known to “get in fights in the comment sections” and was once asked, “How old are you?” by a user who then told her to “get a life.”
In 2014, the “Red Sparrow” actress told the BBC said she planned to avoid social media for the foreseeable future, even saying, “If you ever see a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter that says it’s me, it most certainly is not me.” She added that she found the idea unappealing because “the internet has scorned me so much.”
Celebrities Used to Go By Fun Nicknames on Instagram Before Legal Names Took Over
In recent times, most celebrities and non-famous users alike tend to favor their legal names, or something as close as possible, for their profiles. However, the app was formerly filled with fun nicknames, such as the iconic “badgalriri” that Rihanna still uses. Drake is another holdout, sticking to his longtime handle @champagnepapi which he’s used since first opening his account back in 2011.
Most other celebrities have transitioned to their legal or stage names, including rapper T.I., who used to go by @troubleman31 but now goes by @tip. However, his wife Tiny still goes by her original name of @majorgirl. Beyonce meanwhile has switched from @baddiebey to simply @beyonce.
