7 Celebrities with Larger-Than-Life Alter Egos

Do you ever have those days where you wish you could just start over and be somebody totally different? We love that some celebrities — even with their glamorous lives and millions of adoring fans — still want to create alter egos.

Some do it to push boundaries, others do it because it’s a fun way to keep fans on their toes, and others just have lives so big, well, they needed two (or more!). These seven stars have some of our favorite alter egos that they turn to when they’re looking to mix things up.

We were wowed when Erika Girardi joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills last year. Erika gives “zero f***s” — making it quite interesting when she fearlessly stood up to queen bee, Lisa Vanderpump. Plus, she’s an ultra-glamorous wife of a high-powered attorney who flies on a private plane, and then gets spiritual in the chapel built into her mansion. But we're even more blown away by her alter ego, Erika Jayne, a pop star with dance moves like “pat the puss,” a penchant for the tightest cat suits in the land, and an affinity for the “c” word (she’s trying to make it powerful). The biggest thing Erika Jayne has in common with Erika Girardi? She gives zero f****s too!

It’s safe to say that you never know what you’re going to get from Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga. She can be dressed in off-the-walls meat-inspired couture one minute, and bringing the house down while paying tribute to Judy Garland at the Oscars the next. That’s just part of the dichotomy behind the creative fierceness of the superstar. It makes sense then that her alter ego — a male persona by the name of Jo Calderone — would be just as envelope-pushing. He made his debut at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and appeared in her “You and I” video. The tough talking, white t-shirt wearing, side burn sporting, chain smoker hasn’t been spotted in a while but we’d love to see him come out and play now that Gaga has her new album Joanne coming this fall!

We all know Queen Bey as a strong, independent woman who owns the stage and puts on a powerful, sexually charged show every time. Well, you can thank Sasha Fierce for that. Beyoncé’s alter ego was created to help the star break free from her own shy personality. She told Oprah that Sasha Fierce would come out, "usually when I hear the chords, when I put on my stilettos. Like the moment right before when you're nervous — then Sasha Fierce appears, and my posture and the way I speak and everything is different." Beyoncé even named her hit 2010 album I Am ... Sasha Fierce. Unfortunately, Sasha Fierce has since died — Beyonce actually killed her, revealing to Allure, “I don't need Sasha Fierce anymore, because I've grown and now I'm able to merge the two.”

Way before Gina Rodriguez was on the hit TV show Jane the Virgin, she was a college student at New York University, where she was better known as “Cutz.” Who was Cutz, you ask? She was a rap star on campus, showing up at parties to drop original rhymes with her partner in crime named Lady Fury (aka Gina’s best friend). If you weren’t a classmate of Cutz, not to worry. The rapper recently made her TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Her rap of choice? “Super Bass” by Nicki Minaj, of course.

Fans of Nicki Minaj know she has so many alter egos that when she makes a music video or shows up on an awards show, you never know exactly what, or rather who, you’ll get. The name Nicki Minaj is itself a stage name (the performer was actually born as Onika Maraj). Nicki told New York Magazine that her very first alter ego, Cookie, was created as a way to deal during her tough childhood. “To get away from all their fighting, I would imagine being a new person. Cookie was my first identity — that stayed with me for a while. I went on to Harajuku Barbie, then Nicki Minaj. Fantasy was my reality.” Other personas we’ve seen show up include her angry twin sister, “Roman Polanski,” and Nicki Lewinsky, one of the first alter egos Nicki performed as when she was still an underground artist.

In 1999, the song of summer was Mariah Carey’s iconic hit, “Heartbreaker.” In the song's music video we were introduced to Mariah’s brunette, man-stealing, spoiled, super diva alter ego, Bianca. It’s been 17 years since she’s made an appearance, but Mariah recently told Buzzfeed that she wants Bianca to appear in another video. Except there’s one little problem: “The only thing is that she’s a DIVA and over the top. Like, my glam squad is nothing compared to hers, nothing,” she told Buzzfeed.

Justin Bieber shocked the world with two revelations in 2010. First, he has an alter ego named Shawty Mane. Second, the alter ego can rap. He let the world know by tweeting out his rap video, “Speaking in Tongues,” and it was actually pretty good. Shawty popped up again on the Chris Brown track, “Ladies Love Me.” Even though he also was heard on an Asher Roth track too, don’t expect a full Shawty Mane album anytime soon. Justin told XXL, “I just do it for fun, but nothing serious. I don’t think people would take me seriously if I came out with, like, a rap album.”