Patsy Palmer tries to go by her real name "Julie" in the US – but she "gets so confused" having two monikers.
The ‘EastEnders’ actress – who was born Julie Anne Harris – uses her married name Julie Merkell while socialising in Malibu, where she now lives, but admits she sometimes forgets and reverts back to her work name, Patsy, so her Stateside pals now refer to her as "Patsy Julie".
She said: "They [fans] don’t know me [in America] and I have another name. My name is Julie really, so I thought, ‘I’m going to get back to calling myself my real name.’
"But I actually get so confused myself that sometimes I’ll say Patsy and sometimes I’ll say Julie.
"So now in Malibu they call me Patsy Julie.
"Julie Anne Harris was my name, my married name is Julie Merkell.
"And I’m Bianca, I’m a mum, I’m a wife, I’m everything. So, who am I?
"I need to go on ‘Who Do You Thing You Are?’ "
As well as using her real name, Patsy has increased her DJ work across the pond, but she doesn’t like to call herself a DJ for fear of "insulting" career disc jockeys.
She said: "I love DJ-ing. I don’t want to say I’m a DJ, but I am.
"But DJs don’t really like it. I guess maybe like any other profession, that’s what they’ve done as their profession for years … so I do say I’m not a DJ, but I just love playing music, and now I do. I don’t want to be insulting.
"I play disco, house, 90s hip hop I love. I play all different kinds of stuff.
"I’ve now met all of my music heroes I’ve grown up with there, Pharrell [Williams], Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre.
"I’m like, ‘That’s it, I’m done.’ As long as I’ve got to dance all night with them I’m all good."
Patsy has also got to know Cindy Crawford because the supermodel’s daughter Kaia Gerber used to go to the same school as the soap star’s kids, and she has even spun the decks at school fundraisers.
She said: "[Cindy] is really lovely, as beautiful as you would imagine her to be, so down to earth.
"I DJ at all the school fundraisers, at Soho House in Malibu for quite a long time."
Patsy is to return to ‘EastEnders’ for a brief stint in the coming weeks, and admitted she has been keeping an eye on how her on-screen daughter Maisie Smith (Tiffany Butcher) has been getting on in Albert Square.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’, she added: "I’ve seen bits of what Maisie has been doing and she’s so brilliant.
"All of a sudden you go and you come back and she’s a woman. She’s so grown up and so beautiful.
"She’s such a great little actress.
"I’ve always said it’s a bit odd sometimes when major characters don’t return when it’s something that … you know."
Patsy Palmer uses Julie Merkell moniker in US
