Avril Lavigne and Sum 41's Deryck Whibley as a couple basically symbolize your early aughts flirtation with pop punk. And now they are finally, 100 percent officially divorced. We know what you’re thinking: that happened a while ago! Turns out, the final bureaucratic step was for Deryck Whibley to drop “Lavigne” from his name, which he secretly took when the two got hitched in 2006. That’s right. His legal name has been Deryck Lavigne Whibley this entire time. News of this change comes in the midst of Deryck Whibley being hospitalized for alcoholism, concerning which Lavigne has come out in public support of his convalescence. So despite both people being relics from your teen years, they’re both moving on in very adult-like ways. Celebrate their maturity and your's with some fake moshing today.
This morning, TMZ broke the news that Lavigne’s ex had officially dropped her surname from his own. The request was put in a few months back, around the time that Lavigne married Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger. She's been trying to stay relevant with her new hubby for quite some time now. This move signifies that Whibley, too, is moving on in his own right. He is reportedly engaged to Ariana Cooper, and it’s likely that his decision to finally ink the name change has everything to do with this. I mean, imagine getting married to a dude with a still hyphenated name. Furthermore, imagine if part of that last name was Lavigne. That’s pretty much the pop culture dictionary definition of complicated.
Doesn’t this make you like Deryck Whibley more, though? Come to think of it, “In Too Deep” wasn’t a bad song. For some reason, he never struck me as the type to hyphenate. I thought skater boys didn’t really care enough to be that progressive. It is a little odd that he kept it a secret for so many years. But after all, it’s Avril Lavigne’s name, and she is sort of a human punchline, so you can’t really blame him.
