Vanilla Ice Reveals How He Got His Name

Whether showing off one of the houses he's renovated on his DIY Network show "The Vanilla Ice Project" or rapping onstage to his mega-hit "Ice Ice Baby," Rob Van Winkle is always known as Vanilla Ice.

The 45-year-old explains to omg! that the moniker was not chosen, but given to him by friends. In fact, he didn't want it to stick!

"I used to break dance at 14 years old and at first I was just called Vanilla, because of my complexion. I was the only white kid in my neighborhood that was doing it," he says. "The ice came from a dance move I had that looked like I was sliding on ice. It was a very painful move, because I would have to be on kind of my head, the side of my ear, and shoulder, but if I had a beanie hat on it would work, but without it, you'd scrape the side of your ear and the side of your face."

[Related: Vanilla Ice Co-Stars in Adam Sandler's 'That's My Boy']

"Everybody loved this move that I invented in front of a mirror at my house," Ice says with a laugh. "And everybody kept saying 'Yo Vanilla, do the Ice!' And I hated it. I hated the name at first, and now I love it."

Posted in: celebrity news