16 Facts Only True Fans Will Know About 'Shameless' Star Emmy Rossum

If Shameless is a super popular TV show (which it definitely is), then star Emmy Rossum is for sure one reason why. The 31-year-old actress stars as Fiona Gallagher, the oldest sibling who is totally responsible for the younger kids since their dad, Frank, isn't exactly Dad of the Year. The series has been on the air since January 2011 and has eight seasons so far with a ninth premiering soon. The U.S. version of the U.K. show is very beloved.

Besides playing Fiona, Emmy has been in a handful of movies, including Phantom of the Opera and The Day After Tomorrow. She is known for being lovely and graceful and a pretty genuine celebrity. She recently appeared in People's "The Beautiful Issue" and was photographed without any makeup at all, which was awesome and inspiring. There are so many cool things to know about the actress, we don't even know where to start, but let's start with 16. Read on to find out facts that only true fans will know about Emmy Rossum. She's definitely a star to watch and we can't wait to see where her career takes her next (but first we need season 9 of Shameless ASAP, please and thank you).

16 Emmy Isn't Even Her Full Name

Emmy is definitely a beautiful, soft, and lovely name. It's totally a name that we all covet, if we're being totally honest because we might not really love the name that we were given. It's kind of like our hair. We don't always adore our hair, whether it's curly or straight.

It turns out that "Emmy" is actually a nickname. The actress's full name is Emmanuelle Grey Rossum. "Emmanuelle" is also a gorgeous name but a bit of a mouthful since it's so long, so we can see why she would have shortened it to Emmy. Or maybe that wasn't the reason and people just always called her Emmy so she went with it. That would make sense since that's typically the way that these things go.

15 She Had A Super Short Marriage

Emmy Rossum got divorced, which might not be something that most people know about her. She was married to music executive Justin Siegel. It was a super short marriage, though. Just how short was it?

The wedding took place in February 2008 and they got divorced in September 2009… so, yeah, that's pretty short, which isn't necessarily unheard of in Hollywood.

Emmy seems like a fairly calm person who takes life as it comes and that's the way that she approached her divorce. According to The Huffington Post, she said this about that time in her life: "When I realized it wasn't the end of the world and I would keep on standing, I knew it was going to be OK.” That's definitely really great, sound advice. And it all worked out: she's married to Sam Esmail, who created the TV show Mr. Robot. The pair got hitched in 2017.

14 She's A Singer And Starred In The Movie Adaptation Of 'Phantom Of The Opera'

We might be able to guess that Emmy Rossum can at least kind of sing since she starred in the movie adaptation of Phantom of the Opera. But maybe we figured that she got vocal training right before the film and couldn't carry a tune before that.

Nope. As it turns out, Emmy has always been a singer, and it's something that is important to her. She has one album called Inside Out.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, she would sing as a kid and get hot dogs when she was finished. Yes, that's a true story. Isn't that so fun and quirky and adorable?! Most kids would probably love to get free hot dogs. That's everyone's dream. It doesn't sound like anything would be better. (Well, except maybe free ice cream.)

13 She Financed Her Own Album

When Emmy released her album, it turns out that she actually paid for it herself. Yes, really.

According to Billboard, when she was putting out her second album, called Sentimental Journey, she decided to pay for it. Why? Because she had a contract to make another album, but it wasn't exactly her cup of tea and the kind of music that she enjoys. The label was interested in her recording a pop album and that just wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to record standards. So that's what she did and she did it her way and paid for it. That's pretty inspiring. It's awesome to hear about a celebrity doing something like this that they were dreaming of and just really wanted to make happen.

12 She Fought For Equal Pay On 'Shameless'

It's no secret that women get paid less than men for most jobs, and it's an unfortunate reality that, basically, really sucks. The issue is also pretty rampant in Hollywood and a lot of actresses are speaking out on the fact that they get paid a lot less than their male co-stars for film or television roles. It might seem hard to believe but this really does happen.

Emmy Rossum fought for equal pay and won, and now she is paid the same as the men on Shameless. According to The Daily Beast, she said, "It's our responsibility" and the website called it "historic." No one knows how much she was paid or what negotiations took place since she didn't want to talk about them, but either way, it's inspiring.

11 At The 2014 Tony Awards, She Had To Have Her Dress Sewed On

From the outside looking in, aka being regular people and following the lives of the rich and the famous, it seems like it's pretty stressful getting ready for award shows and red carpet appearances. There are so many eyes on you and so many cameras flashing in your face and people don't think that you wore the "right" dress and it just seems like so much to deal with.

Emmy Rossum had a pretty hilarious style moment when she attended the Tony Awards back in 2014. What happened? Someone had to literally sew her dress onto her body. Yes. This is absolutely a true story. According to In Style, she wore a silver Ralph Lauren dress and when the zipper acted up, someone sewed it onto her body. Talk about a moment to remember.

10 She Grew Up With A Single Mom

It's fascinating to see where celebrities come from. We might see them living in fancy, expensive mansions with fancy, expensive objects and clothing. We might think that they have the most flawless lives ever and that they never struggled a day in their lives.

Of course, that's just not the case, at least for the majority of people. After all, celebs were once just like us -- aka not famous at all -- and that was certainly the case when they were children. Emmy Rossum was raised by a single mom, so she didn't come from a perfect nuclear family, but it seems like things have worked out super well since she's so successful. She was also a really good student and worked really hard.

9 She Went To The Same School As Gwyneth Paltrow

It's easy to assume that every famous person knows each other. After all, we tend to assume that Hollywood is a super small place. Don't most celebs meet each other at one point or another, whether a fancy Oscar party or a movie premiere?

No? That's not how it works? Even if not every famous person is best friends with every other famous person, some of them do meet when they're in school. There's a school in New York City called The Spence School and a lot of celebrities went there, including Emmy Rossum and Gwyneth Paltrow. Yup, the Shameless star went to the same school as GP, which is super cool. We would definitely love to see some photos. We wonder if they were friends or just randomly saw each other in the hallways?

8 Vera Wang Is Her Aunt

Did any of us know that Vera Wang is Emmy Rossum's aunt?! Probably not. That's a really fun fact about the actress that isn't talked about very often or at all.

There isn't a ton of information out there about this, so it's unclear if they're super close and do the whole big family dinner thing together or if they even have a relationship. It sounds cool, though, and if they are close, it would be pretty handy and awesome to have a famous fashion designer for an aunt. Just think about all the clothes that you could get… That's basically living the dream. No doubt about it, Emmy always looks graceful and elegant when she's on the red carpet or just walking around town, so it seems like that style runs in the family.

7 She's Gluten-Free To Prevent Her From Snacking

It's no secret that a lot of people are going gluten-free these days, whether for health reasons or just because it's the thing to do. Celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow definitely brought the idea of a gluten-free diet or lifestyle to the public's attention and now it seems like we all know at least one person who doesn't eat the stuff anymore.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Emmy Rossum is gluten-free. She was interviewed for Shape magazine and talked about being allergic to gluten and what she eats. She said, "I've always been gluten free so that helps me to not snack on things that, in theory, put on weight. Not to say that I don't eat crème brulee on the weekend-I do!" It's definitely refreshing to hear a celebrity talk about loving to eat.

6 She Does A Lot For Charity

Some celebrities honestly care about causes and hold a few near and dear to their heart. We can tell because they get super involved and sound really passionate when they talk about it. There's a huge difference between actually doing something and wanting to make a difference and just showing up to a fancy fundraising, star-studded event in a pretty dress.

Emmy Rossum definitely cares about the charities that she is involved in and has done a lot. She's a spokeswoman for "PiNKiTUDE" (which is all about breast cancer) and does charity work for Aids and other causes. It's so nice to see celebrities giving back since they have the time and the resources to help others (and they absolutely have more resources than other people).

5 She Would Be A Food Photographer Or Critic If Not Acting

It's always interesting to hear what a celebrity would do if they weren't an actor or a singer. There's a reason that this is a super popular interview question -- it's just a really fun one.

Emmy Rossum told The Hollywood Reporter that she would have a job that revolved around food for sure. She would be a food photographer or a food critic. Okay, those sound like really amazing jobs. Can we sign up for them?! We're super glad that she hasn't quit her acting day job, though, because we love her and we love her as Fiona in Shameless most of all. And we're definitely waiting for season nine to just hurry up and get here already (but we didn't say that we were waiting patiently because that's just not possible).

4 She's Smarter Than People Think

Emmy seems to approach her career with thought and care and intelligence. She doesn't star in random movies that make no sense just for the paycheque. All we have to do is read a few interviews and we'll see that she's super smart. Her Instagram posts are also really intelligent, which is awesome to see.

When she was growing up, she was a good student who cared about her grades and wanted to make sure that she did well. She also went to Columbia, which is no small feat, so needless to say, she's smart. Even just the fact that she fought for equal pay and that it's a cause that really matters to her proves that she works hard and is really smart.

3 She's Not Into Big Romantic Gestures

According to an interview that Emmy Rossum did with AskMen, the way to her heart is not anything fancy and complicated. It doesn't sound like she's into big romantic gestures. That's not something that we hear every day since everyone seems to adore big gestures, including celebrities.

She shared, "I'm not the kind of girl who needs a gazillion flowers or the most expensive ring or dress or dinner or anything like that. I'm really simple." She talked about being cool with a chill, calm date night at home with a chicken dinner and maybe some poetry, which sounds romantic and perfect and like a great idea. It's so refreshing to see that, right?! Who needs fancy dinners? Maybe that's how her husband courted her.

2 She Adores 'The Little Mermaid'

According to The List, Emmy Rossum's all-time favorite song is "Part Of Your World" from The Little Mermaid and that movie is one of her faves as well.

It makes sense that the actress would be such a big fan of the Disney movie since she did grow up singing and wanting to perform. Ariel has for sure inspired a lot of young girls to want to grow up and follow their singing dreams. As she told Spin magazine, "When I hear it, I try to take it out of the Disney context and just think of the sentiment of the song. It's a very sweet one." If this is our favorite Disney movie, then we can for sure relate, and it's pretty cool to have something in common with the Shameless star.

1 She's A Pop Music Fan

Even though Emmy Rossum financed her own album because she didn't want to record pop music, she is still a big fan of that particular genre.

She shared in Billboard that she loves pop music. Which, come on, we can all totally get behind, can't we? What's better and more fun than listening to pop music? Top 40 jams can get us through our work days and our workouts, too, and they can always put us in a good mood. When Billboard asked if she listens to modern music, her answer was,Sure, I listen to Top 40. I do love pop music." See, we knew that we had a lot in common with this actress, and it's just another reason why we're big fans.

References:Thedailybeast.com, Ibitimes.co, Mystarlettes.blogspot.ca, Billboard.com, Shape.com, Instyle.com, Hollywoodreporter.com, Thelist.com, Askmen.com