It’s hard to believe that the glamorous beings we see strolling up and down the red carpets of Tinseltown were ever anything different. While some celebs were never any worse off, and born into privilege and luxury, many others were actually born into totally different circumstances. Some of the famous actors, actresses, and singers whom we idolize today grew up in extremely poor conditions and had to endure a lot before they could get their hands on penthouse suites, private jets and Lamborghinis to drag race. Some of the wealthiest, most dazzling stars know what it’s like to have to skip a meal, sleep in a car, seek out a homeless shelter and be driven by nothing other than pure desperation to get out. The following 15 celebs came from absolutely nothing. They can teach us a lot about overcoming the odds to get to the destiny you know is waiting for you!
15 Arnold Schwarzenegger
Maybe you can tell from the accent that Arnie wasn’t born in a Beverly Hills mansion with 20 butlers and nannies on hand to bring him his milk. Born in an Austrian village in 1947, Schwarzenegger is actually the son of an abusive ex-Nazi who much preferred his elder son, Meinhard. Not only was Schwarzenegger’s father abusive toward him and provoked his brother to be the same way, but the family didn’t exactly have a bursting bank account. In fact, money was sometimes so tight that it was a big deal for him when the Schwarzeneggers bought a refrigerator during his childhood. But Schwarzenegger used the harsh hand he was dealt to motivate him towards something better, and he developed a strict obsession with bodybuilding. He definitely became a bodybuilding icon, and as of today, he can also add major action hero and Governor of California to his resume. Ka-ching!
14 Nicki Minaj
It’s seriously difficult to imagine Nicki Minaj (born Onika Tanya Maraj) any other way than she is now. It’s near impossible to acknowledge that there was a time before the Range Rovers, before the hype man, before the global arena tours and iconic wigs and music awards, when Minaj’s family was struggling to survive. Living in South Jamaica, Queens, Minaj experienced her fair share of poverty and dysfunction. Her father was a drug addict and burned down the family house when she was still a child. Conditions were so bad for the family that she dreamed about becoming rich and famous just to financially support her mother. We all know how that dream turned out! It didn’t happen right away for Minaj, and after failing to have a successful acting career, she had to toughen it out doing jobs she detested for a while, including waitressing and working in customer service.
13 Sarah Jessica Parker
Oh, that’s right! The queen of style, Carrie Bradshaw herself came from incredibly humble beginnings before she bought that Manhattan penthouse with Mr. Big. Growing up in Nelsonville, Ohio, Sarah Jessica Parker’s family relied on social welfare to survive. Sometimes things got so tight that they had to go without electricity, and had to forgo celebrating Christmases and family birthdays. One of eight siblings, Parker knew that her parents simply couldn’t afford to house a family of that size, and was often confronted with bill collectors at the door and the phone company ringing to say that they were cutting off the family’s phone lines. But Parker sang, danced, and acted her way out of what seemed like a dire situation, and made quite a name for herself. Today, she is worth over $90 million, and we’re fairly certain that there are no longer any debt collectors at her door.
12 Justin Bieber
You might not like Justin Bieber now, but the kid did have kind of a hard time growing up. Born to a young, single mother, Bieber grew up in an extremely poor household. According to reports, the house he grew up in was infested with rats. Justin slept on a pull-out couch rather than a comfortable bed, and didn’t exactly enjoy the high-class meals that he probably does now! Bieber has said that the fridge was empty an overwhelming majority of the time, and he basically had to live off macaroni and cheese. Do you know what though? As much as that probably definitely sucked, it might have been those awful conditions that provoked Bieber to get out there and busk with his guitar. That drive and determination is what eventually got him noticed by the people who mattered and rescued him from such a lifestyle. Today, as we’ve noticed, he’s worth millions of dollars.
11 Eminem
This one is less surprising, mainly because we’ve all seen Eminem’s autobiographical movie, 8 Mile. Living with a single mother, Eminem grew up being shuffled between Michigan and Missouri before settling in Detroit. Though they finally settled in a lower-middle class neighborhood, the family never had cash to give away. While he didn’t come from very much financially, there were other issues in young Marshall Mathers’ life that made his journey to fame even more satisfying, and even more difficult. Bullying was a constant issue for him, even getting to the stage where he was concussed by his tormentors. Today, Eminem is one of the most successful rap artists the world has ever seen, and definitely learned how to focus all that rage into his award-winning music. Something tells us that, like Bieber, the hard times that Eminem faced may have shaped him into the kind of person who can really make it.
10 Hilary Swank
The talented Hilary Swank is another star who had to go through some pretty tough times before she could become an Oscar-winning actress. Swank was born into severely disadvantaged conditions and spent her early years growing up in a trailer park. To make matters worse, her father walked out on her mother when she was still a young girl, and her mother struggled to provide for her two children without a partner. Swank consequently dropped out of high school when her mother lost her job. In what proved to be a life-changing decision, the family drove to California in order for Hilary to try her hand at becoming a successful actress. During this time, money was tighter than it had ever been, and the family couldn’t even afford an apartment for a while. Living in their car and sleeping on friends’ living room floors, the family made it by until Swank got her big break.
9 Celine Dion
Celine Dion, aka the real reason to go to Vegas, is a legendary singer who is basically synonymous with glamor, riches, and success. So it’s hard to believe that once upon a time, the songstress was just a mere human growing up in an underprivileged household. Though Dion admits that there was plenty of love and affection to go around when she was growing up (which is really the most important thing!), the family didn’t have a lot of money. She doesn’t classify them as “poor”, but she’s made it clear in the past that they certainly weren’t well off or comfortable. Seeing as Dion grew up with no less than 13 older brothers and sisters, we can see how things were probably tight for a while. But she rose above the odds and transformed into a stage-gracing, belting diva who is surrounded by permanent luxury, and a fortune of over $800 million.
8 Jim Carrey
Funnyman Jim Carrey was born in Ontario and experienced the lows of financial hardship that no child should have to endure. Although he grew up in a lower-middle-class family that was getting by okay, that all changed when Carrey’s father became unemployed. As a result, the family home was repossessed and Carrey actually had to live with his family in their van for a while. This caused him to drop out of high school at only 15 so he could support his family by working and took jobs that he probably wasn’t passionate about at all, including a janitor and a security guard. Eventually, things started to look up, and Carrey focused his attention on the comedy scene and trying to break into the entertainment industry. Although that was probably a scary thing to do, his experience most likely taught him that chasing dreams has got to be better than living in poverty!
7 Leighton Meester
Leighton Meester’s portrayal of Blair Waldorf on the hit TV show Gossip Girl was so on point that when we heard she actually grew up in a totally different financial setting, we were shocked! Meester was born when her mother was in federal prison for smuggling drugs. As an infant, she was nursed in a halfway house and then taken to live with her grandmother when her mother had to finish the rest of her sentence. Not exactly the Upper East Side! Things improved when her mother was released from prison ten years later, and Meester began working as a model in New York. It’s safe to say that there definitely wasn’t a Dorota hanging around to answer to Meester’s every need, and during her challenging childhood, she probably learned skills and developed character that our beloved Blair could never! Meester is now a celebrated and very rich actress and singer.
6 Halle Berry
Halle Berry had it tough from the beginning, but that bad luck never stopped her from getting to where she wanted! Her father, who was a physically abusive deadbeat, abandoned Berry and her family before she was even five years old. This condemned them too hard times, as Berry’s mother had to raise two children in a rough neighborhood all by herself. When Berry was old enough, she moved to New York to make it as a model and actress, but this wasn’t immediately successful. In order to survive during her initial days in New York, Berry had to stay in homeless shelters while she was trying to break into the industry. That kind of lifestyle is a far cry from the Hollywood lavishness she probably has at her fingertips today, but it’s an important part of Berry’s evolution. She learned a lot about how strong she really is during those years!
5 Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio was comparatively very young when he got his Hollywood break, but that does not mean that those early years were not littered with an array of disadvantages and obstacles for him to overcome. DiCaprio’s early environment was packed full of drug addicts and other criminals, the L.A. poverty-stricken neighborhood he grew up in exposed him to the ugly side of the world at far too young an age. But according to DiCaprio, this experience taught him that he definitely did not want that kind of life for himself, and fired an ambition within him to get out of the situation and be somebody totally different. Now worth more than $200 million, DiCaprio is one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. He should definitely serve as inspiration for anybody born into questionable circumstances, that it’s really up to them to become whatever the heck they want to be!
4 Demi Moore
Demi Moore might be a successful and rich AF actress today, but her youth was plagued with the kinds of problems that many disadvantaged kids have to face. The hardships began before she even arrived on the earth, with her father abandoning her mother before she was born. Even though her mother married again not long after Moore’s birth, she and her new husband were alcoholics who set an incredibly violent and unhealthy example for Moore. Growing up in a trailer park, the home was filled with tension, disharmony, and abuse. Moore dropped out of high school and got away from her parents as soon as she could at the age of 16, and followed her dream of pursuing a modeling career (she definitely has the genes!). She started taking drama classes when she was 17, and the rest turned out pretty splendidly for her. Today, she’s worth about $150 million. Just casually.
3 Shania Twain
The road to country music superstardom was long, tedious, and filled with hurdles for Shania Twain. Her parents split up when she was a toddler, and even after her mother remarried, the family was still poor. Twain recalls there not being enough food to share amongst her siblings, and had to learn how to support herself by hunting and chopping her own wood—lucky she lived in a pretty rural area! The relationship between her mom and stepdad was incredibly violent, forcing the family to run away from him and take refuge in a homeless shelter. When she was 21, a time when most of our lives are just beginning, a car accident killed Twain’s mother and stepfather, and she had to put her dreams aside to raise her siblings. But all that pain caused Twain to turn to music and songwriting. With $350 million under her belt, we think it paid off.
2 Oprah Winfrey
If Oprah Winfrey isn’t the ultimate rags-to-riches story, then we don’t know what is! Born to young, unequipped and unwed parents, Winfrey had a lot to deal with from the get-go. She grew up on a pig farm in Mississippi before moving to Milwaukee with her mother, who was a hardworking maid and didn’t provide much love or support for her daughter. Winfrey was then shuffled to Tennessee where she lived with her father. Wherever she went during her youth, there were people who made her life difficult, and there was a constant lack of the things she needed, including money, food, and other amenities. Believe it or not, Winfrey was often dressed in potato sacks as a child. But she rose above it all to become the most celebrated TV host and businesswoman in existence. If you ever feel like you won’t make it, seriously just remember Oprah in a potato sack.
1 Kelly Clarkson
We know her as the original American Idol with one of the strongest voices we’ve ever heard. But the truth (and a very emotional and moving truth at that) is that Kelly Clarkson truly came from nothing. The singer grew up in a house which was falling apart and infested with cockroaches, and with a family who hardly had enough money to support her. Relying on food stamps just to survive, Kelly kept her focus on the music career she wanted so badly, and moved to LA. While she was trying to make it, her apartment caught on fire. At this point, she was probably wondering when she was going to catch a break! She had to live in a homeless shelter and out of her car for a while. Rather than giving up, Clarkson clung to her dream even tighter until it was firmly in her hands. She went on to become one of the most successful American Idol winners.
