Celebrities are generally known for a specific thing. They might be a singer-songwriter who writes stories about their ex-boyfriends (yeah, we might be talking about a certain blonde superstar...), they star in movies and show off their physical comedy talents, they stole our hearts with a certain winning TV role. But of course, when celebrities need money and want exposure, which most of them do, they can do a ton of different things. They never know what opportunity is going to come knocking and sometimes it really takes them outside of their comfort zones and they end up doing all kinds of stuff they probably never thought they would. Sometimes celebrities are super open and proud of their side hustles, and sometimes they keep them pretty quiet. Here are 15 celebs who have super surprising hustles. You might be shocked to hear some of these!
15 Beyonce
Perhaps you knew about Beyonce's athletic clothing line, but did you know she also had a plant-based home delivery meal service? She started the service with 22 Days Nutrition. The main idea is that it takes 21 days to break a bad food habit. So the company figures that if you use the food delivery service for that time, you'll be more than ready to make your own food choices when you're done. The service includes food in its plan that is naturally low in fat, sugar, and salt, but still full of flavor from whole foods such as vegetables, beans, grains, herbs, and spices. The meals are delivered once a week and are totally vegan, which means they skip the dairy, eggs, soy, and even gluten. There are three different plans to choose from, and Beyonce herself has claimed to have stuck with the program.
14 Rob Lowe
The super hot actor started a company called Profile... which is a grooming and skincare line for men. The line contains five products and ranges in price from $24.50 to $59.50 and includes items like shaving gel, a post-shave serum, moisturizer, and an eye serum. Apparently, the star spent six years creating the line, saying "The thing I really want people to understand is that I built this line from the ground up. I'm not the celebrity endorser, I'm not the face of the product. I'm the developer of it. I have an entrepreneurial spirit." He also explained that this line is not simply a repackaged version of a woman's skincare line, it's formulated differently since men's skin is up to 30 percent thicker than women's skin. Thanks, Rob, we had no idea. You learn something new every day, right? Well, maybe this isn't such a surprise after all because the man does have some pretty amazing-looking skin.
13 Patti LaBelle
Grammy winner Patti LaBelle is passionate about something besides her music... and that something is food. The singer started a line of sweet potato pies that actually inspired a viral video. The video then skyrocketed the popularity of her pies, so it worked out pretty well for her. She has also released a line of pound cakes at Walmart. Interestingly, when Patti's pies were first available, they were only moderately popular and selling for $3.48. But once this singer James Wright posted a video about the pies that went viral their popularity soared and the stores were totally selling out of them... leading them to be sold for up to $40 on eBay. The video got upwards of 8.5 million views at the time. Genius marketing trick, or just a really random stroke of luck for Patti and Walmart? We'll probably never know.
12 Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock is not just an actress, she's also a restaurant owner. In 2006, she opened two restaurants in Austin, Texas. She owns Bess Bistro which is a more high-end spot, Walton's Fancy and Staple which is is a bakery, deli, flower shop and catering service. Sandra's sister Gesine is a pastry chef and created some of the items on the menu. However, Bess Bistro actually shut down this past year and is now a modern Italian spot named Sophia's. Well, let's be honest, not all restaurants can last forever. Walton’s Fancy & Staple is still open. Sandra has said that “The acting is to fund what I do here in Austin.” She does the town a good deed, though, and makes sure to open a restaurant in an old building that is then restored.
11 Carmen Electra
Carmen Electra actually has her own line of stripper poles as well as a naughty aerobic DVD collection called Striptease. The stripper pole offer "dual modes" meaning you can effectively put it up anywhere from a bedroom to the garage...and you can choose between stationary or spinning mode for the more advanced pole spinners. According to the online reviews, users love the chrome finish but aren't thrilled that it only holds 220 pounds of weight without being screwed into the ceiling. Carmen's workout DVD's are effective at working the entire body, and adding in some female body empowerment along the way. Some of her titles include "Aerobic Striptease," "Fit To Strip," "Advanced Aerobic Striptease," and "The Lap Dance & Hip Hop."
10 Justin Timberlake
Here's a super-fun and surprising fact: Justin Timberlake is actually a part owner of MySpace. Back in 2005, the social media site was purchased by News Corporation for $580 million but we all know how that turned out: everyone jumped ship for Facebook and later Instagram, which was of course then purchased by Facebook. Justin Timberlake and Specific Media saw the potential of reviving MySpace and turning it into a music discovery platform, so they bought it for the relative bargain of $35 million. The revamp includes music streaming as well as different types of video clips and reality TV. Justin also invested in a cloud-based photo tagging service called Stipple and created a company called Miso Media based in Venice Beach which creates music and education related apps.
9 Elizabeth Hurley
The actress actually started a line of organic snacks in England. She became quite famous as an actress but then headed across the pond where she settled on a 400-acre organic farm in Gloucestershire. She started her organic snack line in conjunction with the big company Harrod's over there, and the food is actually produced on her farm. After the success of that venture, she teamed up with Prince Charles and his organic food company Dutchy Essentials. She started providing meat as well as vegetables from her farm and apparently does the farming herself. In addition to having the snack line at Harrod's she also, a bathing suit line with them simply called Elizabeth Hurley Beach, which sells swimwear for both adults and children.
8 Armie Hammer
Armie Hammer and his wife, the model Elizabeth Chambers, opened a bakery in San Antonio Texas called BIRD Bakery. The bakery specializes in sandwiches, cupcakes, coffee, bread, and quiches. Many of the recipes used in the restaurant came from Elizabeth's grandmother Maureen Carnathan who had a successful catering business in San Antonio for many years, so it's a really quite the family affair. Elizabeth has explained that her grandmother was British and raised in India, so she had a unique flair to her cooking that Elizabeth grew up watching. The couple literally drove out to the restaurant the night before its opening day, arriving at 3 am and working the rest of the night to get everything in order. The place has been popular ever since.
7 Tony Bennett
Before Tony Bennett was a famous singer, he was actually a painter, and he still indulges his artistic side today. Some of his paintings sell for more than $10,000 each. He has said that he likes to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see what other artists are up to when he has the time. Although don't expect to see one his pieces signed Bennett anytime soon, all of Tony's art is signed with his family name Benedetto. Tony does watercolors, oil paintings, and sketches, and he does some art every single day no matter whether he's home or on the road. He supposedly was first inspired by art when he started drawing on sidewalks with chalk as a child, and his family encouraged him to pursue both of his creative passions from then on.
6 Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu is, of course, a super talented singer, but she's also taken an interest in helping women deliver their babies. Erykah actually became a certified doula and started working towards getting a midwifery license. She has also spent time playing music for patients in nursing homes who are getting close to the end of their days, which she explains as being part of both the “welcoming and ushering committees.” She has explained that she became a doula by default, after having seven of her own and then wanting to be there to help her friends through the birthing process as well. She had one experience of assisting a labor over 52 hours and instinctively knowing how to help and then realizing how fulfilled it made her feel to do so.
5 Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon has a clothing and lifestyle brand website called Draper James that also has a real story, too. The Nashville native decided to open the first store in her hometown. The clothing line was inspired by her southern upbringing, so there is lots of ladylike stripes, gingham, and floral designs. Any girly-girl will definitely love the clothes that can be found in her brand. The brand is named after her grandparents, Dorothea Draper and Williams James Witherspoon, and was created with intentions "to honor my past and allow others to embrace the beauty and style and excitement that embodies what is happening in the South today." It's really nice to see that even someone who is as famous as Reese Witherspoon doesn't forget where she came from and encourages others to do the same. In addition to clothing, the line offers accessories like phone cases, jewelry, and handbags, as well as home goods like cocktail napkins, stationery, and bedding.
4 Jessica Biel
Jessica Biel recently opened a restaurant in Los Angeles called Au Fudge along with a few other people. It's a kid-friendly spot that has tasty yet healthy food that appeals to children... which can be a lot harder to find than you might expect. Jessica had been playing around with healthy baking recipes for a few years before the restaurant concept came around, and her creations were so unappealing that she actually considered starting a company called "The Ugly Cake Company." That was until celebrity stylist/interior designer Estee Stanley and children's book author Kimberly Muller came to Jessica with their woes about children's food and they decided to open their own spot together. The food at the restaurant is organic, free of dyes, and all natural. Food options include things like mac and cheese and grass-fed burgers.
3 Venus Williams
Venus Williams might have been the top-ranked tennis star in the world at one point, but she also has a big love for interior design. She started a Florida-based company called V Starr Interiors which does commercial as well as residential interior design and works as the CEO. The company has designed some homes for other athletes as well as TV talk show sets. Venus also has her own activewear clothing line called Eleven and owns an interest in the Miami Dolphins with her sister Serena. Talk about keeping your hands tied with a bunch of projects. Her activewear line has a big focus on tennis clothing not surprisingly, but the line also makes clothes for yoga, running, dance, and general fitness. Venus actually has an associate’s degree in fashion design, so she is totally involved in the design and production process of the clothing.
2 Clint Eastwood
Back in the 80s for two years, Clint Eastwood was actually the mayor of Carmel, California. He loves the area so much that he actually bought a dairy farm in 1986 and turned it into the renovated Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant. When he bought the property, he saved it from being turned into an apartment complex. The restaurant looks out onto a pasture filled with sheep and there are also beautiful views of the waves crashing on the beach. The spot also has a piano bar that's super occupied every night, and on Sundays, there's jazz. Sounds like a pretty nice place to invest in. Imagine how fun it would be to have this in your family and just spend your weekends away running and taking care of the property.
1 Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher is as well known as an actor, as well as being a bit of a prankster hosting shows like Punk'd. (And also adorably marrying Mila Kunis many years after they co-starred as sweethearts on That 70's Show.) However, he's also really involved in the world of tech investments. Ashton co-founded a company called A-Grade Investments which is a venture capital firm. They invest in technology startups that they feel passionately about, which has included Spotify, Uber, Fab, and Airbnb. Even before he started this venture capital firm he invested his own money in companies like Foursquare and Skype. You can imagine that the payback is pretty nice when you make those investments the right way, and based on the companies he has invested in already it seems like he knows what he's doing.
sources: latimes.com gocalifornia.about.com forbes.com sanantoniomag.com npr.org today.com
