Poor No More: Rags to Riches Celebrities
With their lives of privilege, it seems as if they were born with silver spoons in their mouths, but some of today’s most recognizable celebrities had to overcome very big obstacles to become the mega stars they are today.
Jim Carrey
Raised in Canada, Carrey fell on hard times during his early teens, when his father was laid off. To help make ends meet, a teenage Carrey worked as both a janitor and a security guard before eventually dropping out of high school. Over time, the situation worsened and the family lost their home, leading them to live in a van.
Sean “Diddy” Combs
Born in Harlem, Combs moved out of New York City after his father was murdered. Raised upstate by his mother, who reportedly worked several jobs, Combs continuously pushed himself. His big break: as a business student at Howard University, he landed an intern gig at Uptown records, where he quickly made his way from the mail room to the boardroom.
Tom Cruise
Cruise’s parents–his dad an engineer and his mom a special education teacher–ended their marriage during his early adolescent years. From that time, Cruise, along with his siblings, was raised by his mother, who reportedly held down as many as four jobs at once to keep the family clothed and fed. Adding to Cruise’s troubles was his struggle with dyslexia, which caused him difficulty in the classroom.
Celine Dion
Born into an impoverished, but happy, family of 14 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion developed a passion for the arts at an early age. Growing up fine-tuning her skill at her parents’ piano bar, she never lost that drive–or the desire for a better life.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
Raised without a father, 50 Cent’s mother was reportedly found dead when he was just 8 years old. Suddenly orphaned, he was taken in by his grandparents and spent much of his early adulthood immersed in drugs. And even worse, he was shot nine times in a failed attempt on his life.
J.K. Rowling
After Rowling’s marriage ended in divorce, she moved her daughter to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she was hard at work on the first of her best-selling Harry Potter books. During that time, the struggling writer was committed to completing her book and was forced to live, albeit briefly, on welfare.
Oprah Winfrey
Born to unwed parents in rural Mississippi, Oprah was raised on her deeply religious and poverty-stricken grandmother’s farm. Motivated by a better life, Winfrey moved to Wisconsin to be with her mother. But there she found just the opposite, being sexually molested by her male relatives. At the age of just 14, Winfrey reportedly gave birth to a premature baby, who quickly passed away. Shortly after, she moved to her father’s home in Nashville, Tenn., where she finally found discipline and stability.
POSTED BY: Lexie
Related Posts
DROP A COMMENT BELOW