45 Celebs Who Weren’t Nepo Babies And Went From Rags To Riches On Their Own

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Balwin, Kravitz, Hudson, Cyrus, Coppola… Celebrity culture is often dominated by famous surnames. But between all the nepo babies lies a whole inspiring world of rags-to-riches tales.

These are the people who literally started from the bottom, now they’re here. No trust fund, no family favors, no shortcuts. Just pure hard work, raw talent, dedication, determination and a whole lot of struggle. Before the red carpets, private jets, luxury mansions and designer clothes, these celebs tasted poverty.

Viola Davis, for example was technically homeless. And Sarah Jessica Parker grew up poor, with 7 siblings, in a mining town. Someone recently asked, “What celebrity actually came from poverty and had to work very hard, that they didn’t have the benefit of nepotism?” and the answers read like a Netflix hit series that somehow never made it to air.

Bored Panda has put together a list of the best ones for you to scroll through if you needed a reminder that hard work really does pay off. Don’t forget to upvote your favorites and let us know in the comments if we’ve left anyone out.

Leighton Meester. She was born in a halfway house because her mother was in prison. When you hear her in interviews, she sounds very down to earth and sweet. So it’s refreshing she not only overcame everything she has, but seems to have a very happy personal life with Adam Brody too.

Viola Davis. I’m reading her memoir now and I’m just blown away. She was not technically homeless but she and her family lived in poverty for her entire childhood and didn’t start to get out of it until she started to earn money as an actress. I knew she was an incredible talent, but she also has tremendous strength.

Jessica Chastain. She doesn’t discuss her background much but she spoke on a podcast (and it’s in her Wikipedia) about how her parents were teenagers when she was born, she was mainly raised by a single mother, and the family struggled to the point that they often went to bed hungry.

Sarah Jessica Parker grew up in poverty with 7 siblings in a mining town in Ohio. She’s talked about having to sit in the dark sometimes as a child because their electricity would get turned off.

Barry Keoghan spent many years in foster care. When his mom passed away, I believe he went and lived with his grandmother and aunt in not a great area of Dublin.

Daniel Kaluuya is one that I often think of when people ask this sort of question, in addition to others already mentioned like Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis. Kelly Clarkson is a good one too, and of course, the legendary Dolly Parton.

Christina Aguilera too. Her dad was aggressive and in the military, and then her mom left him. I’m pretty sure she worked as a translator/teacher, and she and her two daughters moved in with her mother. They didn’t really have much.

The only real difference between the Jackson family home and a shack was the quality of the build. It was literally just a box, and they had 200 children stuffed in there.

Eminem.

Abandoned by his father since he was a baby, mother neglected him, they were always very poor and moved from house to house or lived in trailer parks etc. Literally could not really get much poorer than he was as an American in that time period, really. At some point he was literally evicted from his house and homeless and broke back into the house and slept on the floor just to not sleep on the street.

He single handedly purely by his own talent, skill and hard work took his entire family (his wife which then became ex wife, his 3 children, his half brother and probably many others) out of poverty, and even helped Dr Dr revive his own career as well as essentially giving 50 cent a career. He became super rich, gave his kids the best life money can buy, made some big mistakes but continues to be an amazing father and example of overcoming bad odds, on top of becoming sober, owning up to a lot of his past mistakes and growing a lot as a person. His children are all healthy, smart, lovely people who do not act entitled or like brats, he made amends with his ex wife and he is now a grandpa.

Justin Bieber was born to a teen mom and grew up on Canadian welfare for most of his early life before getting big on YouTube.

Kendrick Lamar. Relied on food stamps growing up, was homeless at one point.

Elvis was dirt poor and born into little more than a shack in rural Mississippi. .

Bruno Mars became from a very comfortable family to losing everything when he was a child to the point to live in a house that didn’t have bathroom
.

Pedro Pascal. If I remember correctly, even though his family had political connections in their native Chile, they had to flee to the US & when he got started as an actor, he grinded for well over a decade taking bit parts in various shows while working as a waiter at several restaurants and at one point, living with Sarah Paulson when he was nearly broke.

Jackie Chan was born so poor that his parents tried to sell him to the doctor who delivered him. .

There are some old Hollywood actors who some people may not realize grew up in poverty, like Cary Grant.

Mariah Carey. Grew up poor and living in an apartment above a bodega where her mom couldn’t afford the rent and on top of that her sister tried to pimp her out to an adult man when Mariah was a child. People say she’s a “diva” and ostentatious but quite frankly after what she’s been through, she deserves it.

Sylvester Stallone was basically homeless when he finally sold his “Rocky” script.

Trixie Mattel grew up in a trailer in rural Wisconsin and had a horrific stepfather; she* actually took the first part of her drag name from that monster calling her “a Trixie” whenever he thought his son wasn’t acting masculine enough.

She’s been through so much and is legitimately a global superstar now — arguably the most famous living drag queen after none other than RuPaul. I admire her so much.

*for those who may not know, it’s sort of a convention to generally refer to drag queens by the pronouns they use while in drag; in her day-to-day life she’s a cisgender man who uses he/him/his pronouns.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers. His father abandoned his mom and 3 brothers when they were children. He was kicked out of high school for truancy then discovered at a pool hall and started modeling and acting.

People think of Julie Andrews as a patrician, but that’s not the case at all. Her family lineage is miners and house servants. Her father, Ted Wells, was a teacher and her mother, Barbara, was a pianist— they divorced, and her mother ended up marrying a Canadian singer named Ted Andrews. Ted Andrews and Barbara toured the UK in music halls, and little Julie joined them when they discovered her spectacular voice. Overtime, Ted and Barbara slipped into alcoholism and by her teens, Julie was supporting the family with her income. This is also during and immediately after WWII in Britain.

There’s more to her story… Ted Wells wasn’t even her real father— he was married to Barbara when Julie was conceived with a different man during a separation, but for the rest of his life, Wells treated Julie as his own, biological daughter. Julie only knew herself when her mom took her to a party to meet a strange man in her early teens. At the end of the night, Barbara was too drunk to drive home, so 14 yo Julie Andrews had to drive them both home. On their way back, Barbara revealed the man they met at the party was her real dad.

And Ted Andrews, her stepfather, was a monster. She had an uncle and aunt who fixed a lock on her door.

It’s all in her autobiography, Home. A very sad childhood, really.

President Herbert Hoover was born in a one room house and was orphaned at a young age but later became a self-made millionaire by getting into the mining business with his geology knowledge and pretending to be older than he was.

Dolly Parton, she came from absolutely nothing and became not only an icon but became effectively the female Mr. Rogers.

Charles Bronson – came from absolutely nothing and was an underground miner at 12 and then went over for WW2.

Jennette Mccurdy. Her mom forced her to be a child actress so she could pay the family’s bills.

Tom Cruise’s mom worked a lot of jobs to put food on the table for him and his sisters.

He was just lucky to having his big break so earlier in his career, but people forget, he didn’t come from nepotism or money, it was all hard work.

Hate him for his church all you want, but he did work and still does work and cares about creating jobs.

Trevor Noah

Not only was his family poor, but the struggles he had to go through in a apartheid South Africa was wild! I highly recommend his book, Born a Crime. See if your local library has it in audiobook, because he narrates, and it’s great. Funny, and informative – like, I knew the basics of apartheid, but the rules and the way they applied differently to different people was bonkers. And some of the stuff he lived through was harrowing.

Not necessarily poverty, but most of the singers who got famous on talent shows come from normal backgrounds without nepotism.
Kelly Clarkson, One Direction, Fifth Harmony, …

James McAvoy came from a working class family.

Don’t know if they count ‘celebrity’ really, but the majority of all time great athletes especially in football (or soccer, whatever) come from poverty I would say.

Arnel Pineda from Journey.He is from the Philippines and his lost his mom to cancer and was homeless by 13 years of age.He ate leftover food out of the trash.

When he got famous after being discovered on YouTube in 2007, he used that money to help people in his area, which used to be a slum.

I remember seeing Jim on Inside the Actor’s Studio, and he got very emotional talking about his dad and their circumstances growing up. Even with all his success, all of that still stayed with him.

Also, he famously made a fake check for 10 million dollars he kept – kind of as a way to wish personal success into existence and a goal he hoped to achieve. Famously, he was the first actor to make 20 million upfront with “The Cable Guy.”.

Tiffany Haddish was in the foster care system in South central L.A. and worked really hard to have the career she has today.

She’s had a couple missteps along the way, but I’ve always admired how she keeps it real and seems to be very humble despite her success.

Demi Moore was a “trailer park kid” (her words not mine) and, apparently, her parents were very problematic.

David Spade (and Andy Spade) grew up really poor in Az . He actually has a lot of stories he manages to make hilarious and they have a third brother who is still local to Phx area and a construction worker .

LeBron James.

He lived in family and friends houses, sleeping on the sofa with his mother. Couldn’t afford multiple pairs of shoes for basketball which resulted in him misshaping his feet etc. He’s now one of the richest celebrities in the world and worked for everything he has. 👑.

Amy Adams. Not necessarily poor, but solidly working/middle class. She was an army brat and the family didn’t have much money after her dad finished his service. She worked odd jobs (Gap store greeter, call center rep, Hooters waitress) when she was trying to break into the industry.

Mel Brooks.

He was born into poverty in New York. He grew up in a rough neighborhood. Him, and his brothers, joined the military and fought in World War 2. During the war, he had to clear mine fields and check houses for IEDs.

After the war, he started getting into comedy. Writing and doing stand-up acts. And, he would make fun of nazis every chance he had.

This led to him awarded an EGOT, and he is an American legend.

Shania Twain, she had to grow up real quick at such a young age to raise her siblings. Love love love her!

James McAvoy! Not poverty, perhaps, but he grew up working class in Glasgow, and was mostly raised by his grandparents. He’s spoken at length about how hard it was to break into the industry because he wasn’t part of the upper crust.

Brad Pitt was just a kid from Missouri who moved from his conservative family’s home to California instead of going to college and took a bunch of odd jobs until he started getting screen jobs. He didn’t come from money, fame, or a special “pedigree”.

Clive Owen came from an extremely working class background. For an English actor to make it with that kind of background is almost surprising to be honest.

I think Janelle Monae’s parents were a truck driver and hotel maid/janitor. It’s amazing how much she has accomplished, plus she has such an impeccable style that surpassed people who were born and raised in riches.

You can hate jlo but she was barely making middle class and when she sought out to become famous her parents didn’t help her she slept in the dance studio closet till Janet Jackson picked her to dance.

Matt Leblanc, he had 15$ while filming the first episodes and he was so happy to afford a warm meal.

Steven Spielberg. While he didn’t grow up in poverty, he did grow up in a working-class, multigenerational household, and neither of his parents had any connections in the film industry. The closest thing to nepotism he experienced was the fact that his father owned an 8mm movie camera.

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