Some stars have been doing their thing since they were little kids, but many more had relatively
normal upbringings.
These celebrities did — and they held perfectly normal jobs before becoming rich and famous.
The effect of British boy band One Direction on our pop culture planet is undeniable, with
the act having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide to an obsessive fan base fully versed
in the intimate details of each member.
In the case of Harry Styles — easily One Direction's most popular personality — even
his old stomping grounds have become tourist attractions.
That includes the W. Mandeville Bakery, where he had previously worked while growing up
and attending school in the picturesque Cheshire village of Holmes Chapel.
The establishment has become such a draw that the business proudly sports a sign boasting—
"People come from miles and miles for craft baking and Harry Styles."
For more than two years, the pop star did everything from operate the cash register
to sweep floors at the bakery, starting when he was 14.
According to his old boss, Simon Wakefield, the star was a model employee: the manager gushed —
"He was the most polite member of staff we've ever had.
Customers really took a shine to him."
"This is the cheese counter.
This is where I used to sit on my break.
This is where I used to go to the toilet…"
The customers still loved Styles years later when he returned for a photo-op shift at the
bakery in 2013 as part of One Direction's "This Is Us" documentary.
During her acting career, Megan Fox has fostered reptilian relationships with the "Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles" and contended with metal morphing monsters in "Transformers."
But prior to such big screen endeavors, she had a different sort of acting role involving
blended fruit as a high school student living in Port St. Lucie, two hours north of Miami.
In 2009, the actor told Bang Media —
"I worked at a Tropical Smoothie Café in Florida when I was 15.
I would have to go out in the street wearing a gigantic banana costume and dance to try
to get customers to come in.
There was no anonymity, the costume had a big hole cut out so that everyone would see
your face."
Fox was quick to point out that donning the outfit wasn't her full-time gig at the eatery.
When asked about the job, she told Ellen DeGeneres —
"I worked mostly behind the register, but once a week, usually on Fridays, someone had
to dress up as a piece of fruit and go out and stand by the highway."
Luckily, no one gave Fox a rough time while she was on the job — except for her friends,
who would go to great lengths to embarrass her.
Carrie Underwood has become one of the most successful winners of "American Idol" in the
show's lengthy history since she landed the title in 2005.
But before she made her mark with country hits like "Before He Cheats" and "Jesus, Take
the Wheel," the Oklahoma songstress worked a series of odd jobs during her time in school.
She admitted to having a lot of fun at her first gig at a gas station, but she couldn't
say the same about another job at a nearby hotel.
She explained on Sirius XM —
"It was very much like empty, like creepy empty, like 'The Shining.'
My second day there, the girl that was training me just didn't come in.
She was like 'forget this, I'm out of here.'
So I was in charge on my second day and I didn't know how to work anything or do anything."
That wasn't all: she also had to deal with a creepy manager who tended to cross boundaries.
"My boss, like, was horrible at his job, um, and would randomly tell people that would
come in that I was his daughter…"
Understandably unimpressed with the atmosphere at the establishment, Underwood quit a month in.
Years later, Underwood has made it obvious that she doesn't miss those days.
She said in a statement to I Heart Country —
"My best job is definitely what I do now.
I really like being on stage.
I really like performing for people and just having fun and singing, because that's what
I feel like I was born to do."
There are countless difficult decisions that Barack Obama had to make during his tenure
in the White House — but when he was a kid in Hawaii, the man who would become the 44th
President of the United States had 31 options at his disposal during his day job.
Well, 31 flavors, that is — choices that he offered to customers at a Baskin-Robbins outlet.
In a 2016 LinkedIn post, Obama mused —
"Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks.
Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists.
As a teenager working behind the counter at Baskin-Robbins in Honolulu, I was less interested
in what the job meant for my future and more concerned about what it meant for my jump shot."
Obama wasn't merely waxing nostalgic in his post: he was using his past to highlight his
Summer Opportunity Project initiative to help youths get greater access to critical first jobs.
The former president also hinted that his Baskin-Robbins gig was his first exposure
to the business world — and a crucial initial step on his way to the Oval Office.
He continued —
"I'll never forget that job — or the people who gave me that opportunity — and how they
helped me get to where I am today."
What made Christopher Walken so brilliant as a villain in movies like "True Romance,"
"A View To A Kill," and "Batman Returns" was the steely, clinical detachment he brought
to his antagonist roles.
Credit his acting chops for that kind of discipline, but it's fun to speculate that some of that
coolness he developed might have been due to a summer job he scored when he was still
in high school.
For one month when he was 16, Walken was a lion tamer trainee at a traveling circus,
where he was in charge of a gigantic feline named Sheba.
"Well, the guy, the main guy went in with all the cats, and then he chased them all
out at the end but left one in there, and I'd go in."
The gig wasn't quite as dangerous as one would probably guess.
Walken admitted to The Guardian —
"I would come into the cage and wave my whip, and she'd lazily get up and sit like a dog
and maybe give a little roar.
I like cats a lot.
I've always liked cats.
They're great company."
Sheba was one cat that Walken loved developing a rapport with, but the experience apparently
wasn't enough to divert him from pursuing an acting career.
He continued —
"Acting is really what I love.
I don't really like to go out of the house unless I'm working."
While growing up in Ontario, acting was clearly in Rachel McAdams' blood.
One summer, she found herself directing theater for children, but she needed to supplement
the gig with something offering more cash.
Her sister came to the rescue, as she managed a McDonald's restaurant that also employed
her brother.
The gig gave McAdams three years of steady employment while going to high school.
She joked to Glamour —
"It was a great place to work, but I had a little bit of an OCD thing with handwashing
and just didn't have time.
They were like, 'Hey, the drive-through's backing up.
Stop washing your hands!'
I was not a great employee — I broke the orange juice machine one day."
McDonald's may not have directly played a part in her acting development, but the star
of "Mean Girls" and "The Notebook" said that she nonetheless learned a few things during
her tenure at the eatery.
She told Tracy Smith on CBS Sunday Morning —
"It taught me hard work, and I was kind of a bit of a germaphobe when I started working
at McDonald's and then I kind of got over that."
Today, McAdams still retains an appetite for McDonald's — especially when she's eating
for two.
She continued —
"When I was pregnant I said to my partner when we came out of a movie here in LA, it
was like 11 o'clock at night, and I was like 'Take me to the first McDonald's.
I want a fish filet and a chocolate milkshake.'"
Some celebrities have definitely had it easier than others.
While privilege might seem to be a handy excuse to avoid working a normal job, that apparently
wasn't the case with Kim Kardashian.
Her business success in the clothing and cosmetics industry can be traced back to her high school
years, when she got her first paycheck from a trendy, Los Angeles-based wardrobe retailer
called Body.
Kardashian told Variety —
"I worked at a clothing store for four years.
I loved it.
When I turned 16, my dad made me sign a contract… that if I hit my car, I would be responsible
for paying for it."
At the time, her father Robert Kardashian was making headlines of his own as part of
O.J. Simpson's legal team during his murder trial.
When Kim was involved in a minor fender bender, that association with her famous father worked
against her when the plaintiff successfully sued her for a sizable sum.
Working at Body paid off the suit, and she managed to buy some more clothes of her own
with the rest.
"I fell in love with fashion.
From that moment on, I just knew that I wanted to be in the fashion world."
Growing up, the SKIMS co-founder was constantly made aware by her parents that the family's
opulence didn't happen by accident.
If she wanted something, she had to work to get it.
She reminisced to Teen Vogue —
"I always was working.
I never asked people for money.
That was never really my thing.
I always just figured it out."
Decades ago, a group of kids working at an eatery specializing in cold treats wound up
forming one of the hottest bands of the '90s.
Singer Gwen Stefani has acknowledged that during her high school years in California,
she worked at Dairy Queen alongside her brother and another bandmate who would eventually
kick-start the ska sensation No Doubt.
The iconic musician told radio host Howard Stern —
"I just worked at the cash register and I got to make all of the ice cream."
Stefani also dropped some hints that she might have sampled a few DQ treats too many during
her employment.
In a segment that launched the 2014 season of "The Voice," she admitted —
"When I started there, I fit in my outfit.
When I ended there, I did not fit in my outfit."
Stefani ditched the daily Blizzards once No Doubt hit the charts with hits like "Just
A Girl" and "It's My Life," and she hasn't looked back since, thanks to a lucrative solo
career and a romance with country twanger Blake Shelton.
When Howard Stern suggested that Stefani could have wound up managing that DQ joint if her
music career didn't pan out, she quickly rebuked —
"No way, I'm not a manager type at all.
I'm unorganized and am a procrastinator."
It's hard to believe that controversial hip-hop superstar Ye, formerly known as Kanye West
and Yeezy, worked at The Gap during his younger years.
In 2020, West reflected —
"It's funny that I worked at the Gap in high school because in my past 15 years, it seems
like that's the place I stood in my creative path — to be the gap, the bridge.
When I was working at the Gap at 15, I don't think I had any desire to actually make clothes,
but I always felt like that's what I wanted to be around.
I loved the fabrics, I loved the colors, I loved the proportions."
The future Grammy winner worked part-time, excluding him from any staff discounts.
However, if his tune "Spaceship" is to be believed, he apparently remedied that situation
by offering himself a five-finger discount at the store instead.
Regardless, The Gap was eager to team up with Ye to create a clothing line at first, only
to become nervous about the rapper's edgy statements.
Still, the rapper doubled down.
"I'm an innovator, and I'm not here to sit up and apologize about my ideas."
In September 2022, Ye terminated his agreement with The Gap, citing a breach of contract
and claiming the store had failed to open specific Yeezy stores.