Becoming famous feels like climbing up a mountain.
You can see the top, but there are so many hazards that you may want to give up.
Not everyone starts at the same spot, either.
A future celebrity may start out so low that they’re almost underground.
They’re just as likely as anyone to struggle to find any place to lay their head and wonder
where their next meal is going to come from.
Fame can be their ticket out, but it’s a long, hard struggle to get there.
Keep watching to learn the stories of celebrities who were once homeless.
Halle Berry Halle’s mother didn’t support her dreams
of being a model, so she had to go to New York City to pursue her dreams on her own.
She stayed in a homeless shelter and then in a YMCA until she could afford a place to
live.
She says that the experience taught her how to care for herself and made her believe in
herself.
Halle earned her breakout role in the 2004 film Catwoman.
By the time she was 51, she’d won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 2018.
She’s still the only black woman to have won that award.
Jennifer Lopez Jennifer also had to pursue her dreams without
the support of her family.
Her mother wanted her to go to college, but she wanted to become a dancer.
She was kicked out of the house at 18 and slept on a cot in her dance studio.
She survived on pizza slices until her career took off.
Jennifer is now worth millions.
She has a mansion with plenty of comfortable beds to choose from.
Daniel Craig Daniel Craig once waited tables in the morning
and slept on the park benches of London at night.
He couldn't have imagined what happened next in his wildest dreams.
He’s been famous for playing James Bond since 2005.
His estimated net worth is $160 million.
Jim Carrey Jim’s family fell on hard times when he
was a teenager.
They slept in a VW van.
He dropped out of school at 16 to help the family by working as a janitor.
When he got older, he camped out on his sister’s lawn.
Jim said in an interview that these difficult experiences helped him develop his sense of
humor.
That proved to be his most valuable asset.
Steve Harvey Steve Harvey lived out of his car for three
years in the late 80s.
He survived on bologna sandwiches, showered at gas stations and hotel restaurants, and
worked odd jobs and small standup gigs until he could get a room of his own.
Today, you almost can’t turn on the television without seeing Steve’s bald head and hearing
his exaggerated laugh.
He’s the host of Family Feud and Little Big Shots and the Miss Universe Pageant.
Dr. Phil Philip Calvin McGraw came from a poor family.
When he was 12, they lived in a car and occasionally stayed in a YMCA.
Phil later earned a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in psychology and joined his father’s
practice in Texas.
Phil’s been hosting the Dr. Phil Show for over 16 years and is also a popular author.
His earnings rank over $70 million, and he’s among the 15 highest-earning celebrities in
the world.
Sylvester Stallone Sylvester’s story mirrors the rags-to-riches
tale of the beloved Rocky movies he helped create.
He wrote the first one while sleeping at the Port Authority bus station.
The series was rejected dozens of times, and they didn’t want him to star in it.
He even had to sell his dog for $50 to survive.
The script was eventually sold, and he bought back his best friend for $3000.
That was the start of his journey to becoming one of the most successful action stars of
all time.
Hilary Swank Hilary’s parents separated when she was
15.
She moved with her mother to LA, but they lived out of her car until a friend helped
them find a place to stay.
She said that she felt like an outsider her whole life.
Her only sense of belonging was when she pretended to be a character in a book or film she liked,
and that’s why she decided to become an actress.
Her breakout role came with Million Dollar Baby.
Kelly Clarkson Kelly faced tragedy as soon as she moved to
LA.
Her apartment burned down in a fire.
She had no money or any family or friends in the area.
She was forced to live in her car and homeless shelters.
That was until a little singing competition changed her life.
The singing superstar later became the most successful star American Idol ever produced.
She’s got plenty of hit songs and a popular talk show.
Drew Carey Drew struggled as a young man in Las Vegas.
He was homeless and spent his time searching for spare change for food.
He even once sold his plasma for $40.
Drew later became the host of the long-running game show The Price is Right.
At 59 years old, he not only has a place to live but enters the living rooms of millions
every day.
Tiffany Haddish Tiffany’s story is a tale of two comedians
working together.
Before she made her break in Hollywood, she was living out of her car in Beverly Hills.
Kevin Hart found out about her situation and gave her $300 to spend a week at a hotel as
well as a bit of advice.
Whatever he said worked because she’s continued to succeed since her breakout role in 2017’s
Girls Trip.
Jewel Jewel Kilcher lived out of her car in the
early 90s while trying to break into the music business.
She signed her first record deal, and that is what catapulted her to fame.
Jewel is now among the club of stars who go by their first name.
She’s a 43-year-old singer and wears several hats as an actress, songwriter, musician,
producer, author, and poet.
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Keep watching to learn about more celebrities who were once homeless.
Steve Jobs Many tech companies start with geniuses coding
in their garage, but Steve didn’t even have that.
He had a dormitory at Reed College until he dropped out and had to sleep on the floor
of his friend’s dorm.
He was so desperate for money that he collected soda bottles to sell and had to eat meals
at a temple.
Steve Jobs died one of the richest men in the world as the co-founder of Apple.
He succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 53 on October 5, 2011.
‘Lil Kim This famous rapper, born Kimberly Denise Jones,
was homeless not once but twice.
As a child, she lived in a car with her mother.
As a teenager, she lived on the streets of Brooklyn as a teen after dropping out of high
school and getting kicked out of her home by her father.
‘Lil Kim now has a successful career.
Her early struggles also inspired her to become a philanthropist and give back to several
charities.
Tyler Perry Emmit Perry Jr. was also homeless twice.
The first time was when he dropped out of high school and lived out of his car.
He wanted to avoid staying with his father whose beatings were so severe that, at age
16, he considered suicide.
Instead, he had his name changed and moved on.
The second time he was homeless was when he was 22.
Tyler used those experiences to make touching and comedic films and plays.
He has a net worth of $40 million.
Shania Twain Eileen Regina Edwards and her siblings lived
in a homeless shelter in Toronto, Canada when she was 13.
They also struggled with food insecurity.
Today, Shania has sold over 100 million records.
That makes her one of the best-selling female artists in the country genre.
Lana Wood Bond Girl Lana Wood was one of the most popular.
She charmed audiences in Diamonds Are Forever and seemed to have a promising career until
tragedy struck.
Lana ended up staying in a motel room with her daughter Evan, her son-in-law, three grandchildren,
and two dogs.
Growing medical bills from Evan’s cancer treatment left them unable to pay rent.
She couldn’t keep her homelessness a secret forever.
Her friend Gregor Gillespie found out and started a GoFundMe page to help her.
It began with a goal of $10,000 and raised a staggering $29,635.
The actress and her family now live in an “adorable little place” with all the necessary
amenities.
She’s sure her sister Natalie would have stepped in to help her if she were still alive.
Troy Donahue Merle Johnson Jr.’s life is a story of ups
and downs.
He drove across the country at age 20.
He went from New York to California in search of film work.
He was offered a screen test but suffered a near-fatal accident the week before.
He drove drunk, and his car skidded off the road, plummeted into a canyon, and crashed
into a tree.
He suffered cracked ribs and kneecaps, a bruised spinal cord, a crushed kidney, and a concussion.
He also lost a tooth and needed 10 stitches on his nose and 40 in his scalp.
Troy missed his screen test, and that upset him more than his injuries.
He eventually recovered and was introduced to notorious agent Henry Wilson.
He got a screen test and was signed immediately.
He made 10 films in a year, but 1959’s A Summer Place was his most successful.
At the height of his fame, he’d receive over 7,000 fan letters a week and have fans
climb the fence of his home to get a glimpse of him.
It was his dream, but it was also overwhelming.
That, along with his father’s death from Lou Gehrig’s disease, worsened his alcoholism.
Troy struggled to find work by 1969, making poorly received films such as My Blood Runs
Cold and Palm Springs Weekend.
He was suspended from the studio and moved back to New York, but the money and roles
continued to dry up.
Troy filed for bankruptcy after his second divorce.
He had to live in a bush in central park for six months in 1970 and kept all his possessions
in a backpack.
He relied on fans for meals and showers or a couch or bed to sleep on.
Francis Ford Coppola heard about his plight and offered him a part in The Godfather Part
II.
Troy’s life seemed to turn around after that.
He joined Alcoholics Anonymous and got bit parts in films such as 1990’s Cry-Baby.
Troy was happy with love and life until he died from a heart attack in 2001.
The book Inventing Troy Donahue- The Making of a Movie Star explores his rise and fall.
Author Michael Gregg Michaud met him a few times and says that his life was “far more
interesting than people even realized.”
What is your favorite celebrity rags-to-riches story?
Let us know in the comments.