Popular American celebrities that rose from ‘nothing to something’

We see so many celebrities and their glamorous lifestyle. Thier luxurious lifestyle sometimes makes people forget that most popular celebrities got to where they are now, through some pretty tough circumstances. This article will talk about some popular American celebrities who came from nothing to something.

Nicki Minaj

A rap legend who has been in the game for well over a decade, Nicki Minaj has dominated the rap industry and she’s worth an estimated 85 million dollars. But she had to endure some serious hardships to get to where she is now.

Nicki was born in St James, Trinidad & Tobago and grew up in Queens, New York. When she was young, her father suffered from addiction and their home went up in flames with the family still inside it. But even through all of that, Nicki Minaj hustled to pursue her dreams.

She tried her hand at acting after graduating from LaGuardia, a music and performing Arts High School in New York, but eventually found her path when she started rapping back in 2004. Nicki released multiple mixtapes before getting the attention of Lil Wayne who signed her to his label Young Money Entertainment and we’re pleased to say that she’s been killing it ever since.

Jenifer Lopez (JLo)

Jenifer Lopez can be seen nowadays in classic designyer and in multiple multi-million dollar homes, but while growing up in the Bronx neighborhood of Castle Hill, she and her siblings had to live pretty sparingly.

Eventually, her parents saved up enough money to move the family into a two-story house in the same neighborhood. But that didn’t mean money wasn’t tight, as her dad worked nights and her mother worked as a tupperware lady while also working at her daughter’s school.

Growing up JLo’s mom would ask her and her sisters to put on shows and perform for the rest of the family, just to keep the girls busy and that must have struck a chord with Jennifer.

She and her mother didn’t see eye to eye on her dream to pursue entertainment and this even led to a falling out between the two. But eventually she’d later go on to work in Europe and LA before starring in her iconic role in the biopic “Selena”.

Selena Gomez

Whether you love listening to her music, wearing a makeup from her rare beauty line or her fan, Selena Gomez is a beauty and style icon to say the least. But before the fame and success, she lived a completely different life.

Related: Top 10 highest paid celebrities on Instagram and their estimated income per post.

Selena’s mother was 16 years old when she had her. Making ends meet was difficult for her family, in fact when Selena was young, she remembered searching around for quarters to put gas in the car.

Despite her hardships, Selena’s mother continued to work hard to provide for her family. When Selena was seven years old, she finally had her big breakthrough by appearing on the show Barney and Friends. She also met and co-starred with fellow pop icon Demi Lovato.

Seeing how hard her mom worked to raise her, it’s no surprise that Selena’s been taking her career by storm and has grown into the talented singer, actress and businesswoman she is today.

Cardi B

Whether you like her music or not, there has probably been at least a time or two where the hilarious and outspoken 28 year old rapper has made you laugh on your timeline. But behind the jokes and the success, Cardi’s upbringing did a lot to shape her personality and to make her the star she is today.

A fellow Bronx native to JLo, Cardi B grew up with little money, but praised her parents for all they did to provide for her family. In an interview, she stated: “I have real good parents, they are poor, they have regular poor jobs and whatnot, they are real good people. I was just raised in a bad society.”

Cardi B made ends meet by working as a dancer at night in different clubs in New York and eventually went viral on Vine and Instagram before being cast in love and hip hop. The rest is history.

Justin Bieber

We all remember back in 2010 when Justin released the song “Baby” and more or less took over the world of pop music for the foreseeable future. It played on seemingly every radio station non-stop. But Justin came from much humbler beginnings, though money is obviously of no issue for him now.

Justin still remembers what it was like growing up poor and being teased by other kids because of it. He told Britain’s OK Magazine: “I remember sitting in restaurants with my mother and she’d make me order water instead of soda. I remember so badly wanting to order a soda.”

Related: 8 world class dancers who are Nigerians.

He went on to state, “I also remember that when I got my first big paycheck, I was so glad to be able to use that money to take care of my mom.”

As someone who made it through both financial hardships growing up and the pressures of fame at such a young age, Justin Bieber is the survivor to say the least.

Lizzo

As one of the most influential artists we see today, Lizzo has taken the world by storm with her chart-topping songs, her upbeat and hilarious personality and her focus on self-love and self-care. But it would totally be off to assume that she didn’t have to fight through some pretty tough times to get there.

She formed a musical group called the Cornrow Clique when she was in High School and would later go on to excel at playing the flute. She was eventually left with nowhere to go following the loss of her father when she was 21.

Lizzo slept on friends couches and even in her car for months before eventually becoming co-signed by Prince in 2011. She continued to perform and hone in on her craft and in 2017 Lizzo released the ever so famous single “Truth Hurts”.

Through strength, perseverance and hard work Lizzo rebuilt herself from the ground up and became the icon we see dominating the stage today.

Kelly Clarkson

It seems like Kelly Clarkson has been performing for as long as some of us have been alive. Maybe because her musical accomplishments and accolades speak for themselves. She’s had more hit singles than most of us can keep up with and her voice could easily move millions. But growing up, Kelly’s family lived pre-paycheck to pre-paycheck and they struggled for years.

After High school she moved to Los Angeles with the hopes of making it as a musician, but things got much worse before they got better. She lost a lot of the little she had when her apartment went up in flames, leaving her to sleep in her car until she eventually made it back home to Texas. But as someone who came from humble beginnings, she knew better than to let her current circumstances define her.

Kelly clarkson is the definition of turning lemons into the proverbial lemonade, because in 2002 she heard of auditions for a little show called American Idol and well we all know what happened after that.

There are several other people who have shown or showing us that no matter where you come from, if you work hard and believe in yourself there’s literally nothing you can’t do.