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Demi Moore

Demi Moore’s father left before she was born, and the man who became her stepfather was frequently out of work, forcing the family to move a lot, according to Hello! Magazine. The high school dropout went on to blossom into a two-time Golden Globe nominee with a net worth of $200 million. Among her 67 acting credits are titles like “Ghost” and “G.I. Jane.” Moore’s career has spanned more than 35 years.

Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone was born in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen, where his mother was a hairdresser. Broke and expecting a child, he took bit parts in B-movies. At one point, he even sold his dog for cash. Today, he’s spent decades as one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood history, with a net worth of $400 million and a portfolio of films that earned more than $3.97 billion worldwide.

Joaquin Phoenix

In 2014, Joaquin Phoenix revealed to Playboy that his childhood involved a Spartan existence with his family, who trekked through South America as part of a religious cult called Children of God. Today, his fortunes have changed dramatically. He has more than 50 credits for movies like “Joker,” “Gladiator” and “Walk the Line,” an Academy Award, and a net worth of $50 million.

Billy Bob Thornton

In 2016, Billy Bob Thornton told ABC about growing up poor in rural Arkansas. About his childhood, Thorton said all year he looked forward to getting a stick and a rock in his stocking for Christmas. Today, however, the Oscar-winning writer and star of “Sling Blade” and the TV series “Fargo” enjoys big- and small-screen success that has earned him a net worth of $45 million.

Selena Gomez

Today, Selena Gomez is a music and movie superstar with more than 100 film and television credits — as well as a net worth of $75 million. But when she was an 18-year-old Disney star in 2011, she revealed to Hollywood Life that her mother gave birth to the future superstar when she was just 16 years old and worked several jobs just to put food — often dollar store spaghetti — on the table.

Shania Twain

Country-pop superstar Shania Twain kept her past and private life to herself — until a 2011 “Nightline” interview where she revealed that she grew up desperately poor in an abusive household in rural Canada. In 1987, her parents were killed in a car accident, which left her responsible for raising her younger siblings. She went on to a groundbreaking career that culminated in five Grammy awards and 18 nominations — as well as a net worth of $400 million.

Kelly Clarkson

In 2016, Kelly Clarkson left the audience — and herself — in tears when she performed a rendition of her song “Piece by Piece” on “American Idol.” The reason for all the emotion? The song was about her troubled childhood, which was punctuated by her father leaving and her siblings being split up and scattered among family members. She never quit, however, and went on to parlay her difficult circumstances into a career that earned her three Grammy wins, 15 nominations, and a net worth of $45 million.

Snoop Dogg

It’s no secret that Snoop Dogg’s childhood involved poverty, violence, and run-ins with the law on the streets of Long Beach, Calif. As the human embodiment of early ’90s West Coast gangsta rap culture, his exploits have been well documented in his lyrics. His music and persona have transformed him into an instantly recognizable — and highly marketable — icon. Thanks to his career and some smart investments on the side, he has a net worth of $150 million.

Nicki Minaj

In 2015, the Chicago Tribune reported that hip-hop superstar Nicki Minaj was shifting gears to produce a comedy based on her less-than-funny childhood. The 10-time Grammy nominee immigrated from Trinidad to Queens, N.Y., where she suffered through her drug-addicted father’s many violent outbursts. She now has a more-than-comfortable life backed up by her $80 million net worth.

Mark Wahlberg

The $58 million Mark Wahlberg earned from Netflix in 2020 makes him the streaming service’s No. 3 highest-paid star of the year, behind only Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. An Oscar-nominated leading man who has earned continued success as a producer and actor on both television and in the movies, the Boston native has a net worth of $300 million. As a child, however, he was one of nine siblings in a broken home. He both used and sold drugs as a child and was also the aggressor in a series of violent, racially motivated assaults. The most serious charges resulted in his imprisonment after being tried as an adult for attempted murder.

Mila Kunis

Mila Kunis has publicly vowed she and her husband, fellow actor and A-lister Ashton Kutcher, will not raise entitled children. That’s because she grew up poor.

An immigrant born in Ukraine, Kunis’ family fled to America as the Soviet Union collapsed. In a 2016 interview with the Daily Mail, Kunis recalled eating “ketchup soup” as a kid when food was scarce.

And in a 2012 interview with Metro UK, Kunis insisted she “acted her way out of poverty,” starting with a starring role on “That ’70s Show” — alongside Kutcher — when she was just 14 years old. She now has a net worth of $75 million, making her one of the wealthiest celebrity immigrants.

Dolly Parton

One of the biggest and richest names in country music, Dolly Parton has a net worth of $600 million — but it wasn’t always that way. Parton grew up in poverty. In fact, one of her best-known songs is “Coat of Many Colors,” which chronicles her early life as one of 12 siblings in the rural mountains of Eastern Tennessee. Appalachian poverty forced Parton to grow up in a house without running water, gas, or electricity. She and her siblings slept on beds made of straw.

But by age 12, Parton appeared on local television, and the rest is history. Parton’s achievements include nine Grammy awards and 49 nominations, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Country Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and more.

J.K. Rowling

Born in Gloucestershire, England, J.K. Rowling was raising a daughter with the help of public assistance when she wrote “Harry Potter” in 1994. Reflecting on life before literary super-stardom, Rowling said in a 2013 interview with Daily Mail that she was “as poor as it’s possible to be.”

In 2020, Rowling earned $60 million, according to Forbes, making her the world’s No. 2 highest-paid author of the year behind only James Patterson and one of the 30 highest-paid celebrities in general. That’s a step down from 2008 when she shocked the world by pulling in $300 million in one year. Today, she has a net worth of $1 billion thanks to the $25 billion “Harry Potter” franchise.

Ralph Lauren

Fashion icon Ralph Lauren has a net worth of $6 billion and retains control over the Ralph Lauren brand, which does $4.71 billion in revenue. And, his car collection is believed to be the most expensive in the world.

Lauren was born Ralph Lipschitz, the Bronx-born son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He changed his name because of the relentless bullying he believed the name attracted. He traces his creativity to his early fascination with movies, which served as the only escape from his family’s poverty.

Eminem

Eminem’s 20-plus-year career has stoked controversy, endeared legions of fans, outraged an equal number of critics, bridged racial divides, and earned the rapper a net worth of $230 million. With more than 14.43 million units sold, The Marshall Mathers LP 1 & 2 is history’s best-selling rap album collection, with the first album alone selling more units than the next nine best-selling collections.

Eminem is a self-made man. Born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, he was raised in the poor and racially charged area along 8 Mile Road, Detroit’s symbolic poverty dividing line.

“I would change schools two, three times a year,” the rapper told Anderson Cooper in a 2011 interview while reflecting on how his unstable home life affected his education. “I got beat up in the bathroom, beat up in the hallways, shoved into lockers; for the most part, just for being the new kid.” Eminem dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed a poor vagabond in “Titanic” and a master of the financial universe in “The Wolf of Wall Street.” In real life, he’s lived both sides of the coin. Consistently one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, DiCaprio has a net worth of $260 million.

In 2014, DiCaprio reminisced to the Los Angeles Times about growing up in a seedy L.A. neighborhood that was home to open-air drug and prostitution markets. He traces his love of acting to surviving a beating on his first day of public school after winning a scholarship to a private elementary school.

Of his success, he told the Times, “It goes back to that neighborhood. It came from the fact that I grew up very poor, and I got to see the other side of the spectrum.”

Jay-Z

In 2019, Forbes crowned Jay-Z as hip-hop’s first billionaire. His empire includes not just music, but also clothing, sports gear, spirits, and several startups. His startup portfolio includes a music platform recently valued at ten times what he paid for it just two years prior. That financial success pushed Jay-Z past Dr. Dre in the world of rap’s wealthiest players.

Jay-Z’s rhymes, which often depict life on the mean streets of the inner city, are frequently autobiographical. Raised in a Brooklyn public housing project, Jay-Z admitted in a 2013 Vanity Fair interview he sold crack to escape the trap of poverty. He admitted to feeling guilty later. However, at the time, he was just trying to survive.

“I was thinking about surviving,” he said. “I was thinking about improving my situation. I was thinking about buying clothes.”

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker once described her childhood as Dickensian. She recalled in a 2000 interview with the New York Times what life was like growing up on welfare and suffering the daily humiliation and stigma associated with receiving free lunch at school and basic utilities being turned off in her family’s home.

“I remember being poor,” Parker told the Times. “There was no great way to hide it. We didn’t have electricity sometimes. We didn’t have Christmases sometimes, or we didn’t have birthdays sometimes, or the bill collectors came, or the phone company would call and said, ‘We’re shutting your phones off.'”

A star of both the big and small screens, the “Sex and the City” celebrity managed to escape her past. Parker now has a net worth of $150 million.

Mike Tyson

In 1986, boxing history was made and a legend was born when the man who would go on to become the world’s most feared fighter was crowned the youngest heavyweight champion in sports history. Although Mike Tyson’s life unraveled after losing the belt four years later, he rebounded and is now worth $3 million.

Tyson not only fought his way to super-stardom, but also his way out of crushing poverty. Like so many poor kids before him, Tyson turned to boxing as an escape from the crime, violence and dysfunction that surrounded his life in Brownsville, Brooklyn, until he was discovered and adopted by legendary trainer Cus D’Amato.

In a 2015 interview with the Hudson Union Society, Tyson reflected on the realities of his poverty-stricken neighborhood. “Nobody was above killing anyone there,” he said in the interview. “It was poverty-stricken, drug-infested, gang-infested … I got involved with the negative entities there … I’d been arrested almost 40 times by the time I was 12 years old.”

Celine Dion

Canadian singer Celine Dion remains relevant, with a career that has lasted decades. Before the coronavirus put live concerts mostly on hold, she commanded a Las Vegas artist residency that netted her $350 million since it debuted in 2003. In 2019, she launched her Courage World Tour, which quickly sold out all of its 52 North American tour dates. The global superstar’s net worth is estimated at $800 million.

One of 14 children in a poor Quebec family, Dion started out singing in her parents’ bar. While still a minor, she was discovered by a famed French-speaking singer.

Shia LaBeouf

In a 2009 interview with Parade, Shia LaBeouf openly discussed growing up with his “starving artist” parents who were too poor to pull the family out of poverty. LaBeouf sought escape and money by starting a stand-up comedy career at 10 years old, which put him on the path to stardom.

“My dad and my mom were both artists who never found an audience for their artwork,” he said in the interview. “And so I lived in poverty. Now that I’m not poor, I know that is what it was. As Hemingway said, you can’t write anything if you’ve never been shot at or been gored by a bull, you know? So I look back at that stuff, and I’m grateful. It’s like scars. You become proud of them.”

To date, LaBeouf’s movies have earned more than $5.02 billion worldwide, garnering him a net worth of $25 million.

Hilary Swank

Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank has won Academy Awards for her roles in “Million Dollar Baby” and “Boys Don’t Cry.” Her career, which dates back to television appearances in the early 1990s, has earned her a net worth of $60 million.

Swank grew up, however, in a trailer park in Washington state, where her family suffered from poverty and financial insecurity. Her experiences have shaped her career, which has included portrayals of women struggling with poverty and stigmatization.

In a 2011 interview with Daily Mail, Swank explained that poverty could breed resourcefulness. “Growing up in a lower-income family, you don’t have the resources to make ends meet, and you have to find creative ways to get by,” she said. “That infuses your character with a lot of drive and determination.”

Jennifer Lopez

“I used to have a little, now I have a lot” is one of Jennifer Lopez’s most famous lyrics, and the line from “Jenny From the Block” encapsulates J.Lo’s life. A dancer, pop star, actress, and model, Lopez was born to struggling Puerto Rican parents in the tough Castle Hill section of the Bronx. According to a 2013 interview with Daily Mail, watching her parents struggle instilled in Lopez the value of hard work.

“I watched my parents,” she said. “My dad worked nights, and I was aware of how much he was doing for us. My mom was a Tupperware lady and also worked at the school. I always felt that I couldn’t let them down. And I had a natural discipline from early on. I was always training for something.”

After studying dance at an early age, she got her big break as a Fly Girl dancer on the Fox hit “In Living Color,” and the rest is history. Her net worth currently stands at $400 million.

Miranda Lambert

Before COVID-19 made it impossible, Miranda Lambert maintained a notoriously frenzied touring schedule that earned her a net worth of $60 million.

Lambert, however, comes from humble roots. Her parents’ business was a casualty of the 1980s Texas oil bust, and Lambert was briefly homeless during her childhood until she moved in with her uncle. Nonetheless, the experience taught Lambert self-reliance.

“I learned how to do chores because you have to carry your weight,” Lambert told Country Fancast

Tom Cruise

Few actors have ascended higher on Hollywood’s A-list than Tom Cruise, whose movies have earned more than $10 billion worldwide. From “Rain Man” and “Top Gun” to “Risky Business” and the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, Cruise’s blockbuster career has earned him a net worth of $600 million.

Although Cruise enjoyed financial success in his adult years, he grew up in a poor, dysfunctional household where he has described being tormented by a violent, abusive father. His mother left with nothing to get away from his father when Cruise was only 12 years old

Oprah Winfrey

It’s impossible to discuss rags-to-riches stories without mentioning Oprah Winfrey.

Arguably the most recognizable woman in the world, Oprah boasts a net worth of $3.5 billion and the status of an entrepreneur who changed daytime television forever. She has launched countless careers and endeared herself to millions of adoring fans.

Despite such achievement, Oprah grew up in severe poverty in rural Mississippi. Raised without indoor plumbing, she suffered violence until she began working for a local radio station after high school, a job that launched her passion for media.

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Andrew Lisa contributed to the reporting for this article.

Net worth figures are according to CelebrityNetWorth.com unless otherwise noted.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 30 Celebrities Who Went From Rags to Riches