TOP 10 CELEBRITIES WHO MOVED FROM GRASS TO GRACE

Sure! some are born with silver spoon. They rode from wealth to fame - the likes of Paris Hilton and co. Yet there are vast majority of them who overcame poverty, sexual abuse, depression to become what they are today. Here are 10 carefully selected celebrities who came from rags to riches. Be Inspired!


10. DEMI MOORE 

For a large part of her childhood years, Demi lived inside a trailer park. Her step-father whom she considered as her father was newspaper advertising salesman. Moore dropped out of high school at 16 and ran away.This prompted her to try her luck in hollywood where she got her first role in the teen drama choices in 1981.

9. DAVID GEFFEN

An ambitious boy from Brooklyn who became a millionaire by the age of 25. David Lawrence Geffen was born in Borough park, Brooklyn. Geffen graduated from Brooklyn's New Utrecht High School in 1960, barely passing with a 66 percent average. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for a semester, and then Brooklyn College, before again dropping out.
He began with a job in the mail room in 1964,earning $55 a week sorting letters, but quickly aspired to greater things. "I'm delivering the mail to people's offices," he told The New Yorker "and I hear them on the phone, and I think, I can do that. Talk on the phone. This I can do." Geffen has an estimated net worth of $6 billion, making him one of the richest people in the entertainment industry.

8. SHANIA TWAIN

Shania had a hard childhood in Timmins. Her parents earned little and there was often a shortage of food in the household.she learned to hunt and to chop wood.Her mother and step-dad's marriage was at times stormy, and from a young age, Eilleen (her birth name) witnessed violent fights between them. Sharon struggled with bouts of depression.Twain started singing at bars at the age of eight to try to make ends meet. At 13, Eilleen was invited to perform on CBC television's the Tommy Hunter Show and things got better from there.

7. LEONARDO DICAPRIO

Before the actor became famous, he was constantly in debt and couldn’t even find a well-paying job.His parents divorced when he was a year old and he lived mostly with his mother. The two lived in several Los Angeles neighborhoods. He was removed from the children's television series Romper Room for being disruptive at the age of five.DiCaprio's career began with his appearance in several commercials and educational films. His breakthrough came when he acted the character "Jack" in the popular James Cameron film Titanic.

6. CELINE DION

Dion was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, the youngest of 14 children of Thérèse, a homemaker, and Adhémar Dion, a butcher. Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken, but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne. At age 5, Céline made her first public appearance at her brother Michel's wedding, where she performed Christine Charbonneau's song. At age 12, Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"). Dion was ranked by Forbe as the 5th richest woman in entertainment with an estimated net worth of US$250 million. Not bad for a woman whose father feed 16 souls with $160 he makes a week.

5. JAY Z

No one would have imagined an abandoned child marrying one of the hottest chicks in the entertainment industry.Carter was raised by his mother, and was involved in crime when growing up - at 12 he shot his brother in the arm for stealing his jewelry.He once said he has been shot three times himself.He first became known to a wide audience by being featured on the posse cut "Show and Prove" on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album Daddy's Home.In 2012, Forbes estimated Carter's net worth at nearly $500 million. He is one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records, while receiving 17 Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations. Consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was ranked number one by MTV in their list of The Greatest MCs of All-Time in 2006.

4. J.K ROWLING

She began writing the series (Harry Potter) while she was on welfare and by incorporating some of the darker elements of her own life - the loss of her mother and battle with depression - into the novels.Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home life was complicated by her mother's illness and a strained relationship with her father who she is still not on speaking terms with. In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind and that opened another chapter in her life.Rowling has led a "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years.In October 2010, Rowling was named the "Most Influential Woman in Britain" by leading magazine editors.

3. MARIAH CAREY

Born and raised on Long Island, New York,one of the most underprivileged neighborhoods.When Carey was three years old, her parents divorced due to the increasingly strenuous nature of their marriage. By the age of four, Carey recalled that she had begun to sneak the radio under her covers at night, and just sing from her heart, and try and find peace within the music.Carey had begun writing poems and adding melodies to them, thus starting as a singer-songwriter while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York. With hard-work and patience she rose to the top.  In November 2011, it was reported that Carey's net worth was valued at more than $500 million.

2. JUSTIN BIEBER

A couple of years ago, he was just another poor boy living in a house infested by rats and cockroaches. Bieber's current manager, Scooter Braun first discovered him through his YouTube videos in 2007.Braun was impressed with the videos, and contacted Bieber's mother Pattie about wanting to work with him. Bieber released his debut EP, My World, in November 2009. It was certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Justin has a net worth of nearly $200 million. Not bad for a guy of 20.

1. OPRAH WINFREY

Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother.She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood.Winfrey has stated she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old. At 13, after suffering years of abuse, Winfrey ran away from home.When she was 14, she became pregnant but her son died shortly after birth.Winfrey went from being a young girl clothed in potato sacks (literally) to the richest and most powerful female media mogul in the world.Forbes' international rich list has listed Winfrey as the world's only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in world history.As of 2014 Winfrey has a net worth in excess of 2.9 billion dollars and has overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.

THE BOTTOM LINE

• No matter your background, life experiences and challenges you might have faced or still facing, You can make it in life. Oprah's childhood is worse than yours!
• Never think you are too young to be famous, wealthy and fabulous. Justin is only 20!
• No matter your position in your family, you can shine. Celine is the 14th out of 14 children of her parent!
• What brought all of these stars from rags to riches was focusing in on their natural talents, dedicating themselves to its development and not stopping until they had a hefty bank account. It just goes to show that you don't have to be born rich to become rich.