99 Stars Who Worked Hard to Become Mega Rich

Halle Berry – $80 Million

Before an Oscar award and fame knocked on Halle Berry’s door, the actress was just a little girl living with her mother and older sister. Berry’s father was absent from her life and when he was there, he was abusive towards his family.
Thankfully, Berry started making her one way into the world when she pursued an acting career in New York. Since then she has made some great choices when it comes to films such as Monster’s Ball and X-men . Thanks to her good movie roles, Berry boasts an   estimated $80 million, with her latest box office success being John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

Camila Alves – $9 Million

Camila Alves can be identified as a model, entrepreneur, mother, wife to Matthew McConaughey and also, as a millionaire! Today Alves has today her own fortune which is close to $9 million. However, this was not always the case.
She migrated to the US from Brazil with her parents when she was a teenager and has held various jobs to make ends meet. Her dream was to pursue a career in the Big Apple, which she achieved after a lot of hard work. Since then she was part of projects including Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019, and plenty more.

Demi Moore – $150 Million

Demi Moore had a rocky start in life with her father abandoning the family before she was even born and a stepfather who was always out of a job. However, Demi took life into her own hands and after dropping out of high school she pursued a career as a model and actress without ever giving up.
With 63 acting credits in her résumé and an astonishing career during the ‘90s, Demi’s fortune is estimated today at $150 million. Not bad at all, especially considering it’s accompanied by two Golden Globe nominations and three children! That’s a life being well-lived for the 57-year-old actress who is now filming TV series Brave New World.

Sylvester Stallone – $500 Million

Sylvester Stallone’s misfortunes started from day one when, as the doctors delivered him, he severed a nerve that resulted in a paralyzed part of the part of his chin, lip, and tongue. However, today his slightly slurred speech is part of his charm and success!
Later, while expecting his first child, he picked up various supporting actor roles in order to make ends meet. Today, his broke days are over as his estimated fortune is at $500 million; that’s a lot of money! The 73-year-old actor is still continuously working as The Expendables 4 was just announced.

Jennifer Lopez -$400 Million

The well-known singer and actress J-Lo is first and foremost Jenny From the Block which encapsulates her early life. Her parents struggled to provide for her when she was little and growing up in the Bronx which made her value hard work and taught her how to earn a paycheck.
Today she is a millionaire with a fortune of $400 million dollars. Her latest success was her Super Bowl LIVE halftime show alongside Shakira with their performance making history and she is also set to star in Marry Me with Owen Wilson later in 2020.

Joaquin Phoenix – $35 Million

Joaquin Phoenix has had an amazing career in showbiz that has earned him not only an Oscar  for Best Leading Actor in 2020 but also a fortune of   approximately $35 million. But the actor’s life has gone through some rough patches before he started earning big. To help his underprivileged family, he and his sibling were performing in talent shows by playing instruments and singing to earn a paycheck.
His life was also stigmatized when he found his brother, River, deceased from an overdose in 1993. This made him close up and retreat from the public. Thankfully he re-emerged and produced amazing work in Walk the Line and Joker .

Billy Bob Thornton – $35 Million

Billy Bob Thornton is no stranger to success both on the big and small screen. He has more than 90 credits in his acting filmography and a net worth of $35 million. Yes, Thornton grew up in an underprivileged family but that did not stop him from dreaming big.
Various successful movies come to mind when thinking about the actor with the most prominent being Sling Blade which earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Today, he is most known for his work in the TV-series Fargo where he played a hitman; and Goliath where he portrayed a lawyer and alcoholic .

Selena Gomez – $75 Million

Selena Gomez was not always the hit pop singer she is today. Coming from a broken home Selena and her mother had trouble getting by when the singer was young. She has come a long way since then and has gone from poverty to Disney star to hit singer in just a few years.
Today the 27-year-old has an estimated fortune of $75 million and it’s surely not difficult for the star to now enjoy living in a deluxe house. Her latest album Rare has gained favorable reviews and hit number one in the Billboard 200 making it her third consecutive album to rank at number one.

Michelle Obama – $70 Million

America’s ex-First Lady, Michelle Obama has sure come a long way alongside her husband Barack and has made an honest and fruitful earning out of her projects as a lawyer and writer. Her net worth today is estimated at $70 million but this was not always the case.
When Michelle was growing up, her father suffered from multiple sclerosis, which affected her emotionally. It also affected her and her family financially as he was the sole provider. However, today Michelle is who she is because of all she has been through and she has written a memoir,  Becoming , which has sold millions of copies.

Shania Twain – $400 Million

Shania Twain may be known for her countless hits as a country-pop singer, but her life had a rocky start before success found her. Her parents’ deadly car accident in the late ‘80s left her in charge of her younger siblings. She now had to support her family by performing.
Today, having earned five Grammy awards and 18 nominations, Twain’s net worth is estimated at $400 million. Things did not turn out too shabby for the Canadian performer after all! From 2019 and onwards, she will be performing her Let’s Go residency in Las Vegas.

Kelly Clarkson – $45 Million

The American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, has known a lot of success since 2002 when she took her first professional steps into showbiz. However, as the lyrics and meaning behind her hit song Piece by Piece shows, she had a troubled childhood. Her siblings had to be split up and raised by different family members when her father abandoned the family.
Today, Clarkson has earned three Grammy awards and many nominations for her amazing work and contribution to the music industry. Her hard work has earned her a wealth of $45 million. Her latest single I Dare You  was released in April 2020 and attracted positive reviews.

Snoop Dogg – $135 Million

Being raised in Long Beach, Snoop Dog was introduced to a life of hardships from a young age. Many of his lyrics throughout the years mention his childhood which was filled with violence from the streets and the poor financial state his family was in, leading him to drug abuse.
Today, Snoop Dog has become an icon to many and a respected rapper in the music industry. His success in music, combined with various small investment gigs have skyrocketed his savings to $135 million. His success is getting bigger by the minute especially as his YouTube video with Sơn Tùng M-TP has more than 192 million views.

Nicki Minaj – $85 million

The New-York-raised singer Nicki Minaj has had a troubled childhood, starting from her father burning down her family house when Nicki was only five years old. Being a child of immigrants Nicki had to work in various jobs, mostly as a waitress, before she started making the big bucks.
The 37-year-old rapper made a name for herself and has won 10 Grammy ’s since she started her music career in 2004. Today, her salary from various music projects makes up the sum of $85 million. Minaj released her latest solo song in early 2020 called Yikes .

Mark Wahlberg – $300 Million

Mark Wahlberg was a troubled teen before he achieved a career as a singer and an actor. He dealt with substance abuse before he was even 14 years old as he tried to deal with his parents’ divorce in an unhealthy manner. Thankfully, Mark wanted to get his life in check and he started living a healthier lifestyle.
He got his high-school diploma in 2013 as he hadn’t graduated previously. He even ended up being one of 2017’s highest-paid actors, thanks to his participation in the film  All the Money in the World.  Today his   fortune is at $300 million and he is currently wrapping up movies such as Spenser Confidential and Scoob!

Mila Kunis – $65 Million

For Mila Kunis, growing up in Ukrainian SSR was not easy, even though her parents had respectable jobs at the time. However, they wanted a better future for their children which lead them to move into the US in 1991 with a total of only $250 to their name.
Since then Kunis has worked in well-known projects such as That ’70s Show with her now-husband Ashton Kutcher. She has 68 credits in acting roles today and counting. Kunis has some money in the bank that are estimated at $65 million and an upcoming 2020 film called Breaking News in Yuba County.

Dolly Parton – $500 Million

Dolly Parton has gained fame through her outstanding work in country music. Her net worth may reach $500 million today but this wasn’t always the case as she grew up in poverty. The house she and her 12 siblings grew up in didn’t have the basic amenities like running water and electricity, but this only fueled her passion for hard work.
Everything changed when she started appearing on local television. She has won many Grammy ’s since then including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Country Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award .

Ralph Lauren – $6.3 Billion

Fashion mogul Ralph Lauren has taken a leap of faith and managed to evolve from Ralph Lipschitz – son to underprivileged Russian Jewish immigrants – to a billionaire with a net worth of $6.3 billion. He has claimed in the past that his creative ideas came from movies and from his desire to escape the harsh reality of poverty.
Today, he owns one of the most successful brands in the world as well as one of the most expensive collections of cars. He also celebrated the brand’s 50 th anniversary in 2018 and has appeared on various magazine covers throughout the years.

Jerry Seinfeld –  $950 Million

He’s one of the most famous comedians around, so there’s no wonder how he’s earned his $950 million fortune. Some of Jerry Seinfeld’s most famous projects, of course, include the Seinfeld series, and films that he wrote like the Bee Movie. Having earned himself all that money though, makes us wonder how he spends it.
In 2000 he bought a $32-million mansion in East Hampton. He’s also splashed out $1.4 million building a two-story garage for his car collection. He’s a huge Porsche aficionado and owns models from a 991s to a Boxter. He also likes drinking espresso, so he’s bought himself a $17K coffee-maker, the Elektra Belle Epoque!

Richard Gere – $120 Million

He started acting on stage in the late ‘60s, and by now, Richard Gere’s accumulated a $120-million net worth. One of the most esteemed things he’s been able to buy himself is his 1902-built mansion called the Strongheart Manor. He bought it for $6.9 million in the early ‘00s.
Meanwhile, some of the films for which he’s better known for include Chicago and Pretty Woman. He might be in his 70s right now, but Richard’s still out there working. In 2019 he played in the series called MotherFatherSon, right at the time he had his youngest son, with Alejandra Silva.

Eminem – $230 Million

Marshall Mathers or as he is mostly known, Eminem, has conquered the music world and is today, after an astonishing 20-year career, one of the most successful rappers in the world holding an estimated $230 million. He earned popularity through his music and lyrics which sometimes derived from his troubled youth and drug use.
When he was growing up with his mother in a working-class neighborhood, he had to go through a lot of bullying from his classmates and neighbors. This led him to drop out of school when he was in the ninth grade. Today, his latest album Music to Be Murdered By was certified Gold.

Angelina Jolie – $150 Million

Angelina Jolie has spent her entire life in front of the camera having been born in a famous family. Her paychecks have made up the high sum of   approximately $150 million; not too bad given the fact she started working in 1993 in order to provide for herself and her then-husband.
Jolie had a rebellious teenage life as she did what she wanted paying no attention to her parents or their advice. No matter how rebellious she once was, today Jolie lives a quiet life focusing on philanthropic work and raising her six children. She often makes movies that they can also enjoy these days, such as Maleficent .

Miranda Lambert – $45 Million

Miranda Lambert has made a successful living as a country music singer for many years now. As it turns out, all her hard work and constant touring have paid off as the dollars keep pilling in. Today her fortune is estimated at $45 million.
She has come a long way for sure as at one point during the ‘80s Texas oil bust, her parents lost everything. This taught her a lot about life and fueled her later songwriting. Her latest album Wildcard has been really successful from its release in late 2019 and has also prompted a new tour, Wildcard Tour , in 2020.

J.K. Rowling – $700 Million

The English born and raised writer J.K. Rowling was raising her daughter with public assistance help while creating the fictional world of Harry Potter  in the ‘90s. At the time she was struggling to make ends meet while raising her daughter.
Since, then the tremendous success around Harry Potter , both in the publishing and the film-making industry, has brought her sum to a whopping $700 million. She is certainly not hanging by a paycheck anymore and she’s even donated a lot of her money to charities. Her latest book was the original screenplay for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald published in 2018.

Leonardo DiCaprio – $260 Million

Leonardo DiCaprio has come a long way from seedy LA where he grew up in a neighborhood where drugs and prostitution were not hidden. Luckily, he escaped that life by winning a scholarship to a private school. Since then he has achieved many things in his acting career including winning an Academy Award for Best actor in 2016.
Today he is one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood with a sum of $260 million and many upcoming projects. His salary for movies has gone up and he is currently filming Killers of the Flower Moon,  due in 2021, and is also in talks to portray Theodore Roosevelt in Roosevelt.

Jay-Z – $1 Billion

Shawn Carter or as he is known, Jay-Z, is one of the most successful artists of his generation with an estimated net worth of a whopping $1 billion. As it turns out he was determined to make something out of himself when he was still being raised in a Brooklyn public housing project.
Yes, he had a rocky start as he was selling drugs in order to get by at the time but today, he is one of the most financially successful rappers. His latest hit in 2018,  Apesh*t,  was a duet with his wife Beyoncé, which won two MTV Video Music Awards .

Sarah Jessica Parker – $150 Million

Sarah Jessica Parker may have spent thousands of dollars as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City but as a young girl growing up in New York, she and her family had trouble making ends meet. Getting free lunch in the school cafeteria and living in a house lacking basic amenities surely stigmatized her.
Today, and following her success in the Sex and the City TV-series and movies, Parker has a whopping sum   of $150 million. Her latest project was the TV-series Divorce where she acted and produced from 2016 to 2019.

Celine Dion – $800 Million

Canadian singer Celine Dion has had a career many would envy full of luxuries and happiness. Her net worth may be estimated at $800 million today but her life went through some pretty rough patches in 2016 that no amount of money can fix.
Her husband, Angélil, died from cancer in mid-January of 2016, and tragedy did not end there as just two days later her brother died from cancer as well. After canceling her then tour, Dion returned in 2019 with her Courage World Tour which received positive reviews.

Tom Cruise – $570 Million

Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible movies have earned more than $9.2 billion worldwide so it comes as no surprise that the actor’s fortune is estimated at $570 million. The Hollywood star has made some smart choices over the years from Top Gun to Risky Business and of course Mission Impossible’s  latest addition Fallout .
However, Tom had to fight his way to the top as he grew up in a family that was run by his abusive father while his mother abandoned him when he was a pre-teen. Thankfully, he was able to put all this behind him and pursue an acting career making it big in the process and earning his fair share of money.

Oprah Winfrey – $3.5 Billion

The queen of success stories in no other than Oprah Winfrey with an estimated fortune of $3.5 billion. It’s impossible to discuss rags-to-riches stories without mentioning Oprah. She grew up in severe poverty and had to deal with both physical and sexual abuse before finally making it big.
Since then she has been an advocate for the education and well-being of women and children and has managed to touch millions of viewers through her nutrition journey and  The Oprah Winfrey Show . Her latest success is the upcoming 2020 movie  The Black Child  where she acts as an executive producer.

Jim Carrey – $150 Million

Jim Carrey may be known as one of the most successful comedians in Hollywood, but the truth is the actor had to fight his way to the top. Before his fortune reached $150 million, young Jim had to help provide for his family when his father lost his job.
The Canadian actor worked as a janitor before filming big hits Bruce Almighty and Ace Ventura . His latest credit on television was the series Kidding which was on the air from 2018 until 2020. We can’t wait to hear what his next big project will be.

Leigh Francis grew up at a housing project in Leeds and is now rich enough to afford his own house in London. His TV character of Keith Lemon has been such an immense success that it’s now granted him a $10-million net worth.
Leigh started by working with Comedy Central’s YouTube channel. Eventually, he got hired to develop his iconic role for Bo’ Selecta!. He now writes and acts for shows like Through the Keyhole and Celebrity Juice. Leigh is 47 years old today and is married to Jill Carter.

Sean Combs –  $885 Million

Sean Combs or as he is also known, P. Diddy, has made a living out of rapping, singing, and record producing while making a big name for himself in the process. He grew up in New York in a single-parent family as his father was killed when he was just three years old.
Fortunately, that is where his misfortunes ended as he, later on, started making money and providing for his own six children. Today, at age 50, Combs spares no luxury and he announced that he will return on MTV  ‘s Making the Band in 2020. Needless to say, his fortune is at approximately $885 million.

Joe Exotic – Est. $10 Million

His full name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, but you know him as Joe Exotic and his life has recently become a subject for tabloid reports. Over the years he’s been busy and has become known as a politician, a singer and a zookeeper. However, in 2019 he was convicted for murder-for-hire, which resulted in his incarceration for 22 years come January 2020.
Joe comes from a wealthy family. He’s said to have inherited around $250K from his grandfather. Meanwhile, his total fortune is estimated to be over $10 million. If he wins his lawsuit against the United States Fish and Wildlife Service , which he filed in March 2020, he’s soon going to be worth $94 million more!