Check Out These Incredible Real-Life Testaments About 30 Celebrities From People Who Knew Them Before Fame

Did fame change these guys? Let’s find out!

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• March 15, 2023

It’s easy to forget that celebrities are human, just like the rest of us. They have a past and specific characteristics the world may not be privy to.

Many people only imagine what certain celebrities are like off-camera based on the characters they play or the interviews they grant. Yet, those don’t paint the accurate picture.

Like all humans, celebrities have certain intricacies and backstories that are simply fascinating. 

Unsurprisingly, some people are privy to these intricacies and backstories as they had the opportunity of knowing these celebrities before fame. 

It’s easy to forget that celebrities once had high school classmates they hung out with, college roommates they partied with, or neighbors they grew up with.

These people often know far more about these celebrities than even their biggest fans can claim to know about.

Although the popular notion is that fame changes people, it’s impossible to know if there’s a change if you don’t know how people were originally.

What better way to learn about your favorite celebrities than from people who knew them before they became household names?

Scroll down to find out what your favorite celebrities were like before fame. We bet you’d be surprised by some of these stories!

1. Patrick Stewart

My Aunt and Uncle lived next door to Patrick Stewart. He had a terrible childhood. His dad was traumatised during the War like so many were. He changed so much it became untenable and his mum used to send him to relatives to keep him safe. Very sad . He is a lovely man and he keeps in touch with friends he made many years ago.

2. Dan Radcliffe

I was in the first Harry Potter film as Dan Radcliffe’s body double. So...all the characters had already been announced and were newly famous.

Gets my back up now when people say that this person or that person “seemed like a d**k”.

Genuinely all really nice kids (hopefully still are as adults). Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) wrestled a little bit with the idea of forever being known as a villain...funny because he was the coolest guy there and got me into Limp Bizkit! We all used to play THPS2 in his dressing room, he would always win.

So yeah...all really nice people.

3. Quentin Tarantino

I didn’t go to high school with him by my girlfriend’s grandparents used to rent movies from a local blockbuster and this gentleman always suggested some strange movies to them. They said he was really nice but had a weird name. Turns out it was Quentin Tarantino. They watched one of his movies after he got big and they said “Well that explains a lot of the movie suggestions he gave us.”

4. Hugh Jackman

Went to primary school with Hugh Jackman, total class act and always had the makings of someone who would be successful.

5. Margot Robbie

I went to high school with Margot Robbie. We were pretty good friends but I haven’t spoken to her in years. She was absolutely lovely. No one had a bad word to say about her, and she is very intelligent.

6. Chris Pratt

Was a freshman when Chris Pratt was a senior. We didn't interact much, but he was in a lot of the assemblies and I did tech theater for a play he was in.

He was a goofball. Lots of charisma, laid back, class clown. Bout what you'd expect seeing him now.

7. Nicolas Cage

My mom went on a few dates with Nicholas Cage! I’m not sure exactly what year it was but my mom was a professional ballet dancer in New York. Nic Cage’s dad owned the ballet company my mom danced for. So apparently Nic Cage saw my mom and thought she was cute so they went on a few dates. I asked my mom what he was like and she thought for a second and then said “weird”.

8. Lin Manuel Miranda

I went to college with Lin Manuel Miranda. I was more of an acquaintance, but we share a lot of the same friends. He is one of the funniest, craziest, most genuine people I've ever met. He seems like he hasn't changed much and is still the same awesome person.

9. Tom Holland

Not me, a classmate’s son my age went to school with Tom Holland. Apparently he’s super sweet and goofy, little scatterbrained and forgetful.

10. Cardi B

I’m cousins with Cardi B and have known her since we were kids. She’s honestly been the same person, kept to herself and is crazy and funny when she’s comfortable. We still see each other at family parties regularly so it’s nice.

11. Elvis Presley

My grandmother had a milkshake with Elvis Presley. She loved him and the day he died she kicked my father out of the house because he was being a brat. Around Christmas time she would always get so sad when "Blue Christmas" played on the radio.

12. Dave Grohl

13. John Mayer

My old neighbor grew up with John Mayer and was really close with him. While I never got to meet him, my roommate did on a few occasions. Apparently Mayer was fairly laid back and just wanted to hang out.

The thing that really sticks with me is when my neighbor’s wife took her own life Mayer let my neighbor move into his house for several months. It was sad, but said neighbor couldn’t stand being in his own home anymore knowing his wife lived her last moments there. From what I understand she intentionally OD’d on medication while he was home and came to him saying “I don’t feel well” and then collapsed.

14. Post Malone

Post Malone and I graduated from high school together! I even have a picture from when our art class recreated the Last Supper with McDonald’s for someone’s art project. He posed as Jesus and I was basically Judas. We weren’t friends, but he was always friendly when we did speak. He had a very chill demeanor and always cracked jokes in our history class. I liked the dude!

15. Terry Crews

16. Wes Anderson

My best friend's mom went to college with Wes Anderson and yes, he was a total hipster, but he's this super humble dude. They run into each other in Dallas every once in a while and he says hi and buys her coffee as if he's not this huge director. Same for Owen Wilson.

17. Drake

I went to middle school with Drake. He was a year older with my older bro and He cried one time in the boys gym change room bc another boy had some designer sweater or something and he didn't lol.....I don't remember him being awful or anything just a little whiney...….I actually got invited to his house last summer and met him and told him we went to middle school together etc. and he was really nice.

mrdannyg21 added:

He went to my high school, though in different grades so I didn’t know him. He was already famous from Degrassi High, and he was hilariously pompous. This school had quite a few rich families, and the rich kids loved him of course.

I mean, he was a very rich kid named Aubrey, living in a rich white/Jewish area. His ‘started from the bottom’ stuff in songs and ‘street’ accent is hilariously fake.

18. Anna Kendrick

19. Marilyn Manson

My mom went to school with Marilyn Manson. Apparently, in middle school, he went around with a lunchbox of doll heads and his dad affectionately referred to him as Lucifer and the Antichrist.

20. Nancy Cartwright

I went to high school with Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson). We hung out as we were both in the marching band. She was nice and had an outlandish personality way back then (late 70's) but wasn't snobby or anything like that.

21. Gerard Butler

22. Courtney Cox

My mother grew up with Courtney Cox. She was a massive b**ch. The stories are horrible. She’s from Mountain Brook, Alabama.. an incredibly wealthy suburb of Birmingham. (Same town as Natalee Holloway that disappeared in Aruba.)

23. Kelly Clarkson

24. Noah Gragson

25. Kesha

26. Ken Jeong

27. Khalid

Went to school with Khalid, he was one of those kids that always pretended to be stoned but never smoked, he acted very flamboyant and used that to always be around girls, never made a move on them though, strange fellow.

28. Taylor Lautner

29. Ben Schwartz

Several. I worked on Robot Chicken with Ben Schwartz before he became known to the world as Jean Ralphio. We still run into each other every now and then randomly. He was funny and cool then. He's funny and cool now.

30. Taylor Swift

My brother went to high school with Taylor Swift. She was actually super mean to people and got booed off the stage at her junior year talent show.

It’s easy to forget about the lives celebrities lived before fame, especially since they are always so larger than life.

We bet some of these stories shocked you, while others made you love a particular celebrity even more.

Do you have any celebrity juice you’d like to spill? Share them with us in the comments below!

Jesse