These Celebrities Had Childhoods That Probably Make You Rethink Wanting To Be Famous

*Warning* This list contains mention of drug use, suicide, death, alcoholism, SA (including CSA), eating disorders, murder and bullying

1. Drew Barrymore

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Born in 1975, Drew Barrymore was quick to rise to fame with her iconic role in ET, but behind the scenes, nothing was as perfect as her success would lead you to believe. Born to an acting family, Barrymore was soon familiar with Hollywood's nightlife, and by thirteen she had been placed in rehab due to her drug problems. After attempting suicide at the age of fourteen, she was placed back in rehab and soon after became emancipated.

2. Demi Lovato

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Demi Lovato is now known for a variety of work, both in film and music production, as well has their drug issues and troubled life. Born in 1992, her parents divorced soon after, and her father struggled with mental health problems. Lovato stated "He was mean, but he wanted to be a good person" when asked about her father, and their relationship was strained at times. Before they turned eighteen, Lovato struggled with bulimia, self harm and severe bullying. Lovato was raped by a costar whilst working on the Disney channel, but due to the purity culture and lack of action from those around them, did not fully process what had happened until much later. At the age of seventeen, Lovato became involved with the much older Wilmer Valderrama, and much later, through her songs, implied that their relationship had been inherently unhealthy and borderline abusive due to the age gap.

3. River Phoenix

film scene from My Own Private Idaho / Via looper.com

The eldest of the Phoenix siblings, none of them had exactly normal childhoods, but it's clear that River had the worst of it. Phoenix never received any formal schooling, and though he could read and write was described as being noticeably under educated. Born whilst his parents were a part of the notorious cult, Children Of God, River Phoenix would claim he had been sexually abused at the age of four in a variety fair interview, something that his brother Joaquin would later claim was made up, stating after River's death that his brother had been messing around with the press, whilst River's costar Corey Feldman backed up his claim. Phoenix also had a strained relationship with his father, and took on a parental role for his younger siblings. The family were exceptionally poor, with Phoenix and his sister Rain performing on street corners for money prior to his success. As a teen, Phoenix began using cocaine and other drugs, though he was supposedly never an addict, and more of an occasional user. Phoenix passed away at the age of 23.

4. Wil Wheaton

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Wheaton, known for starring in the classic coming of age movie, Stand By Me, never actually wanted to be an actor, but was forced into it by his mother. His father was both emotionally and physically abusive and Wheaton was also abused on the set of The Curse, where he mentioned in his blog that he had been physically and sexually abused.

5. Corey Feldman

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Known for starring in almost every other movie in the 80s, Feldman quickly became a well known name, but one that would become forever marred with tragedy. Feldman and Corey Haim became well known for starring in several films together, the first being The Lost Boys, but behind the scenes the two boys were both sexually abused and struggled with drug addiction, and Feldman also stated that his mother had been abusive. Following the death of Haim, Feldman has repeatedly tried to speak up about the abuse the two boys endured, but has been silenced by many powerful voices.

6. Corey Haim

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Best friends with Feldman, by the time the two met Haim had already been raped once, on the set of Winona Ryder's debut film, Lucas, but would later be sexually abused by others as well. Haim struggled with addiction that started in his teenage years and lasted all his life, with License To Drive being the point where he truly slipped. Haim passed away at the age of 38 in 2010.

7. James Dean

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Though this name is always associated with tragedy, few know the details of Dean's appalling childhood. His mother died when he was nine, and his father sent him to live with his aunt, where, according to Elizabeth Taylor, he was sexually abused by a church minister. He was a trouble making child, and lost his two front teeth messing around on a swing. Before his untimely death, Dean was allegedly involved in a somewhat questionable relationship with Marlon Brando, regularly used cocaine and seemingly did not care much for his life. Dean passed away at the age of 24 in a car accident.

8. Marylin Monroe

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Monroe, then going by the name Norma Jean Baker, had a difficult childhood. For the most part, she was in foster care, as her mother was unable to look after her due to mental health problems. She bounced around between homes a lot, living in a total of twelve foster homes and one orphanage, and never found a stable family. Monroe passed away at the age of 36.

9. Lana Del Rey

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By the age of only 14, Lana Del Rey's parents sent her to boarding school, to help with her alcoholism problems.

10. Dolores O'Riordan

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Born in Ireland in 1971, O'Riordan was the youngest of nine children, two of whom died as babies. Her father was involved in a motorbike accident which left him with lasting brain damage before O'Riordan's birth. When she was seven, her sister accidentally burnt the family home down, and from between the ages of eight to twelve, she was sexually abused by someone close to her. O'Riordan was 46 when she died in 2018.

11. Anne Heche

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Anne Heche was born in 1968 to a dysfunctional and broken family. Her father was sick with AIDs and died from it at the age of forty five, but kept up the pretense that it was cancer. The household Heche was raised in was deeply homophobic and Heche's disputes with her mother regarding her sexuality continued until her death in 2022 at the age of 53. Three months after her father's death, her brother Nathan died in a car crash. Heche would claim in her later life that her father sexually abused her, a claim that was heavily disputed by her mother.

12. Ellen DeGeneres

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A controversial talk show host, and the former partner of Anne Heche, DeGeneres did not have a happy childhood either. She was sexually abused by her step father, and her mother refused to believe her, leading DeGeneres to run away from home.

13. Conan Lee Gray

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Conan Gray grew up as the one of the only Asian kids within his small town school, which led to a sense of isolation, not helped by his sexuality. In his song Family Line, Gray implies that his father was physically abusive to him and his mother when he was a child. After he began to grow successful, Gray was kicked out of his home and started living on his friend's couches, though he has yet to reveal the reasons why he was kicked out.

14. Alexander McQueen

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Controversial fashion designer Alexander McQueen was often criticized for the perceived romanticism of sexual violence within his work, but an important part of context is missing from those who critique his work without understanding his childhood. McQueen was sexually abused by his sisters boyfriend at a young age, and also witnessed him physically abusing her. It was these events that supposedly inspired his more controversial designs. McQueen died at the age of 40 in 2010.

15. Macaulay Culkin

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Culkin said that his father was a jealous and violent man, who did not like that his son was more successful. He struggled with drug use during the early 2000s. Culkin was friends with Michael Jackson as a child, but has said that nothing inappropriate happened between them.

16. XXXTentacion

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Another more controversial figure, Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion, Onfroy spent time in a juvenile detention centre as a teenager. He allegedly tried to stab a man attacking his mother when he was only six years old, and he discovered his uncle's body, dead from suicide as a child. He alluded to having been sexually abused in some of his songs, and had also witnessed someone being physically tortured. Onfroy's father was in jail throughout some of his childhood, and was later deported to Jamaica. Onfroy was shot and killed at the age of twenty.

17. Fiona Apple

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Like McQueen, Apple was accused of romanticizing sexual violence, particularly across TikTok. Like McQueen, there was another side to the story. Apple was raped outside her apartment when she was just twelve years old, following which she developed ARFIDs.

18. Maya Angelou

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When she was eight years old, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. Despite her being brave enough to speak up at the time, he was jailed for only one day and released. He was then found murdered, probably by Angelou's uncle, after which Angelou became mute and did not talk for many years.

19. Aaron Carter

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Carter struggled with mental health issues for much of his adult life, and had a rocky relationship with his family. In 2019, he said that his sister had sexually abused him when he was ten years old and his brother had been physically abusive towards him throughout his childhood. Carter passed away in 2022 at the age of 34.

20. Richie Valens

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Almost everyone has heard of the day the music died, and even today, Richie Valens is still a recognisable name. Yet despite his fame, Valens did not even make it to eighteen. He was only 17 when he was killed in the plane crash that would rock the music scene of the fifties.