It can be quite difficult to imagine that the current A-list, Hollywood elite performers who are enjoying fame and fortune, and who are loved by fans around the world, could ever have once been bullied as children — but it has definitely happened. Stars including Priyanka Chopra and Justin Timberlake are among the celebrities who had to deal with what many children across the US are struggling to cope with every single day: relentless teasing and tormenting, thanks to their cruel peers.
Unfortunately, no one is immune to being made fun of as a kid, and some kids have it worse than others — and as any adult knows, that kind of bullying can often carry into how you perceive yourself as an adult. Still, despite the adversity they faced in childhood, these stars went on to become some of the most successful people in their field, which makes them perfect to tell our kids about when they come home from school, upset about bullies of their own.
These celebrities have all risen above it in amazing ways, and we can only imagine how their bullies must feel about poking fun at them now. Read on for 15 famous people who were bullied as children.
Justin Timberlake
The pop icon who's now married to beauty Jessica Biel was apparently constantly teased when he was a kid. Justin Timberlake revealed: "I got picked on all the time. I had terrible acne, weird hair." He also told Ellen DeGeneres, "I grew up in Tennessee, and if you didn't play football, you were a sissy. I got slurs all the time because I was in music and art. But everything that you get picked on for is essentially what's going to make you sexy as an adult."
Amen to that, Justin!
Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet, who's now one of the most talented, and respected actresses in the world, told Marie Claire: "I was bullied for being chubby. Where are they now?!"
Kate admitted that, at times, she still feels like the insecure girl who was once nicknamed "Blubber." She was also apparently once locked inside an art cupboard. Man, kids can be so mean! But, like she said, who's laughing now?
Kate Middleton
So Kate Middleton may not be an actress or a singer, but she married an actual prince and has one of the most recognizable faces in the world. But believe it or not, the Duchess of Cambridge actually (sort of) had her own Cinderella-like beginning.
It's been reported that Kate was forced to leave a leading private school because of "insidious" girls who thought she was "skinny" and "meek." The accounts of just how terribly she was bullied range from girls stealing her books to tormenting her because she was a "sitting duck," though nothing's been confirmed by Kate herself.
Robert Pattinson
Edward freaking Cullen of all people was once bullied as a teen. The gorgeous, gifted Robert Pattison admitted, in his well-known self-deprecating style: "I got beaten up by a lot of people when I was younger. I was a bit of an idiot, but I always thought the assaults were unprovoked. It was after I first started acting and I liked to behave like an actor, or how I thought an actor was supposed to be, and that apparently provoked a lot of people into hitting me."
Jennifer Lawrence
The girl who was on fire (as well as an Oscar winner) didn't have to fight to death in an arena, but Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence didn't get invited to a friend's birthday party — hey, that stuff stays with you longer than any of us would like to admit.
"I changed schools a lot when I was in elementary school because some girls were mean," Jennifer told The Sun. "They were less mean in middle school, because I was doing alright, although this one girl gave me invitations to hand out to her birthday party that I wasn't invited to."
But of course she had to add this: "I just hocked a loogie on them and threw them in the trash can," she quipped. "Don't worry about the b—-es. That could be a good motto, because you come across people like that throughout your life."
Tyra Banks
Sometimes there just are no words when one of the most beautiful women in existence admits to being bullied. Tyra Banks confessed: "When I was 11, I grew 3 inches and lost 30 pounds in three months. So I went from being a cute, chubby little girl to shooting up, [weighing] 98 pounds, and just looking sick and frail."
That led to some mean treatment from her classmates. "I was the brunt of every joke, every bad thing. I hated my reflection in the mirror. I would try to stuff food down my throat to gain weight."
Obviously, her amazing body and striking height and features would make her one of the most famous models ever. Just goes to show that it does, indeed, get better!
Sandra Bullock
At times it can be crazy to think that America's sweetheart was anything but beloved, but actress Sandra Bullock did not have an easy time growing up. She said, "Junior high was not a good time. I'd just come back from living in Europe and I was very, er, Germanic, so you could say."
She also was made fun of for her lisp. "What would I wish someone would have said to me at 12 when I had my speech impediment?" she reflected. "What do I want to say to little girls I know? Keep saying, 'Don't change. Be who you are.'"
Christian Bale
Not even Batman could avoid the bullies. When Christian Bale starred in Empire of the Sun back in 1987 when he was 13 years old, he became an instant celebrity. You'd think he'd become prom king because of that, but the opposite happened.
He recalled: "It was not a great time. I was a victim of bullying and had other kids kicking and punching me every day. It was an early lesson in how making a film can set you apart. If you don't want to live with the consequences, then don't make the film."
And that clearly had lingering effects on him ever since. "But that didn't help at the time. I was confused about other people's reactions to me, both good and bad. It can mess anyone up," he added.
Christina Hendricks
"My school days were pretty unhappy," Christina Hendricks told the Mirror. "I had the worst high school experience ever. I went to a very mean school and was bullied like crazy. There was a long corridor with lockers on either side and kids would sit on top of them and spit on you. It was like something out of Lord of the Flies."
She also added, "I was a goth kid. I dyed my hair about 42 different colors, shaved it at the back, and wore black makeup. Kids can be pretty judgmental about people who are different. But instead of breaking down and conforming, I stood firm." Inspiring stuff for anyone going through a phase like this while growing up.
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan was once bullied?! But he does all his own stunts! That's right, he once admitted that, back in the day, he was often picked on and was too afraid to stand up for himself.
"I was bullied quite a lot when I was growing up in my Peking Opera School," he explained. "I allowed myself to be bullied because I was scared and didn't know how to defend myself. I was bullied until I prevented a new student from being bullied. By standing up for him, I learned to stand up for myself."
Looks like he carried on that good-guy, badass mentality for the rest of his illustrious career. As he once said, "I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan."
Rihanna
Beautiful Rihanna says she was bullied at school for being, um, "white." She was teased while growing up on the Caribbean island of Barbados because of her fair skin.
"I was a little confused as a kid because I grew up with my mum, and my mum is Black," she told Allure. "So I was cultured in a very 'Black' way. But when I go to school, I'm getting called 'white.' They would look at me and would curse me out. I didn't understand. I just knew I saw people of all different shades and I was light. Now I'm in a much bigger world."
Jessica Alba
It's easy to say that Jessica Alba is one of the most attractive people in Hollywood. So it's hard to believe she didn't have her peers falling at her feet. Nope, instead, she used her initial fear of her bullies to eventually gain a reputation of being a "tough nut." She said: "I'm tough now because as a kid I never fought back. I didn't want to lower myself to the level of the bullies. I started to really blossom into my looks when I was about 14 or 15, but I actually felt embarrassed about being pretty. My physical strength became my hard shell."
And it seems she was tormented every day by fellow students. "I was bullied so badly my dad used to have to walk me into school so I didn't get attacked. I'd eat my lunch in the nurse's office so I didn't have to sit with the other girls. Apart from my being mixed race, my parents didn't have money so I never had the cute clothes or the cool backpack."
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra would eventually grow up to be a successful actress, activist, mom, and married to a Jonas Brother — but as a kid, she was bullied, too. "There was this girl who was a major bully," she told Glamour. "I think she didn't like me because her boyfriend liked me, or some high school dynamic. She made my life hell. She used to call me names and would push me against the locker."
Blake Lively
It's hard to imagine Blake Lively getting bullied for anything, but as she once explained in an Instagram post, it was her height that had kids picking on her in school.
"Kids used to make fun of me in elementary school by calling me Big Bird (because I was 'too tall' and had 'yellow' hair). Here's to making best buddies with the things that once hurt you," she wrote when she posed with the Sesame Street character.
Tom Holland
Not even future Marvel stars are immune to bullying, and it was British actor Tom Holland's love of performing that made his classmates pick on him.
"There were times when I was bullied about dancing and stuff," he told People in 2017. "But you couldn't hit me hard enough to stop me from doing it."
