10 Stars Who Achieved Success Despite All Difficulties

A lot of us are used to thinking that our favorite celebrities were always famous. This belief makes it impossible to imagine that these big singers and actors had severe struggles in their lives that we can actually relate to, and yet, it’s true. These stories of A-list stars and their life hurdles may motivate you to never give up on your dreams.

1. Adam Lambert

He is now known for his incredible voice and collaboration with the band, Queen, but all that happened thanks to him taking a huge risk that could’ve cost him everything. At age 27, Adam Lambert auditioned for the show, American Idol, while he was working at a theatre, but the contract he was under stated that he couldn’t have any other jobs. So he was forced to quit before he even saw the judges and the audience for the first time. Luckily, it all worked out, despite him landing 2nd place on the show.

2. Katy Perry

Her success with the hit song, “I Kissed a Girl,” may seem like it came overnight, but it took years of working on her career to get to that point. Her first album was a failure. Even after she got signed to a major music label in 2004, her luck didn’t change, and she was dropped from it sometime after. She found success only in 2008.

3. Madonna

When she was just 19 years old, Madonna came to New York City alone with just $35 in hopes of achieving her dreams. She took all kinds of creative jobs before releasing her first solo album at age 25 — she was a guitarist, drummer, and vocalist in a rock band. Nowadays, she is known as the Queen of Pop.

4. Jay-Z

When he was starting out in his career, Jay-Z was turned down by every major music label in the country. Instead of giving up as a hip-hop performer, he decided to try to become a producer and founded a small label himself with 2 of his friends. It was not a great success, however, because only one artist from the label ended up actually releasing an album. He spoke out about his experience with failure, saying that the fear of it was his “powerful motivation for change.”

5. Sylvester Stallone

Before hitting it big with the self-written movie, Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was a struggling actor in every way. He once had to live for 3 days at a bus station because he didn’t have enough money to pay for rent. Life was knocking him down, but he went to see Muhammad Ali defeat the underdog Chuck Wepner, and saw it as a metaphor for life. It became his inspiration behind the Rocky movie franchise, and he managed to get a studio interested in his script and eventually let him star in the main role.

6. Stephen King

He was a struggling aspiring writer living in a trailer with his wife and a newborn baby. His wife had to take double shifts at a fast-food chain, while Stephen King worked as an English teacher who did multiple odd jobs after school. He received many rejections for his writing.

One day, his wife called him at school, which was a big surprise for him, as they didn’t own a telephone to save money. So he knew she went to great lengths to reach him this way, which meant either something amazing or terrible had happened. Luckily, she was phoning him to say that his novel, Carrie, got picked up by a publisher.

7. Tyler Perry

He had a difficult upbringing, which was the inspiration behind his debut play, I Know I’ve Been Changed. He put all of his savings into this play, which failed at first. It wasn’t generating enough money to even pay the rent, so he had to live in his car for 3 months.

But Tyler Perry was not going to give up and kept touring with the play until he got noticed. Today, he is an Oscar winner for a humanitarian cause and has succeeded in many creative ways.

8. Lucy Liu

The actress admitted that she didn’t have an easy time finding any work in her early days. Most agencies agreed to work with her only on a freelance basis, as they didn’t know if she would get any offers because Asian actors were not in demand.

She describes herself as a persistent person, so she kept on trying. Change came with the movie, Charlie’s Angels, which specifically wanted to hire an actress who wasn’t Caucasian. It was thanks to this role that Liu hit it big.

9. Lisa Kudrow

Before landing her role on Friends, she was cast on another hit show, Frasier, and thought it would be her big break. She mainly had guest-starring roles and really minor gigs before that. But she was fired from Frasier 2 days into the rehearsal because it wasn’t working out. Kudrow was devastated because she missed out on a show that “everyone knew would be a hit, and it was,” but she booked Friends a year after that incident.

10. Chrissy Metz

These days, the actress is known for starring in the successful show, This Is Us, but she was struggling big time before she booked the role. According to the actress, she had 81 cents in her bank account and wasn’t sure if she could even get to the audition. But it turned out to be her lucky day, and she successfully landed the role of Kate Pearson.

Which success story do you find the most inspirational? Have you ever taken a serious risk that paid off?