13 Huge Stars Who Endured Awful Childhoods

Just because these celebrities tend to have the nicest cars, the fame, the success and the money, don’t let that fool you into thinking that they didn’t have a rough start in life. None of the celebrities listed below came from rich backgrounds to the point where they could easily change their environment.

Nothing happened without devotion and hard work, and if anything, it seemed as if their awful childhoods made them determined to make it out from the place they would consider their home. These are the 13 celebrities with the worst childhood upbringing.

13. Nicki Minaj

Despite often branding herself as a Barbie, Nicki Minaj’s childhood was from the lavish lifestyle she lives today. Minaj, who moved to New York as a youngster, was constantly living with different family members as her mother Carol wanted to start a new life for herself and her kids outside of Trinidad. And while Nicki’s dad would soon follow, it would cause endless havoc in their household — so much that Nicki would go to bed hearing her dad say he will set the entire house on fire.

12. Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan probably has the most unfortunate kind of parents to have, and this is simply down to the fact that both Dina and Michael seem to be a horrible influence on their daughter, and this has been the case ever since Lilo was a child. From the domestic abuse Dina often goes on to claim to Michael’s endless arrests, Lindsay’s parents would soon go on to argue and fight over their daughter’s movie earnings, causing a never-ending feud between mother, daughter and father.

11. Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore’s mother Jaid, hasn’t exactly received a lot of good press when it comes to good parenting skills. In fact, it’s been the quite opposite. Drew would often stress that her mother was never really there for her as a child, leaving her on her own for days on end. The actress would form a drug addiction in her teenage years, head to rehab, and file court documents, stating that she wants to be emancipated from her parent. Those wishes were granted, and since then, Drew admits that she rarely speaks to her mom, who she says was a bad influence on her life, leading her to make poor decisions in her teen years.

10. Ariel Winter

Ariel Winter‘s decision to move in with her sister, call the police on her mother, and file for court documents, asking the judge to make her sibling the conservator over her money came as a shock to everyone who’s been obsessed with Ariel ever since she made her debut on Modern Family. Reports claimed that Ariel’s mother Crystal, was alleged to have had an abusive relationship with her daughter — to the point where Crystal would grab hold of Ariel’s earnings, physically and emotionally hurt her, among other things. Ariel confirms she no longer has a relationship with her mother.

9. Janet Jackson

Everyone pretty much knows the story behind the Jacksons and their horrifying childhood. Janet Jackson and her siblings would face terrifying punishments by father Joe Jackson, who always found a reason to whip his children with the nearest belt. If there was no belt around, Janet and Michael have gone on to claim that Joe was even known to use an ironing board to hit against their heads. While Janet is believed to have suffered the least amount of punishments, she was well aware of Michael’s beatings, who reportedly had it the worst.

8. Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin’s parents not only separated and divorced at the peak of their son’s career, they fought relentlessly for the money Macaulay was beginning to make through the success of the Home Alone franchise. Both Kit and Patricia didn’t want either to get a good sum of the money once they entered the divorce process, causing an endless rift between the actor and his parents — so much so that Culkin claims the money and fame weren’t worth losing both of his parents.

7. Chris Brown

Chris Brown has made a lot of mistakes in his life, but his own childhood upbringing could be to blame for that. While people need to take responsibility for their own actions at some point in their life, it is reasonable to think that Chris’ upbringing in a household where nothing but domestic abuse was seen, it triggered him to follow in those footsteps. Brown’s mother was a constant victim of domestic abuse by the men that she dated, and ironically enough, it would later translate into Chris’ behavior, when he infamously got into an altercation with ex-girlfriend Rihanna.

6. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron’s relationship with her mother Gerda, will forever be unbreakable after the stunning things they have gone through together. In 1991, Theron carefully watched as her mom shot her father Charles to death — out of self-defense. Charles was an alcoholic who had threatened to kill mother and daughter days prior and on the day of the incident — and by the look of things, Gerda seemed convinced that the father of her child was going to kill both of them that night. Fortunately — to an extent — the story had somewhat of a happy ending and both Charlize and her mother can live in peace.

5. Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey’s upbringing is quite strange compared to other celebs who’ve made the list. The singer was often caught up in her mother’s relationship drama, not because Patricia Hickey was promiscuous, but more so because people in their neighborhood did not accept interracial relationships. Mariah’s father, who is an African-American man, was abused and racially profiled on endless occasions, to the point where the couple would have stones thrown into their homes through the window as neighbors demanded them to leave town. One could only imagine what Mariah must’ve been thinking when she saw this happening.

4. 50 Cent

 

50 Cent’s upbringing is quite sad. His mother died when he was just a child — she was selling drugs in the hopes of being able to take care of her son, but on one particular day, bad business decisions led to her untimely death. From there, the rapper would go on to join gangs, get into fights, have a former friend shoot him nine times, sell drugs — literally all the worst things you can possibly imagine. Which is why it’s so shocking to see 50 Cent make such an impressive turnaround, having sold tens of millions of records worldwide.

3. Rihanna

Rihanna actually grew up in an abusive household out in Barbados. Her father developed an awful habit with alcohol, which made it even harder for Rihanna, who knew she was destined to become a singer. Her big break at 16 had the singer make enough money to have her entire family change their surroundings, away from Rihanna’s troubled father. While Rihanna’s dad is still part of her life, Rihanna tends to appreciate his father duties from a distance considering the thing he allegedly put her through as a child.

2. Missy Elliott

Who would’ve thought that Virginia born singer Missy Elliott grew up poor? Not just any kind of poor, I’m talking about extremely poor. Poor to the point where the apartments were Missy lived with her parents were infested with so many rats, when the rapper would sleep at night, her parents had to tap her to shake them off her back. Yikes! Fortunately for her, she would eventually go on to meet Timbaland, who would produce dozens of Missy’s classic hits, allowing her to live a better life with her family out in New Jersey, where she now resides.

1. Eminem

Eminem grew up in Detroit with his mother Deborah. His father was absent from his life, so he pretty much relied on Deborah for all the things he needed to learn to be a better man. But that was hard since Deborah was so bad off, she didn’t have time to teach or take care of Eminem. The rapper says that his childhood was one of the worst times of his life, having deeply affected his adult years when he began writing music. These days, all of the pain that Eminem felt at the time when he was a suffering child has now been turned into endless hit songs from the “I’m Not Afraid” hitmaker.