Jackie Chan was left by his birth parents when he was a child; however, while researching a documentary he directed in 2003, he discovered that his mother had been a famous gambler in Shanghai and that his father had been a gang boss and spy.
While many famous people spent their whole childhoods in the public eye, the vast majority led normal lives before the rest of the world became aware of their existence. There are certain people whose lives before they were famous are more surprising, intriguing, or terrible than any story that Hollywood could create about them. Here is a list of seven celebrities who have had extraordinary and unexpected lives:
1. Kim Kardashian
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At the tender age of 19, Kim Kardashian eloped with Damon Thomas, then in his early thirties, to the Sin City. She claimed she was ecstasy-induced during the incident. The magazine quotes her as saying, “When I was younger, I put a lot of stock in the men I dated. I can’t give you a good reason since I wasn’t brought up that way. If I could go back and give my 19-year-old self a good jolt and say, “Wake up; you are way too smart for this,” I would.”
2. Rihanna
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Kandy, Rihanna’s 32-year-old half-sister, revealed the existence of three older half-siblings born to their father before he married Rihanna’s mother when Rihanna was 15 years old.
3. Jackie Chan
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Jackie Chan’s birth parents abandoned him as a youngster. Still, he later learned that his father was a gang boss and Nationalist spy and that his mother was a famed Shanghai gambler through his investigation for the 2003 documentary Traces of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family. Additionally, he learned that his parents met when his father arrested his mother for cocaine smuggling.
4. Woody Harrelson
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The late father of Woody Harrelson was a convicted hitman with ties to the mob. Since he spent most of Woody’s childhood behind bars, the two rarely saw each other. According to what Woody told the Financial Times: “Although we were on a tight budget, my mother never let us go hungry. Despite her challenges, our single mother managed to raise three children while working full-time as a secretary.”
5. Jack Nicholson
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Since Jack Nicholson was a child, he has considered his grandmother Ethel May his real mother, and his real mother, June to be his sister. However, Time magazine discovered the truth while writing a profile on him when he was 37 and contacted him for an explanation. To keep things under wraps, per his request.
6. Leighton Meester
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A federal prison in Texas gave birth to actress Leighton Meester while her mother served a 16-month sentence for drug possession. Until her mother’s freedom, Leighton was raised by her grandmother. In an interview with Us Weekly, Leighton said, “It has helped me become very accepting and empathetic. It has made me more grateful for what I have right now.”
7. Julia Roberts
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Due to financial hardship, Julia Roberts’ parents had to have their close friends, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King pay the hospital bill when she was born. The historian Julia said in a HISTORYTalks interview, “At the time, my mother was running a theater school in Atlanta called the Actors and Writers Workshop, and Coretta Scott King called to ask if her children could join. So I call my mom, and she says, “Sure, come on over.” As a result, they all started hanging out together.”
