Billionares Who Grew Up Poor

My house was known as 'The Shoebox' growing up. It was so small and decrepit that I worried during every thunderstorm that it'd just crumble. I didn't get Christmas presents, money from the Tooth Fairy, or family holidays. My clothes were all hand-me-downs. My mum always cut my hair. The fanciest dinner we ever had was fish and chips on the beach. None of this ever fazed me.

It wasn't until I got older and my dreams got bigger that I noticed the power of coming from money. I was, working three jobs to afford to live whilst juggling uni meanwhile most of my peers didn't have to think about money, able to put 100% into their studies. I watched high-profile parents of mates secure them jobs I couldn't even dream about, or fund extravagant trips overseas. I became disheartened. Would anything ever be handed on a silver platter to me??

It's taken me a while to realise that money won't stop me from making my dreams a reality. Sure, it may slow me down with a few roadblocks and hurdles, but what's the fun in things coming easy anyways? So here are some billionaires that came from much humbler beginnings than I did. Let them remind us that no matter where we're from, we can still follow our dreams. 

Ed Sheeran slept in subway stations 🎤

A colossal name in music now, Ed Sheeran used to spend nights sleeping in the London Underground train stations or on top of heating vents, struggling to get into the London music scene. "There was an arch outside Buckingham Palace that has a heating duct and I spent a couple of nights there. That's where I wrote the song 'Homeless' and the lines 'It's not a homeless night for me, I'm just home less than I'd like to be,'" Sheeran wrote in his book, "A Visual Journey." 

Steve Jobs went from humble beginnings to a millionaire by 23 📱

His young, working-class parents struggled to support Steve Jobs, so he was taken in by another couple, Paul and Clara Jobs. After dropping out of college, he started working at video game manufacturing company Atari, maintaining his love of computers. A while later, Jobs created the first-ever Apple machine together with Steve Wozniak. 

By age 23, Jobs was worth $1 million. He was the youngest person on Forbes' list of the country's richest people at the time. He made $10 million by age 24 and crossed the $100 million mark by the time he was 25.

Dolly Parton was bullied for being poor when she was growing up 🎀

Dolly Parton was born as the fourth of 12 children and her parents struggled to make ends meet. Money was so tight that Dolly's father paid the doctor who delivered her with a bag of cornmeal.

Despite her humble origins, Parton grew up surrounded by musicians who encouraged her ambitions. Now she's now one of the most iconic names in showbiz with nine Grammy awards and an estimated song catalog value of around $150 million. Her humble beginnings have fuelled her philanthropic spirit as she's constantly donating money to hospitals, libraries, vaccine research, initiatives, and so on. Long story short, she's a lord. 

Starbucks’s Howard Schultz grew up in a housing complex ☕

In an interview with Mirror, Schultz says: “Growing up I always felt like I was living on the other side of the tracks. I knew the people on the other side had more resources, more money, happier families. And for some reason, I don’t know why or how, I wanted to climb over that fence and achieve something beyond what people were saying was possible. I may have a suit and tie on now but I know where I’m from and I know what it’s like.” He won a football scholarship to the University of Northern Michigan and went to work for Xerox after graduation. He then took over a coffee shop that you may have heard of: Starbucks. At the time it only had 60 shops. Schultz became the company’s CEO in 1987 and grew the coffee chain to more than 16,000 outlets worldwide.

Viola Davis didn't know where their next meal was coming from 🎬 

During a 2014 Variety's Power of Women speech, the actor said, "Although my childhood was filled with many happy memories, it was also spent in abject poverty. I was one of the 17 million kids in this country who didn't know where their next meal was coming from."

Viola Davis stole food, jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots and befriended people in the neighborhood who knew had mothers who cooked three meals a day. She won a funded place in a drama course at the Juilliard School, New York's performing arts conservatory, and her career began to skyrocket from there. 

Jim Carrey's family lived in tents 🏕️

After his father lost his job, the family ended up living in a car, then lived in tents on campsites around Ontario. At 15, Jim worked as a janitor and security guard to help support his family. He spent his long shifts singing and dreaming. After he moved to America, his acting career took off from his sheer talent. 

He's still appreciative of his parents, quoting: "In certain ways, they made me grow up fast. But the list of what they did for me was so enormous."

Oprah Winfrey ran away from home at 13 📺

After a traumatic upbringing of abuse, Oprah ran away from home at the age of 13. At 14, she gave birth — the child died shortly after. Winfrey was awarded a scholarship to Tennessee State University and following an appearance in a local beauty pageant, she went on to become the first African American TV correspondent in the state at the age of 19.

She moved to Chicago, where she began to work on her own morning show, later known as "The Oprah Winfrey Show." She was the first woman in history to own and produce her own talk show. The show aired from 1986 to 2011.

Let these celebrities remind us that no matter where we're from, we can still make it. 🥰