When Billie Eilish rose to success with ‘Ocean Eyes’ at the age of 14…(14?!) we were all probably ready to hang up the towel right there and then. Unfortunately, going to school or work every day probably isn’t going to end up with us producing an amazing hit song that will catapult us into superstardom.
It’s far too easy to compare ourselves to others forgetting that they too had many f*ck ups along the way. Rejection can absolutely suck, but before you give up, pull your duvet over your head and never try anything again, consider this – pretty much all of the most successful people in the world have failed, and most more than once!
Here are a few of our favourite celebs that totally failed before they found fame and success.
1) Chris Pratt
When the nation’s sweetheart Chris Pratt was 19, he had just dropped out of college during the first semester. He was homeless and living in his van, working as a waiter in a seafood restaurant – albeit in Hawaii but still. He was 30 when he was cast in the show that launched his career Parks and Recreation. Pratt is now the leading man of the $1.6 BILLION Jurassic Park franchise so you could say he’s doing alright!
2) Chrissy Metz
Chrissy had exactly $0.81 cents in her bank account before she got the part on the hit series ‘This is Us’ that’s not even enough for a pack of gum, and now she is a household name and living her best life.
3) Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga royally messed up her first big break and was dropped from her first label Island Def Jam after only 3 months.. Eek. When she got the news she ‘cried so hard she couldn’t talk’. Thank goodness LG didn’t give up then as she has now won 6 grammys and ya girl locked down a MF Oscar this year. She is also an amazing ally to the LBGT+ community. You go Gaga!
4) Jay-z & Beyonce
Hip Hop royalty and arguably the coolest couple in the world, it’s hard to believe it but, these two both had their set of struggles and setbacks. Jay Z came from humble beginnings and grew up in the projects in Brooklyn and he used to sell his CDs out of the back of his car with his friends. Fast forward to now, Jay is an investor, producer and entrepreneur, plus he’s worth a tasty $500 mil. We see you Jay.
It’s hard to think back to a time where our Queen Bey wasn’t slaying. Back in 1993 her band, Girl Tyme, who would go on to be known as Destiny’s Child, was booted off of the popular show ‘Star Search’ – we like to think that the show are still crying about letting this girl go.
Now, please adopt us Bey-Z!
5) Mark Zuckerburg
Facebook’s creator MZ definitely faced a lot setbacks before Facebook and never in his wildest dreams did he think it would grow to the size of what we know today. He famously said – “The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
6) Katy Perry
Katy was a high school drop out who sang gospel, inspired by her parents who were born again christians. Her first gospel album sold only 200 copies. Even after this set back she persevered and pursued her music career. Perry was dropped by not 1 but 3 labels (yikes) but luckily for us we all got to find out that she kissed a girl, and liked it by breaking the charts with that song in 2008.
So there you have it, everyone takes a different route to success, it is never a straight line and there are plenty of turns and barriers along the way. We’re not saying you definitely will go on to get win an Oscar or invent a social media platform to chase the world, but you might, and you never know if you don’t give it a go.
You are exactly where you are supposed to be. So don’t let the world rush you.
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