Celeb Dropouts Finally Graduate

"This cap is another significant crown I'll wear," Williams told her fellow graduates last Saturday. "And the fact that it comes from Syracuse University, which, after 24 years, I can finally call my alma mater, makes it all the more meaningful."

When Wilson puts on her black cap and gown tonight in Tennessee, it will be a significant signpost in what has been a long road to receiving her diploma.

Wilson dropped out of school in ninth grade at the age of 15 to move in with an older man who offered her a chance at stability. In her 2006 memoir, "Redneck Woman: Stories From My Life," she wrote about a childhood that was violent and unpredictable. Her family bounced from town to town in southern Illinois to the Miami area as her stepfather changed jobs, which meant Wilson attended as many as three schools in one year.

Leaving home meant leaving school, she told The Tennessean newspaper, as she took jobs to help support herself. She spent what would have been her high school year singing in bars and on stages, and at 23, moved to Nashville, where she met the singers from Big & Rich. That connection led to the single "Redneck Woman" and appearances on television, at the Super Bowl and every major awards show at the age of 31.

In one of her first interviews during that wave of media attention, Wilson spoke about getting her GED or general equivalency diploma, but it wasn't until last spring that her management got in touch with Wilson High School principal Mayfield.

When Mayfield sat down with Wilson, he said, she had no "star attitude," just a sincere desire to get her diploma. She even wanted to live out some of the high school experience by attending games and sitting in classes, but with her touring schedule, Mayfield thought it best to refer her to the Adult Learning Center of Wilson County.

There, she met with director Bernadine Nelson, who convinced her to speak at the upcoming graduation ceremony. "When she walked on stage, that place absolutely erupted," Nelson told ABC News, adding that five or six people called afterward to sign up for GED classes.