The Stars Who Slummed It

Some believe a hard-knock childhood is the key to fame and fortune.

ByABC News
May 29, 2007, 12:31 PM

May 29, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- Here are a few things you may not associate with the rich and famous: working as a janitor. Being part of an impoverished family of 14. Living on welfare. Getting shot. Being sexually molested.

And yet, early experiences like these have shaped and driven some of the most powerful and important celebrities in the world, from Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise and Sean "Diddy" Combs to Celine Dion and Oprah Winfrey. Is there a tie between a tough upbringing and fame? Social scientists, who are just beginning to study the phenomenon, say yes.

"We all have a basic need for acceptance and approval by social groups," says Orville Gilbert Brim, author of "The Fame Motive: A Treatise on its Origin and Life Course." "If it's not satisfied, if a person is excluded either in infancy, childhood or, in many cases, adolescence, this frustration becomes the source of a motive or a desire to become famous."

Put another way, fame "offers the possibility to transcend what you have been given as your lot in life," says P. David Marshall, author of "Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture."

Consider Marilyn Monroe. In her unfinished autobiography, the foster child turned cultural icon wrote of her fame, "I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful but because I had never belonged to anyone or anything else."

For Monroe, and those who share her background, fame offered a sense, real or not, of belonging and mass acceptance. And while anyone can be driven toward celebrity, people from poor upbringings can find fame to be an alluring way to fulfill some otherwise unfulfilled need.

A survey conducted by Syracuse University professor Carol M. Liebler and Jake Halpern, author of "Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Favorite Addiction," found that teenagers who described themselves as often or always depressed were more likely to believe that becoming a celebrity would make them happier. And what's more, teens who described themselves as feeling lonely were also more likely to believe that fame would have a positive impact on their lives.