High school can be a rollercoaster ride for everyone. It’s not just about fitting in with the “cool” crowd; many teenagers go through that awkward phase and find it hard to discover where they belong. Some even become the unfortunate targets of bullies. Surprisingly, even famous celebrities had their fair share of high school challenges.
In the halls of these educational institutions, you might find future Hollywood sensations who were already making waves, capturing hearts, and stealing the spotlight during their school days. On the other hand, there are those who achieved stardom a bit later in life. Some were labeled as the “troublemakers” while others had to face off against bullies. Just like many regular kids, these future stars challenged traditions and authority, and sometimes even their own parents. It’s a reminder that fame doesn’t guarantee a smooth journey. These actors had their own struggles before reaching the pinnacle of success. These stories prove that your high school years aren’t the ultimate deciders of your future.
Now, let’s dive into the experiences of some film and television stars during their teenage days. Can you find any connections with their tales?
1. Winona Ryder Was Beaten Up In The Girls Bathroom, But Encountered Her Tormentor Years Later
Winona Ryder, at the age of 14, made her film debut in Lucas (1986). Before that, at the age of 12, she started taking acting classes at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater while attending regular school. Unfortunately, during her first week at Kenilworth Junior High School in California, she became the target of bullies.
In a candid interview with Harper’s Bazaar in 2000, Ryder recounted the incident and what occurred when she unexpectedly encountered one of her tormentors years later:
“I was wearing an old Salvation Army shop boy’s suit and had a hall pass to use the girls’ bathroom. As I entered, I overheard people calling me derogatory names. Suddenly, they slammed my head into a locker, and I fell to the ground while they continued to assault me. I ended up needing stitches. Shockingly, it was me who was expelled from school, not the bullies.”
Years later, while visiting a coffee shop in Petaluma, Ryder coincidentally ran into one of the girls who had participated in the attack. Surprisingly, the girl approached her and asked for an autograph. Ryder seized the opportunity to confront her former bully, saying, “Do you remember me? I went to Kenilworth. Remember how, in seventh grade, you beat up that kid?” The girl responded with a vague acknowledgement, to which Ryder retorted, “That was me. Go f*ck yourself!”
During a 1994 interview with Life magazine, Ryder revealed that being put on home study for a period turned out to be beneficial as it allowed her to enroll in classes at ACT and later secure an agent. In a rather unexpected twist, she claimed that the bullies “gave me my career.”
2. Harrison Ford Was Bullied, But Got Sympathy From Girls
Harrison Ford’s interest in acting didn’t develop until his college years. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago and attending Maine East High School, he struggled to find his place. He admits, “I was a kid who never found a niche. I wasn’t an athlete, I wasn’t a student leader, I wasn’t anything. I was a late bloomer, I think.”
Interestingly, despite his later fame as an action hero, Ford was actually bullied during his younger days. Reflecting on his past, he shared a specific incident from when he was around 12 years old. He said, “I was the new kid, and I was kind of short and geeky, I guess. I don’t know—I must have pissed somebody off, and we fought, and he f*cking pushed me off the side of the hill… [This became a daily ritual.] I’d come up the hill, and then they pushed me down the hill, and I’d come up the hill, and if there was enough time they’d push me down the hill again.”
Surprisingly, Ford didn’t let this mistreatment affect him too much. In fact, he found a silver lining in the situation. He explained, “I suppose it did upset…well, yes and no. What I noticed is that the girls were beginning to have a certain amount of sympathy for me. That’s what I noticed.”
3. Ryan Reynolds Was Kicked Out Of School For A Prank On A Teacher
Ryan Reynolds, known for his acting career, started his professional journey at the young age of 13, with his debut role in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (known as Fifteen in the US).
Despite his current status as an established leading man and being dubbed People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” Reynolds openly admits that he struggled to impress his female classmates during his school days. During an appearance on Conan in 2017, he shared his innocence, saying, “I remember, it took me a while to learn that you could actually talk to girls. I remember during elementary school, I used to ‘accidentally fall’ on [girls] during volleyball practice. And just a few years later, that’s illegal. That’s straight up inappropriate.”
However, Reynolds had more than just talking to girls to worry about during his youth. He discussed his tendency to follow in his brothers’ footsteps when it came to getting into trouble with school administrators during a 2012 appearance on BBC Two’s Top Gear. He revealed, “I was a bit of a pariah at school. I have three older brothers, all of whom were kicked out of this very same school, so from the moment I got there, I was a marked man. I was kicked out for something I think you’d appreciate. I was kicked out for stealing a car. But wait – I didn’t actually steal a vehicle! …”
Reynolds explained that he and his friends played an April Fool’s prank on a particularly unpleasant teacher, involving his small Volkswagen car. He clarified, “So my friends and I just played an April Fool’s prank on him – we picked it up, we lifted it up and carried it down the block. There was about eight of us… In Canada, if you move it more than 10 feet, it’s a felony. I didn’t know that. One city block was 100% grand theft!”
4. Jake Gyllenhaal Was A ‘Nerd’ With Thick Glasses
Jake Gyllenhaal comes from a family deeply rooted in the film industry. His father is a film director, his mother is a screenwriter, and his older sister Maggie is also an actor. Given his family background, it’s no surprise that Jake made his film debut at the young age of 10, playing Billy Crystal’s son in City Slickers (1991).
However, being a child actor didn’t make his high school years any easier. In a 2016 interview with Magic Radio, while promoting his film Demolition, Jake opened up about his teenage years, describing himself as troubled but also admitting to being “kind of a nerd”:
“I’ve always had really bad eyesight, so I always had really thick glasses, which inevitably made people treat me a certain way, you know?… I just remember not being sure of who I was and trying to emulate different people to define myself… Kids can be really harsh. I was constantly made fun of for being a performer. I played sports, but my love for singing and acting was always ridiculed.”
Jake also shared that as he grew older, he had encountered some of the people who used to tease him as a kid. Interestingly, these same individuals now understand how foolish their behavior was and have since become supportive of his career.
5. Chad Michael Murray Said He Was The Poor Kid At A Rich School
Chad Michael Murray started his career as a model and landed a role on Gilmore Girls as Tristan Dugray, a wealthy high school student. Even though Tristan’s background was different from Murray’s, his breakthrough role on One Tree Hill as Lucas Scott hit closer to home. Lucas came from the “wrong side of the tracks” and had experienced parental abandonment, just like Murray. Reflecting on his high school years at Clarence High School in New York, Murray shared in a 2007 Seventeen magazine interview:
Attending Clarence High School was tough for me because it was a rich school and I came from a poor background. It was a lot harder than a regular school because everyone else had fancy clothes and nice cars. On their birthdays, they would get brand new Lexuses while I was driving a 1979 Cougar.
6. Drew Barrymore Was Locked In An Institution Until She Was Emancipated At Age 14, Then Found Herself Unemployable
Drew Barrymore comes from a family of famous actors, so it’s not surprising that her career began at a very young age. At just 11 months old, she appeared in a dog food commercial. When she was 6 years old, she landed the role of Gertie in the blockbuster film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her a highly sought-after child star.
However, her teenage years were filled with difficulties. Her mother, Jaid, started taking her to nightclubs when she was 8, and by the time she was 12, Barrymore had already started drinking and using drugs. At the age of 13, she hit rock bottom when her mother had her admitted to a psychiatric hospital against her will. She ended up staying there for more than a year.
In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, Barrymore admitted that her time in the institution actually turned out to be beneficial for her:
“Honestly, yeah, my mom locked me up in an institution. Boo hoo! But it did give an amazing discipline. It was like serious recruitment training and boot camp, and it was horrible and dark and very long-lived, a year and a half, but I needed it. I needed that whole insane discipline. My life was not normal. I was not a kid in school with normal circumstances. There was something very abnormal, and I needed some severe shift.”
Barrymore revealed that it was the people at the mental institution who encouraged her to legally emancipate from her parents, which she did. At the young age of 14, she was legally considered an adult and had to navigate life on her own.
“That first year was weeeeeird. I had no idea how to run an apartment at 14. There was fungus growing everywhere, it was a disaster. It was in a dangerous neighborhood and I was so scared to sleep. I had bars on the window and alley cats f*cking 30 feet away. I was so terrified.”
Not only was she alone, but she also struggled to find work. Barrymore shared that casting directors would mock her when she showed up for auditions:
“To have such a big career at such a young age, then nothing for years – people going, you’re an unemployable disaster – that’s a tough trip to have by the time you’re 14. To have access to so many things, then to nothing.”
To make ends meet, she took odd jobs like working in restaurants and cleaning toilets. It wasn’t until she starred in the film Poison Ivy in 1992, at the age of 17, that her career started to regain momentum.
7. Halle Berry Said She Was Mocked As A Biracial Student At An All-White School
Halle Berry, growing up in the inner city of Cleveland, OH, had a difficult childhood marked by the turbulence at city schools. To provide her and her sister with a better education, her mother made the decision to move them to the suburbs, where they found themselves in an all-white school. Berry recalled, “[W]e were in an all-white school with all-white kids, like 3 out of 2500 students to attend a school.”
Being one of the few students of color, Berry faced alienation and struggled to prove herself. She explained how her mixed-race background played a role, saying, “Because my mother was white and my father was [B]lack… we got called Oreos and names, and kids just didn’t understand, so we were different. We were the brunt of a lot of jokes.” Feeling inferior, she felt the need to excel and achieve in order to prove herself to the white students. She admitted, “I felt very ‘less than,’ and I thought, ‘If I can beat them at everything, then I can be as good as them.'”
In high school, Berry managed to thrive, participating in cheerleading, being a member of the honor society, and even serving as the editor of the school newspaper. However, her bid for prom queen brought a harsh reality. Despite winning the title, accusations of ballot box stuffing emerged, tarnishing her victory. Berry reflected on this experience, sharing, “I felt like I was accepted there until it came to being prom queen. It took me a long time to get over it.”
Following her graduation, Berry found success in beauty pageants before deciding to pursue acting in New York.
8. John Stamos Was A Disney Kid And A Band Geek
9. Jennifer Garner Proudly Played ‘Sally The Sexy Saxophone’
10. Dwayne Johnson Had Been Arrested Eight Or Nine Times By Age 17
