1.
In probably the most iconic examples, Victoria Beckham claimed that she grew up “working class” within the documentary Beckham. Her husband David rapidly took problem with this, pushing Victoria to confess to the kind of automobile her father, an electronics engineer, drove her to high school in…a Rolls-Royce.
2.
Regardless of how he was portrayed in Straight Outta Compton, Ice Dice wasn’t really from Compton. He was born in Baldwin Hills and raised in South Central Los Angeles, and his mother and father each had secure jobs working at UCLA. He attended George Washington Preparatory Excessive College and later was bused to William Howard Taft Constitution Excessive College in suburban Woodland Hills. He then earned a level in architectural drafting. Many colleagues have questioned his avenue cred. Rapper Kam stated in a diss observe, “It is a disgrace you bought wealthy off our stress and strife, / you ain’t by no means gang banged in your life,” and each Kam and DJ Alonzo Williams referred to him as an “actor.”
3.
Whitney Cummings has repeatedly stated that she was poor as a child, stating that she liked Roseanne as a result of “I grew up poor, and that was the primary present that appeared like my home. It was the primary present that did not make me really feel dangerous about myself.” She’s additionally listed the “poor individuals meals” she ate, like cereal, peanut butter and jelly (or banana) sandwiches, and fish sticks. Whereas she admitted her mother was a Neiman Marcus publicist and her dad was a “enterprise capitalist,” she stated it was extra that he referred to as himself that and would borrow and lend cash till it was gone. She stated the warmth did not work in her home, that she typically had lice, and that she typically ate at neighbors’ homes since her mother and father did not feed her.
Nonetheless, the backstory feels shaky at greatest. Cummings grew up in Georgetown (a rich space), attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal College (round $50,000 in yearly tuition), had her personal horse, after which went to UPenn, an Ivy League college. Whereas it may very well be that her circumstances drastically modified in the course of her childhood (she did state she moved in along with her sister earlier than highschool), it definitely would not appear to be she grew up in poverty. This early Washington Put up interview states Cummings grew up “in relative consolation padded by free lotions, perfumes and garments from Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus.”
4.
In his tune “Juicy,” Biggie Smalls claimed that he was so poor rising up that he would eat sardines for dinner. He additionally stated they’d skip Christmas and had no warmth. However his mom, Voletta Wallace, later claimed this wasn’t true, denying that he ever needed to eat sardines for dinner. They probably did not rejoice Christmas as a result of his mom was a Jehovah’s Witness.
Biggie additionally went to non-public college, and the “one room shack” he referenced in his music was really an residence in Brooklyn (it has been renovated, although it was clearly by no means a “shack”). He was described by the New Yorker as “center class.”
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Bob Dylan has been caught in quite a lot of lies about his childhood. For instance, he as soon as claimed that he did not know his mother and father — across the identical time, he was placing them up in resorts and alluring them to his reveals. He additionally as soon as claimed he was raised in New Mexico and sang for a touring carnival from the ages of 13 to 19 — and that he used to show “methods in Instances Sq. to make ends meet.” None of that is true.
He additionally modified his title and the way in which he talked and dressed to raised emulate Woody Guthrie and claimed he had a troubled childhood. The outcome was that Dylan had the persona of a working-class man from the American West and never that of a largely suburban, middle-class child from upstate Minnesota, near Canada.
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Lana Del Rey’s music typically paints an image of a “white trash” girl who got here from a low-income household out west or in Florida and lived in a trailer park — which followers have contradicted after studying her father is now a millionaire. Nonetheless, Del Rey maintains that her father made his cash after she grew to become an grownup, saying that she grew up in certainly one of “probably the most rural locations in America” (Lake Placid) and that her household “had completely no cash.” Whereas she did go to an elite boarding college, she stated it was via her uncle working there and that she obtained monetary help.
Nonetheless — Del Rey did not really dwell in a trailer park till she was an grownup when she used cash from her first album deal to purchase a trailer. For a lot of followers, studying she lived in a “little mountain city” in New York State and attended boarding college shattered the phantasm of Del Rey’s upbringing.
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Child Rock equally constructed a picture round being poor and coming “straight out the trailer” — when in actuality, he was born to millionaire mother and father and lived on an property in Michigan with a whole visitor home, apple orchard, horse stables, and personal tennis courts. His father reportedly had a second residence in Jupiter Island, Florida.
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Ed Sheeran has spoken a number of instances about couch-surfing and never having anyplace to dwell when he was first making an attempt to make it, each when he moved to London and when he moved to LA. In London, he even stated he used to sleep in an arch with a heating duct exterior Buckingham Palace. He even wrote the tune “Homeless” there. He additionally would sleep on the practice after gigs. “I spent per week catching up on sleep on Circle Line trains. I would exit and play a gig, wait till 5 a.m. when the Underground opened, sleep on the Circle Line till 12, go to a session — after which repeat. It wasn’t that dangerous. It is not like I used to be sleeping tough on the chilly streets.”
Sheeran, who was born to rich mother and father, additionally stated, “I did not have anyplace to dwell for a lot of 2008 and the entire of 2009 and 2010, however one way or the other I made it work. I knew the place I may get a mattress at a sure time of night time, and I knew who I may name at any time to get a flooring to sleep on. Being sociable helped. Consuming helped.” Later, after individuals identified his privilege and parentage, he stated headlines that he’d referred to as himself “homeless” had taken his quotes out of context. “Everybody’s saying ‘Ed Sheeran was homeless’ — I by no means stated that within the e book. I went with out a mattress for some nights, that is it.”
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In an previous interview to advertise their then-upcoming present, Protecting Up with the Kardashians, Khloé, Kim, Kourtney, and Kris spoke about their upbringing. Within the clip, Kourtney tried to shatter the concept that they have been all the time wealthy by saying she was lower off in her early 20s.
Kim adopted up by saying it was really more difficult for them to develop up privileged as a result of it created an expectation for a sure way of life they needed to keep. She additionally claimed “most individuals are doing nothing” and appeared to suppose it was novel that she was working at 16.
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Years later, Kardashian ultimately acknowledged her privilege rising up however then appeared to insinuate they really had a tough monetary upbringing. “Yeah, we grew up privileged, however individuals do not know the story of [Caitlyn Jenner] and Mother having to promote their home in Hidden Hills as a result of they could not afford it and so they needed to transfer to an residence,” she stated on her actuality present. This data is contradicted in Kris’s memoir. Talking of Jenner, she was a former Olympic athlete and celeb, whereas the Kardashians’ delivery father, Robert Kardashian, was a lawyer greatest recognized for representing O.J. Simpson.
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Gwyneth Paltrow equally stated she’s “fully self-made” as a result of her mother and father — Emmy and Tony award-winning actor Blythe Danner and movie director Bruce Paltrow — did not give her cash as an grownup. “Folks suppose, ‘She’s only a wealthy child.’ Till I used to be 18, I used to be. Then I used to be broke. I’ve by no means taken a dime off my mother and father.” When she dropped out of school to be an actor, she says her dad refused to “assist” her. “I used to be like, ‘Yeah, proper.’ And he was like, ‘No, I am not.’ So I received an residence with a roommate; I labored as a hostess at a restaurant; I might scrounge quarters to purchase Starbucks — and stroll there to avoid wasting gasoline. I bear in mind as soon as asking my dad for cash, like, ‘Please, I am actually caught. Are you able to assist?’ And he stated, ‘You are greater than welcome to come back over for dinner.’ That was it.”
12.
Vanilla Ice initially claimed he’d had a tough, poor upbringing in Florida, which made headlines after journalists found he’d really lived in a middle-class suburb of Dallas and drove a white IROC Camaro Z28. Whereas Ice ultimately admitted to some statements about his previous being false, he nonetheless doubled down on claims that he “grew up poor on the streets” and frolicked in predominately Black neighborhoods in Miami and Dallas. As for his automobile, he stated he purchased a elaborate automobile from doing motocross however could not afford gasoline.
Although he additionally admitted he “really tried to detour individuals,” saying, “I used to be embarrassed to inform individuals I used to be from Farmers Department [an inner-ring suburb of Dallas]. I did not inform them I used to be from Miami. I did not inform them I used to be from anyplace. I used to be identical to, ‘Pay attention, I am from across the nook, man. I am from across the fucking method.'” Total, although, he stated he misled individuals to guard his privateness — which did not cease critics from parsing via his lies and questioning his avenue cred.
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When Daisy Ridley was requested about her privilege in an interview with the Guardian, she appeared confused after which in contrast her upbringing to that of Star Wars costar John Boyega. For reference, Boyega has stated he was a “poor lad from London, with mother and father who moved from Nigeria to the UK and lived on council estates” and that his household was too poor to afford toys. He additionally went to theater college on a hardship fund.
Ridley, in distinction, had a banker mom and photographer father and was additionally associated to well-known playwright Arnold Ridley and BBC’s former head of engineering John Harry Dunn Ridley. She grew up within the rich space of Maida Vale. However, she stated, “John grew up on a council property in Peckham and I believe me and him are related sufficient…” She additionally stated, when the interviewer recommended that she had privilege as a result of she went to a non-public college, “I went to a boarding college for performing arts, which was totally different.” She did attend the college with some form of scholarship and referred to as her residence in Maida Vale “the ricketiest residence on the road.”
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Drake has additionally framed his story as very rags-to-riches, notably in his tune “Began from the Backside.” Critics have taken problem with this portrayal, contemplating Drake (then Aubrey Graham) started dwelling in Forest Hill (a wealthy neighborhood) in sixth grade and was forged in Degrassi at age 14. Drake later claimed, “Everyone thinks I went to some non-public college and my household was wealthy. Perhaps it is my fault. Perhaps I have never talked sufficient about it, however I did not develop up blissful. I wasn’t in a contented residence. … We have been very poor, like broke.”
“The one cash I had coming in was off of Canadian TV, which is not that a lot cash while you break it down,” Drake stated. “A season of Canadian tv is below a instructor’s wage, I will inform you that a lot. It is positively not one thing to go fucking get.” He stated he lived along with his mom on the underside two flooring of a home, saying the house was “not large, it was not luxurious. It was what we may afford.” Whereas it is true that Drake was solely making a reported $50,000 a yr from Degrassi, he was nonetheless a TV star showing at red-carpet occasions, which is not precisely the “backside.”
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Woman Gaga has painted herself as center class rising up a number of instances, although she grew up on the notoriously rich Higher West Facet simply blocks from Lincoln Middle and went to the non-public college Sacred Coronary heart. At college, Gaga stated a few of her classmates had excessive wealth, not like her household: “All our cash went into schooling and the home.” Gaga labored at a diner and purchased a Gucci purse along with her first paycheck, saying, “I used to be so excited as a result of all the women at Sacred Coronary heart all the time had their fancy purses, and I all the time had no matter. My mother and pa weren’t shopping for me a $600 purse.” Her mother and father did, nonetheless, take out a mortgage to purchase her a child grand piano, and she or he took piano and voice classes whereas rising up.
Her father paid a part of her hire for her first residence and provided to pay her hire at NYU if music did not work out. He was very profitable, having invented GuestWi-Fi, and her mom was a VP at Verizon. Whereas it is clear Gaga was not as wealthy as her wildly rich classmates, not having mother and father who purchase you a $600 purse does not imply your loved ones would not have a lot cash.
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Lastly, Taylor Swift has by no means explicitly claimed to have grown up poor, however many assumed she got here from humble beginnings, particularly as a result of her claims that she grew up on a farm. In “I Wager You Assume About Me,” she sings, “You grew up in a silver-spoon gated neighborhood, / glamorous, shiny, brilliant Beverly Hills. / I used to be raised on a farm, no, it wasn’t a mansion / — simply livin’ room dancin’ and kitchen desk payments.”
Whereas Swift did develop up on a farm, it was 15 acres and run by her father as a passion. For his day job, he was a Merrill Lynch monetary adviser — and comes from an extended line of financial institution presidents. This was their residence. Additionally they had the cash to maneuver to Nashville in order that Taylor may pursue a profession in music.
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