The Childhood Homes Of These Famous Celebs

By Nick Hadji 1 year ago

1. Beyoncé

Image source: Insider
Queen Bee grew up in a 3 bedroomed house in Houston, Texas. The family home was purchased in the early 1980s and Beyonce lived there until she was 5 years old. It was a two storey property, address 2414 Rosedale Street, and although not exactly small, it was quite modest in size. A Zillow listing had it marked up for sale in 2018 at $500,000 but it had been totally renovated since the ex Destiny star resided there. These days Beyonce has plenty of room in her 30,000 square foot property in Bel-Air, just one of her many homes she shares with Jay-Z and their family.Original content sourced from Femanin.com

2. Elvis

Image source: Insider
Elvis Presley, the original King of Pop, was born in a two room house in Tupelo, Mississippi. His father, Vernon Presley, had borrowed $180 in 1934 so he could buy the materials to build their house. A few years later, the house was repossessed as the family could not keep up with the repayments on their loan. At 13 years of age, the whole family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Fans of Elvis can visit that home, the family's church and the Elvis museum. A ticket costs $20 per person to take a trip down memory lane.

3. Taylor Swift

Image source: The Real Deal
Taylor swift didn't exactly come from small beginnings. She and her family resided in a 3,560-square-foot house in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. They were very happy there but in order for the songstress to follow her dreams in pursuing a music career, they upped sticks and all moved to Nashville, to 78 Grandview Boulevard.  This property was even larger than their last one, with five bedrooms as well as three bathrooms and a butler's pantry.  It sold most recently for $800,000 as advised by Realtor.

4. Dolly Parton

Image source: Yahoo News
Dolly Parton has made no secret that she came from a humble background. In fact, the truth is that she grew up in nothing more than a two room log cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee and that had to house her parents and 11 siblings! The cabin was void of electricity or running water but Dolly remembers it fondly and she penned "My Tennessee Mountain Home" to explain why she loved it. The Dollywood Theme Park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee contains a replica of her childhood home. It's filled with original ornaments from the cabin.

5. Leonardo DiCaprio

Image source: NZ Herald
Leonardo DiCaprio admitted to the Los Angeles Times that he grew up "very poor" in Los Angeles, California. His early years were spent in a seedy area, at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue. He told the newspaper that he witnessed crime, drug use and prostitution. When DiCaprio was interviewed by CBS Sunday morning, he said, "It was a pretty hardcore neighborhood and I think that gave me a lot of motivation to be successful, really, and try to do something else." Well, he certainly became successful.

6. Paul McCartney

Image source: Liverpool Echo
It's hard to believe that iconic Beatles songs such as "When I'm 64" and "I Saw Her Standing There" were written in Paul McCartney's very modest home in Liverpool, England. McCartney, who was born in 1982, lived in the two storey house from 1955 up until 1963. If any Beatles fans are over in the U.K., then they can see the interior of Paul's early home by booking through the National Trust. This is a British charity that ensures they can preserve historic places of interest. It's $38 for the tour.

7. John Lennon

Image source: Wikipedia
One of the greatest songwriters of all time has to be Lennon and McCartney of the Beatles. The songs still hold out to this day, testament to the two of them. The late John Lennon was assassinated in 1980 when he was only 40 years of age, Lennon learned to play the guitar at 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool. The house was known as "Mendips", after Mendip Hills in Somerset, South East of the UK and John moved there at 5 years old, living with his aunt and uncle when his parents divorced. He stayed there until 1963.

8. George Harrison

Image source: Wikimedia Commons
George Harrison, part of the first biggest "boyband" in the 1960s, the Beatles, was born at 12 Arnold Grove in Wavertree, Liverpool, England in 1943 where he grew up with his parents and three siblings. It was a small terraced house (or row houses as we know them), very common in that particular area of Liverpool. George lived there until he was 4 years old. The property was so basic that the bathroom was outside and the only heat was from a col fire. The family then moved to a council house (public housing) in 1949 at 25 Upton Green, Speke, Liverpool.

9. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Image source: Travelour
Arnie was brought up in an apartment in Thal, Austria and there was little in the way of home comforts, that's for sure. There was no electricity and no running water. It was so basic that the toilet consisted of a pit. Schwarzenegger lived in this apartment from 1947, when he was born, up to 1966. This means he put up with the lack of amenities for 19 years. It's now a museum, showing his childhood bed and also memorabilia from Hollywood. You can also see the motorbike that he rode in the "Terminator."

10. Ben Affleck

Image source: Insider
Gorgeous Ben Affleck grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and only two blocks away from Matt Damon. Damon and Affleck were best friends throughout their childhood and even attended the same high school. Because both their mothers were involved in child development, the actors say they were almost forced to be close friends. They say this "tongue in cheek" as they are still very close and have co-written movies together, most recently The Last Duel in 2021 which is a historical action drama, written with Nicole Holofcener.

11. Madonna

Image source: CNN
Madonna (Ciccone) lived with her parents and five siblings in this house in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was located at 2036 Oklahoma Avenue and was a four bedroom, two bathroom property. Madonna moved out when she was 18 years old when she enrolled at the University of Michigan.  Her time there was short lived as she dropped out after one term so she could pursue a career in dance in New York City. The rest, as the say, is history!  Her stepmom and dad moved out of this house in 2001 when it was sold for a mere $270,000.

12. Judy Garland

Image source: Atlas Obscura
Born Frances Ethel Gumm in 1922, Judy Garland was the youngest of three daughters.  She spent her first 4 years in a 19th century white clapboard house which was close to the center of Grand Rapids in Minnesota. The house, which has been moved to different locations twice, was opened to the public in the Judy Garland Museum and was restored by a famous New York interior designer, Marc Charbonnet.

13. Jimmy Fallon

Image source: Insider
Talented Jimmy Fallon is a local boy at heart! The successful late night chat show host lived with his parents in a modest two storey house in suburban Saugerties, New York.  This is a far cry from his enormous Manhattan apartment he and his wife designed, out of five individual units they have purchased over the last few years.  If Fallon gets bored, he can head out to his farmhouse in Sagaponack.

14. The Jackson 5

Image source: Insider
The Jackson Five were raised at 2300 Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana. Their home was a small white house which was in Gary, Indiana, about 30 miles outside Chicago. Michael Jackson and his brothers and sister, Janet, were kept in check by their very strict father, not a very nice home to grow up in we can only imagine.  There are traffic signs in northwest Indiana which direct motorists to the tiny property.

15. Jennifer Lopez

Image source: Insider
Stunning Jennifer Lopez, J.Lo or Mrs Affleck - the girl did good after growing up in the Bronx, New York, at 2210 Blackrock Avenue. It was a two storey property where Lopez shared a room with her two sisters, so it was a tight squeeze! At 18, she moved out and years later retraced her roots by writing the hit "Jenny From The Block." about her Bronx roots in her 2002 song "Jenny from the Block.

16. Gwyneth Paltrow

Image source: Forbes
Some stars come from humble beginnings but Gwyneth Paltrow's parents were already famous before she was and their home reflecting this. Paltrow her family lived in a 7,205 square foot Upper East Side townhouse, just off Central Park. They stayed at 9 East 92nd Street for 8 years. The house was listed a couple of years ago for the exceptionally high price of $15.5 million!

17. Kanye West

Image source: New York Post
To promote the release of his album "Donda" in 2021, Kanye deleted his Instagram posts and shared an image of the 1,600 square foot South Shore property. 7815 S. South Shore Drive, where he grew up with his mom. It was built in 1905 and had three bedrooms and one bathroom and the family spent lots of time repairing the windows and putting in a new staircase.

18. Eminem (Marshall Mathers)

Image source: Today
Rapper Eminem used an old snap of his childhood home, 19946 Dresden St, Detroit, MI, to grace the the cover of his album Marshall Mathers LP 2. When that home was demolished, Mathers kept some of the bricks and auctioned them off. The one bathroom home is a contrast to the 15,129 square foot mansion he purchased in Rochester Hills on 5.7 acres of land.

19. Angelina Jolie

Image source: Yahoo News UK
Angelina Jolie's childhood home was a wood and stone clad cabin, tucked in by a forest, 30 minutes upstate of Manhattan. Jolie, her brother James Haven and mother, Marcheline Bertrand, lived at the Whitney House in the '80s, after her parents' divorce. Her dad is Jon Voight, divorced. It was called the Whitney House as it was originally built in the '50s for the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

20. Britney Spears

Image source: Dirt
Long before the headlines of her conservatorship and a career totally bombarded by paparazzi, Britney Spears was a Southern girl living in a ranch home in Louisiana. It had three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, wood panelling, green striped wallpaper and a wood burning fireplace. It has been renovated and modernised since Miss Spears lived there but remains pretty much the same as it was.

21. Ozzy Osbourne

Image source: Birmingham Live
Ozzy Osbourne was one of six kids and he spent much of his childhood in a two bedroomed row house on Lodge Road, Aston, Birmingham, England. When Ozzy was interviewed by Huffington Post some years ago, he said he couldn't believe that 8 people had to squeeze into that house and his walk in wardrobe now is bigger than his childhood home! He still hasn't lost his accent though!

22. Miley Cyrus

Image source: LoveProperty
It's hard to believe Miley Cyrus was the sweet girl portraying Hannah Montana! When Miley was 14 and starring in the Disney sitcom, she moved to Toluca Lake in Los Angeles, from Tennessee. She lived there with her parents Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus. Their new house was a six bedroom newly built Tuscan home and Miley lived there until she was 18. She later returned with her ex fiance Liam Hemsworth.

23. Michael Jordan

Image source: History
A lot has changed for Michael Jordan since he played basketball with his brother on his driveway at their home at 4647 Gordon Road, Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan moved there when he was 5 years old up to when he finished high school.  Even though Michael Jordan was most at home on the basketball court, he also loved the forests surrounding his childhood home.

24. Kurt Cobain

Image source: Billboard
Kurt Cobain, the late Nirvana frontman and music legend, was a typical teenager who loved to play his guitar in his bedroom at his childhood home in Aberdeen, Washington. The 1,500 square foot home still appears as it did when Cobain lived there up to the late 1980s.  The current owner said it was his wish to make the home a tribute to Kurt and it still has the 1970s decor.

25. Rihanna

Image source: Carib Graphic
Rihanna lived in this one way street, just on the outskirts of Bridgetown with its two lines of colorful houses across Spring Garden Highway.  Her home was the green and yellow one and it gets packed with fans wanting to view it for themselves. Robyn Rihanna Fenty would ride her bike down Westbury New Road which has now been renamed Rihanna Drive, in her honor.

26. Ariana Grande

Image source: Pinterest
Ariana Grande grew up in Florida, in an opulent house with five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.  It was set in 7,600 square feet of space, so it wasn't small!  There was also a huge swimming pool.  Singer Ariana wanted something bigger so invested in a new Hollywood home with four bedrooms, seven bathrooms, an infinity pool, wine cellar and a fitness studio.

27. Ellie Goulding

Image source: The Sun
Ellie Goulding now has a very swish family home which is five stories high. It has five bedrooms, two lounges, state of the art kitchen and luxurious cinema room. This is a far cry from her childhood home where she grew up.  There were only 750 inhabitants in this council estate in Lyonshall on the Welsh borders. Her family were reported to be very poor.

28. Freddie Mercury

Image source: MyLondon
Long before Freddie Mercury became the showman with his glitzy costumes and lead singer with Queen, he lived in a semi-detached house in Hounslow, near Heathrow Airport in England. Born Farrokh Bulsara, the family moved from Zanzibar to the Gladstone Avenue property in 1964 when Freddie was 17. This is where Mercury practiced for hours on the guitar and singing in his bedroom.

29. Joe Elliott (Def Leppard)

Image source: Pinterest
Rock band, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott was born at 61 Crookes Road in Sheffield, England.  Even now, he has happy memories of his childhood and when he was playing Sheffield as part of the band's stadium tour, Joe visited the property and wrote, "The house I was born in, grew up in, met Sav & Tony Kenning for the very time in that upstairs room you can see above me …. Sigh …. Memories!!"

30. Little Richard

Image source: Georgia Public Broadcasting
The late, great rock and roll pioneer who passed away in 2020, Little Richard was brought up with his 11 siblings in a detached home in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood, Macon, Georgia in the 1930s and 1940s.  The home is now open to the public and fans go there in their droves to see the memorabilia.  It has been named The Little Richard Resource Center and hosts community events.

31. Martha Stewart

image source: loveproperty.com
Martha Stewart is very much known for being the go-to when it comes to beautiful home advice and smart living hacks - but was that always the case for her and her properties? When she was younger, Martha had a rather humble colonial-style childhood home, located in New Jersey. While it's definitely generous sized, the interior was pretty much standard.

32. Kevin Bacon

image source: loveproperty.com
When he was younger, and a while before he became a big hit in movies (not to mention his breakout role in Footloose), Kevin Bacon actually hailed from a townhouse in Pennsylvania, USA. The red-bricked home was spread over four floors, and part of the reason Kevin's family had an eye for serious property was that his father was a city planner!

33. James Taylor

image source: loveproperty.com
Singer-songwriter James Taylor grew up in a home that was designed extremely modern, with huge glass windows, open rooms and a property that went on to be worth millions when it came time to sell. The property, based in North Carolina, was where he moved to when he was only five years old, with his family. It began as an empty plot before the home was built from scratch!

34. Hayden Panettiere

image source: loveproperty.com
Located in Palisades, Rockland County, actress Hayden's childhood home was one full of charm. When she was growing up and living here, Hayden spent a lot of time being homeschooled in the house while she worked towards an acting career. The property comes with many attractive quirks like wooden fireplaces, a gabled roof and mosaic tiling in the kitchen!

35. Harrison Ford

image source: loveproperty.com
Before he became a big name in Hollywood, actor Harrison Ford was living in this Tudor-style home based in Chicago, Illinois. The beautiful home even had another famous person as a neighbor: Hillary Clinton! The house worked a vintage style throughout, meaning it might look a little outdated to lovers of modern decor, including a mint-green colored kitchen!

36. Marlon Brando

image source: loveproperty.com
Another big name in Hollywood who had humble beginnings in terms of property, actor Marlon Brando grew up in this modest house located in Omaha, Nebraska. He was actually born here in 1924, with the interior of the home remaining simple and classic. The property has five bedrooms in total - so maybe not entirely humble! - with original French doors.

37. Bruce Springsteen

image source: loveproperty.com
Bruce Springsteen grew up in this very humble property compared to the mansions he's probably used to nowadays, located in Freehold, New Jersey! The home came with a light blue clapboard exterior, where Bruce lived from the age of 6 until he was 19. It was in this house that he was inspired to start his musical career (after watching Elvis perform on TV!).

38. Renee Zellweger

image source: loveproperty.com
While many people know Renee best for her role as Bridget Jones in London, England, Renee herself actually grew up a long way away from that - in this property in Katy, Texas. The home that the actress grew up in actually had half an acre of land, and around 2,800 square feet - so pretty generous on space! Since the actress lived there, it's been renovated and updated.

39. Tom Cruise

image source: insider.com
This home in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, is where actor Tom Cruise grew up, though he was actually born in Syracuse, New York, officially named 'Thomas C. Mapother IV'! He actually lived in multiple cities during his childhood, but it was this home in New Jersey that he settled in with his mom and her husband. He then moved to New York at the age of 18.

40. Selena Gomez

image source: boredpanda.com
Selena Gomez was born in Grand Prairie in Texas, and she grew up in a very average suburban home that only had one floor - a far cry from the mansion she has now! She didn't have to wait very long for success, as she had her breakout TV role at just 10 years old, when she appeared on Barney & Friends. Her Texas home came with a white interior and did have a garage!

41. Chris Pratt

image source: boredpanda.com
Actor Chris Pratt may not have been born or lived in a van when he was just a baby, but he very much grew up with the van life while he was waiting for his big Hollywood break! Like most actors who struggle at first, Pratt was actually living out of his van when he moved to Hawaii to work as a waiter. Before this, he was living with his family in Washington State.

42. Lebron James

image source: boredpanda.com
One of the most famous names - and faces - in basketball, Lebron James had more humble home beginnings compared to his mansion these days. He had a difficult childhood, never really having a permanent place to call home from the age of three to the age of seven. The house he managed to spend the most time at was this two-storey house in Akron, Ohio.

43. John Travolta

image source: boredpanda.com
John Travolta grew up in his family home based in Englewood, New Jersey - a home that had 2 main floors plus the attic space. He lived there with his whole family of 8, which must have made a tight squeeze! Travolta was the youngest of the children during the time spent in this childhood home. Needless to say, he went on to buy bigger and brighter things!

44. Zac Efron

image source: boredpanda.com
Zac Efron was already well-placed for an acting career, because he was born in California. The actor was born in San Luis Obispo but later moved to Arroyo Grande, where he was raised. His childhood home definitely isn't something to turn your nose up at, as it looks like a very well-kept California suburban home you'd definitely be happy to live in as a kid!

45. Farrah Fawcett

image source: forbes.com
Farrah Fawcett became a famous actress known for her role in Charlie's Angels, but before that, she lived in this humble home in Corpus Christi in Texas. The home had 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms - which is actually more than most of us had in our childhood! Oh to not have to fight with your sibling over bathroom rights - and it was recently updated to look a little more modern!

46. Kate Hudson

image source: forbes.com
Being born to parents who are already famous naturally means your childhood home is going to be a little more glam than everyone else's! Such was the case with actress Kate Hudson. Not only did she grow up in this stunning home in Los Angeles, California, but she then went on to buy the house in her adulthood! Her mother, Goldie Hawn, and stepfather, Kurt Russell, still live nearby.

47. Mitt Romney

image source: forbes.com
This home in Detroit, Michigan, was once the home to a young Mitt Romney, United States senator - looking a little different to the White House! He actually lived in this home during the first five years of his life, based in the Detroit Palmer Woods neighborhood. The house actually no longer exists after it was bulldozed in recent years!

48. Bonus: how about these celebrity homes to rent? Franco Zeffirelli

image source: forbes.com
If you fancy taking a vacation in style and renting a celebrity home for your next break, here are some of the big names who not only made it big since their humble childhood homes, but also did enough to have a fancy home spare to rent out, too! This stunning villa belonging to film director Franco Zeffirelli is located on the Amalfi Coast, in Italy.

49. Coco Chanel

image source: forbes.com
If villas aren't your style and you'd rather rent out a hotel room, how about this hotel home of Coco Chanel? After staying at the Ritz Paris for a glam break back in the 1930s, Coco then decided to carry on living there - for 34 years! It's easy to see why she'd want to stay in this suite, though. She ended up making some decor changes and truly making it her own.

50. Julia Child

image source: forbes.com
Famous American cook Julia Child once had this beautiful home in France as her chosen vay-cay retreat - so why can't you? You can rent it out for your next holiday and walk where Julia and her husband strolled! The cottage gives a classic, homely feel, covered in ivy and also has a ton of garden space surrounding it, as well as close access to the beach!