The Childhood Homes Of These Famous Celebs

By Nick Hadji 8 months 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.