We see them on TV and starring in our favorite movies. We read about them in magazines and online, so we feel like we know who they are. People on askReddit who went to school with celebrities discuss what they were like before they famous.
Comments have been edited for clarity. The source can be found the end of the article.
My grandparents went to school with Danny Devito. They said they’d always thought he would end up in jail
xboxboy1221
My father in law went to school with Bruce Willis and grew up in the same area so they played baseball together. He says he was a good kid but with a horrible stammer so he started taking voice coaching lessons to correct it. The rest is history.
zerbey
I went to school with Natalia Dyer (Nancy from Stranger Things.) She’s an awesome person and very down to earth, quiet, and incredibly kind and thoughtful.
VennicusRax
I went to high school with Carrie Underwood. She was a grade below me. Sang at just about every football and basketball game we had, as well as the yearly “Old Settlers Day” celebration. She was nice, though there are some that might say she was just the teensiest bit snobby. This was mostly because she didn’t party like a lot of kids her age we’re at the time. She didn’t sleep around, and sang “I will remember you” at my graduation. One thing I remember: She sometimes had a strange sense of fashion. She’d sometimes wear these weird red leather pants with an old, faded Dan Marino Dolphins jersey.
Asmodicus
I went to school with Tony Romo. Tony was very respectful of teachers and other students. He was the best athlete in school, but he didn’t act like a jock at all, he far more of a “nerd” than anything. I believe he graduated Salutatorian.
FrankieNoFucks
I went to school with Ellen Page. We were in the same group of friends, went to all the same parties and ate lunch together. She kept thinking I was calling her “Hellen” all the time which was weird.
“Hi Ellen hows it going?”
“My name is ELLEN! Not Hellen!”
My best friend dated her for a bit and they were nice together. She’s one of those people that acts exactly how you’d expect. She’s a bit timid and shy but very nice.
linkhandford
My brother went to HS with Jake Lloyd (the person who played young Anakin Skywalker in Phantom Menace) and according to him he wasn’t the most popular guy and was bullied at one point.
MJIndian
I went to High School with Aziz Anzari. He used to always answer questions wrong in class and try to argue that he was actually right. Like, if the teacher asked what year America was discovered, he would say 1896 and tell the teacher they are wrong. He would ask for their source and claim the source was unreliable. Eventually, the teachers would ignore him then he’d tell me they were racist. I wasn’t really sure if he was funny or weird, I guess he was both.
Needyouradvice93
Steve Irwin. He was the same as everyone saw him.
Edit to explain what I mean – he wasn’t acting. That was the real Steve you saw.
My mom went to middle school with Eminem. She never talked to him, she was a year older and she hung with a different crowd but she says he kept to himself a lot and just carried journals around. My grandma works at a flower shop and a few years ago, Eminem went in and bought flowers for his mom. When i asked grandma about it, she had no idea he was a famous rapper. She said “you mean Marshall?” Lol. She has copies of his signatures on receipts at her work.
MOONgypsy6
My cousin went to high school with George R. R. Martin and recalled having a freshman literature class with him. When it was time for everyone to read their stories, Georges was BY FAR the best. Apparently the entire class simultaneously dropped their jaws at the guys a talent. Oh, and apparently he was a typical nice dude.
Edawg649
Not me but my parents both went to school with J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter. Neither of them liked her, apparently she was a bit Gothic according to my parents and always looked like she felt under the weather. Apparently she was like a prefect or something of that nature in her final year of school and really disliked my dad. My dad told me he would in his words,” Get in trouble for anything, literally one step out of line and she would be on me like a fly.”
Apparently all of the teachers in Harry Potter are also based off of teachers from that school as well and my parents say that they can compare teachers from the books and movies with real life teachers they have. Pretty cool.
Lordylordd
My dad went to High School with Mariah Carey. Apparently she was as full of herself then as she is now.
That didn’t stop him from naming my sister after her though…
My mom went to high school with Dave Grohl, dated his best friend or his brother’s best friend or something. She said he was quite a stoner, vice president of the class, and would sometimes play music over the loudspeakers. And a nice guy overall.
itssusanity
My dad went to high school with Barrack Obama, he said he was a good basketball player. It was also rumored that he smoked weed. He also had a nice fro.
lil_jordyc
My mother went to school with Axle rose. She said he was kind of a jerk and was prone to getting angry at pretty much anything at random.
ILoveSmite
Didn’t go to the same high school, but live close enough that I know several people who did. Justin Bieber was a total jerk who thought he was better than everyone else. Shocking.
riali29
My Dad and Uncle went to school with David Adkins also known as Sinbad the comedian. They said he was pretty much what you would expect, funny and a bit of a class clown.
squidwardtortelIini
My grandma went high school with Elvis. Everybody thought he was strange and he liked to dress flashy even then.
He had a crush on my great aunt, but she turned him down.
FoctopusFire
My mom went to high school and college with Larry the cable guy and they had a close circle of friends. He actually asked my mom to prom but she stood him up. They grew up in south Florida so when she heard his act years later she thought it was so funny that his character had a heavy country accent. But she said he was always the class clown and she knew he was destined to do something big.
808sandheadaches
My friend’s mom and stepdad went to High school with Ashton Kutcher, apparently he was a pretty cool dude.
Fun fact: Her stepdad starred along side Ashton in his first ever theatrical performance, their high school rendition of To Kill A Mockingbird.
sciencesold
I was a bench player as a senior on the St. Vincent-St. Mary basketball team when Lebron was a freshman. Coolest dude. Had the backs of everyone.
deleted
My boss went to HS with Rosie O’Donnell. He says she was loud mouthed and pushy just like she is today. Against all logic she was even the Homecoming Queen.
Years later she sponsored the 20 year reunion for his class and hired “The Captain & Tennille” as the entertainment.
Went to school with Jennifer Lawrence. She was a couple years older than me but no surprise she was basically what she is now, except younger (class clown, pretty nice, everyone loved her).
elena1099
A friend was in acting class with Jennifer Aniston around the time she first started getting TV gigs (remember the sketch comedy show “The Edge”?) He said she was funny, smart, and really nice.
BradC
My mom and her sister went to high school with James Gandolfini. From what they’ve told me he tried too hard to be funny and was kind of a jerk.
PEACEMENDER
My grandmother went to high school with Marilyn Monroe (before she was Marilyn Monroe). Norma Jean Baker only went to the same high school as Grandma for 1 year. Grandma said she was very shy.
Single_With_Cats
My dad grew up in the same neighborhood with Jon Bon Jovi and Dave Sabo from Skid Row. He was good friends with Bon Jovi’s younger brother. Sabo, Bon Jovi’s brother, and my dad used to play in a band together. Jon Bon Jovi even donated a large sum of money to my grandparents when their house fell over in Hurricane Irene.
My grandma went to school with Buddy Holly elementary to high school. She dated him briefly in high school.. before her dad made her dump him because he reckoned that boy will never amount to nothing! Til the day she passed, she still swore some of his songs were about her.
OHmyblueberries
My last boyfriend went to high school with John Legend, though one was a senior and the other a freshman. He says even back then he was super nice to everyone, everyone loved him and he was his class’ valedictorian. Everyone knew that guy was destined for greatness and could do anything he wanted. Since boyfriend has a very unique name, I wonder if they ever met in person, if they’d recognize each other.
FecusTPeekusberg