Being a child is supposed to be a time of playing and learning. But for many of Hollywood’s finest, this was far from the case! Some celebs have been through the unthinkable. Some have had it much worse than others, but most of these 15 have turned their tragic pasts into something great. One is currently facing serious time in prison for his unspeakable actions.

Some of the celebs on this list didn’t even know who their real parents were until much later in life. One such celebrity believed his mother was his sister until she died of cancer when he was in his 20’s, and a TIME magazine reporter uncovered the truth. Another celebrity was born while her mom served a prison sentence for drug smuggling. Yet another was raised by his mother because his dad was sentenced to life in prison for ending the life of a Federal judge. While each story is unique, all of these stars have endured great tragedy, and have a great story to tell. Each one is an over-comer in one way or another.

15 Nicki Minaj's Troubling Father

As the first female artist to have 7 singles simultaneously on the Billboard charts, Nicki Minaj has certainly made history. Born in Trinidad, she moved to New York when she was five years old. Her father was an addict with a history of violence. It was so bad that at one point he burned down the family’s home in an attempt to hurt Nicki’s mother. The struggles in her life early on gave her the drive and motivation to overcome it and make something of herself.

Nicki has always had female empowerment in the back of her mind. She says she always wanted her mother to be stronger, but she wasn’t. She thought that if she became successful she could change her mom’s life. And that she did!

14 Rihanna Has A Troubled Father

Rihanna was raised in Barbados with 5 siblings (3 of them half-siblings). The half-siblings were all born to different mothers but they all share her father. Raised in a 3 bedroom bungalow she helped support her family by selling clothes in street stalls. Her father had a serious substance problem, which deeply impacted the family.

When she was 14 years old her parents divorced, which was a very good thing for Rihanna. Prior to this, she suffered from debilitating migraines, that the doctors couldn’t find a cause for. When her parents split, she began to improve. The stress of having an addict father undoubtedly was the cause of her health issues. At 16, she left Barbados and moved in with her producer and his wife in their home in Connecticut. The rest is (as they say), history.

13 Leighton Meester Was Born While Her Mom Was In Prison

Leighton Meester’s childhood doesn’t even sound real. A far stretch of her family life on Gossip Girl. In fact, the two worlds are so vastly different it's amazing she could play the part of Blair Waldorf. Leighton was born while her mom was serving time in a federal prison for drug trafficking. Her father has spent time in prison too.

Her childhood ended far too soon, as she began modeling and acting at the age of ten and by fourteen was auditioning for movies and TV shows. Her mother never had much money, and she grew up poor. Recently her mother’s money problems became more public, as she has financially cut her off. She had been sending her mother money every month to take care of her brother with special needs. But instead of spending the money on her brother's very expensive care, she was spending it on herself. Leighton was furious!

12 Tobey Maguire's Parents Had Him Young

Even Spiderman himself has a rocky past. Growing up wasn’t easy for Tobey Maguire. Partially because his parents were growing up too! Only 18 and 20 when he was born, the relationship didn’t last long, as they split when he was only 3 years old. In regards to his parents, he has said, “They were just babies, doing whatever the heck they thought they should be doing.”

Though his parents split when he was merely a baby himself, Tobey always felt loved. He grew up being bounced around from one family member to the next, but he knew his family cared about him and that he was special. He never felt like a victim, though he very easily could have. He learned at a very young age that his happiness came from within, and not from others.

11 Charlize Theron's Dad Had A Tragic Ending

Charlize Theron is a fabulous actress, but she is more than just long legs, and a gorgeous face. Charlize has always tried to avoid roles that focused only on her looks…though that hasn’t stopped her from taking on advertisers who do. She did not have a picture-perfect childhood. In fact, her adolescent years were something out of Hollywood, not real life.

Her father was an alcoholic, and a violent one at that. One very horrible night, her father came home and was scaring the family with his aggressive behavior. So her mother did what she felt she had to do and shot and killed Charlize’s father. The police in South Africa (where she is from) ruled it self-defense, but that one night has impacted the rest of her life in so many ways. She is fascinated by people and what makes them do the things they do. That’s why she took on the role of Aileen Wuornos in “Monster.”

10 Shania Twain Raised Her Younger Siblings By Herself

Shania Twain took the country music scene by storm with her song “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” As well as “Any Man of Mine.” Those songs were the beginning of her incredible career. Don’t let her short stature and fun songs fool you though. She is one tough cookie! Growing up for Shania meant going hungry, and being dirt poor. She is not one of those celebs born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Shania’s life took a drastic turn when she was only 21 years old. Her parents (mom and stepfather) were killed in a car accident, leaving Shania to care for her 3 younger siblings. Thrust into the role of the caretaker and provider, she would do manual labor while caring for them, and sneaking off to the forest alone with her dog and guitar to write songs. Her life is literally a country song.

9 Jim Carrey Had To Drop Out Of School

Jim Carrey is one of the goofiest, most hilarious actors in Hollywood. His childhood though was no laughing matter. He was raised by his parents in a town in Canada, with his 3 older siblings. His father was an accountant, and Jim attended Catholic school for a brief time. Forced to drop out of school and work to help his financially strapped family, Jim Carrey began working on his comic act. Soon he began performing regularly, which was his career of choice, and made him a full-time income. His comedy routines opened the door to an acting career. Saturday Night Live actually turned him down for the 1980-81 season, so he decided to focus on Hollywood. It didn’t take long for the public to see him and fall in love with his hilarious films and routines.

8 Oprah Winfrey Has A Really Dark Past

Oprah Winfrey is mega wealthy now, but she certainly didn’t come from a high-class lifestyle. At only 2 years old her grandmother taught her to read, and before the age of three, she was giving speeches at her church. She was so smart she wrote her kindergarten teacher a note which explained she was too smart for this and deserved to be in the first grade. The next year she went to third.

Her parents split and she was sent to live with her mother in an extremely poor ghetto in Milwaukee. She began being abused at the age of nine. Her salvation came when she was sent to her father's safe home at the age of twelve but unfortunately was then sent back to live with her mom. Her abusers were men that family trusted. Her mother wasn’t around much as she worked many jobs trying to provide for the family, but that lifestyle left her open and vulnerable to predators.

7 Kevin Spacey's Father Was A Fan Of Hitler

Kevin Spacey has found himself in the middle of a firestorm lately. Many accusers have come forward saying he attacked and tried to take advantage of them. Those are seriously disturbing accusations. His childhood is equally disturbing. Raised in a home with a Nazi-loving father, who literally idolized Hitler so much he trimmed his mustache to look like him.

He suffered at the hands of his father, all the while his mother allegedly knew about it. His brother, Randy Fowler says he refused to have children because he didn’t want them to inherit the predator gene. The home and family life were as dark and miserable as one can imagine. Years later their mother wrote Kevin, his sister, and his brother a letter explaining that she and their father had been abused as children. I guess this was her way of justifying what had happened to them growing up.

6 Ashley Judd's Heartbreaking Past

Ashley Judd is a gorgeous Hollywood actress who has not always had such a wonderful life. Her famous mom and sister (Naomi and Wynonna) traveled on tour often, and she would be left at home with her father. Switching schools thirteen times before she was eighteen was extremely traumatic and left her feeling depressed and lonely.

Ashley says she is the victim of not only abuse but this occurred as well with an unnamed family member. That’s a horrible way to spend your adolescent years. Prior to her mom singing, she struggled to make ends meet on a nurse’s salary. They often went without electricity and indoor plumbing in rural Kentucky. Ashley spent a long time suffering from depression about her upbringing. She finally got help in rehab as the therapy sessions helped her move forward.

5 Liv Tyler, Who’s Your Daddy?

Liv Tyler didn’t know who her father actually was until she was eight years old. Though she always felt loved by her family, it was an emotional time for her when she discovered the truth. Imagine, standing behind the stage at an Aerosmith concert and looking over at a girl only a year younger than you who looks exactly like you. It was seeing Steven Tyler’s younger daughter, Mia, that Liv discovered who she really was.

Raised as Liv Rundgren, after her mother's partner at the time of her birth, her real father’s identity was unknown. Her mom was very young when she had Liv, and she was never totally sure who the father was. Todd Rundgren was her father, and she will always think of him as her father, despite sharing DNA with Steven. She is very grateful for the man who helped to raise her, even though she wasn’t actually his.

4 Woody Harrelson's Dad

Maybe these stars become such great actors because of their Lifetime movie sounding childhoods? Woody Harrelson is no exception to this! Woody’s father was convicted of ending the life of a Federal judge and sentenced to life in prison when he was only seven years old. Since his father was out of the picture, he was raised by his mother. His mother and Woody’s two brothers had a loving family life, despite not having their father around. One day when he was only eleven or twelve he heard his dad's name mentioned on the radio because of his murder trial. He said it was a wild realization about who his father really was. He wasn’t around much before his arrest, and after he went to jail, he obviously didn’t see him.

3 Jack Nicholson's Sister Was Actually Her Mother

Jack Nicholson grew up believing his grandparents were actually his parents. His sister, June, was actually his biological mother! Wait, what!? When Jack was born, his mother was only seventeen years old, unmarried, and unsure who the father was. At that time her parents made the decision to raise the baby (Jack) as their child, and never reveal to him his real parents.

When Jack was 26 years old his sister (mother) June died of cancer. A TIME magazine reporter was working on a cover story and discovered the shocking truth about Jack Nicholson’s family. It was because of that reporter that Jack learned about his mother’s real identity and that his parents are actually his grandparents. Of this shocking revelation, he said it made a lot of things click for him, and he felt gratitude for the way things were.

2 Christina Aguilera's Infamous Dad

Christina Aguilera didn’t always have a perfect life. She rose to fame after her time on The All New Mickey Mouse Club, with her hit song “Genie in a Bottle.” It didn’t take too long for her to go from seemingly nobody, to instant stardom with that first number one hit. Her childhood was far from perfect, though you’d never guess so by looking at her.

Raised by her mother in Staten Island, New York, she had a very troubled home life. Her father is an immigrant from Ecuador and served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. He was an abusive man and hurt her mother. When Christina was just 6 years old, her mother escaped from her father with a divorce, and took her, and her younger sister (Rachel) and moved to Pennsylvania.

1 Terrence Howard divorced his parents and lived on welfare

Terrence Howard may be a very well known and beloved actor, but his past is far from dreamy. His father was not a nice man, and when Terrence was only two years old he witnessed his father end another man's life. This resulted in his dad (Tyrone) spending almost a year in jail. When he was released his parents divorced.

At the young age of sixteen, he legally divorced both of his parents and lived off of welfare. Two years later he moved himself to New York City to pursue his acting career. His father told him growing up that, “if you want oranges, you have to go where the oranges grow.” He decided if he wanted to act, then he better move to where he could find work, and that’s how he ended up in NYC.

Sources: Business Insider, CelebRomance.com, thefamouspeople.com, People.com, notablebiographies.com, huffingtonpost.com, usatoday.com, abcnews.go.com, hellomagazine.com, biography.com, aceshowbiz.com