12 Celebrities Who Were Quite Literally Too Cool for School
Ryan Gosling didn’t go to the School of Hard Knocks. Even tougher: the Mickey Mouse Club.
Jim Carrey
He and his family were homeless for a time, living out of a car and tents after his father lost his job. His dad got a job at a tire factory, and in return for living in a house across the street, Jim and his brother had to drop out of school to do janitorial and security work at the factory.
Jennifer Lawrence
She left school at age 14 to pursue acting: “I dropped out of middle school. I don’t technically have a GED or a diploma. I am self-educated.” You can hardly tell!
Keanu Reeves
He got booted from school at the age of 16: “It was a very small school, and I guess I didn’t fit in. I had conflicts and run-ins with the staff. The principal and I didn’t see eye to eye.”
Jude Law
He had the opportunity to star in the soap opera Families when he was 17. It was a gamble, because his stint on the show ultimately only lasted two years, but that was all he needed to catapult to stardom.
Leonardo DiCaprio
He bounced around to three different California high schools before deciding after his junior year he was just going to go to a free community drama center instead.
Ryan Gosling
He dropped out of school to join the Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 17. It was probably for the best, as he’d adopted a Marlon Brando-esque accent while in school because he thought it sounded “tougher” than his Canadian accent, so he was probably going to have a bad time the next couple of years.
Gisele Bündchen
The supermodel was discovered while just being pretty in a Sao Paolo mall, and dropped out of school at 14 to go be professionally pretty.
Cameron Diaz
She dropped out at age 16 to pursue modeling, which ended up being a huge mistake because she became a world-renowned actress instead.
Rihanna
She signed a record deal with Def Jam at age 16, which is significantly cooler than your buddy who made Eagle Scout at the same age.
Drew Barrymore
Her early teens were rough: She began rehab at 13, emancipated from her parents at 15 and dropped out of school at 16.
Katy Perry
She dropped out of school at age 15 to pursue her passion of… Christian pop rock. Despite choosing a life path that would lead her to marriage with Russell Brand and being stuck in space with Jeff Bezos’ wife, she’s said, “I’m kind of bummed at this stage that I didn’t have a great education.”
Jay-Z
He tried a few different high schools in Brooklyn and New Jersey, dropped about, yadda yadda yadda, Beyonce wrote a song about him. What’s cooler than that?
