Text by Henrylito D. Tacio
Photos from Wikipedia
Hollywood stars are different from you and me. They are celebrities that have been idolized by millions of people around the world. They are emulated, followed, and cherished.
Unknowingly, they are also ordinary people – just like you and me. They have their own wishes, dreams, longings, idiosyncrasies, imbroglios, problems, pet peeves, likes and dislikes, etc.
While reading Hollywood Trivia, a fact-filled book with over 300 curious lists from Tinseltown, we found out that they’re not different from us. More reading from various sources even proved that they are indeed human beings. Read on and learn some basic facts about Hollywood stars of the past and present:
If you haven’t finished high school, don’t worry. A lot of stars never got their high school diploma as they dropped out. Consider the following: Johnny Deep, Kate Perry, Nicolas Cage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Charlie Sheen, Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey, Jr, Kate Winslet, Demi Moore, and Marlon Brando.
Here are more famous high-school dropouts: Jude Law, Christina Aguilera, John Travolta, Chris Rock, Elton John, Kristen Stewart, Orlando Bloom, Eminem, Ewan McGregor, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Heath Ledger, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael J. Fox, Ellen Burstyn, Cary Grant, Peter Jennings, Billy Joel, Wayne Newton, and Tracey Ullman.
Being left-handed is considered a handicap. But it doesn’t stop the following southpaws to become famous: Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman, Ben Stiller, Bruce Willis, Will Ferrell, Matthew Broderick, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen, Mickey Rourke, Christian Slater, Jason Bateman, Morgan Freeman, Owen Wilson, Charles Chaplin, Steve McQueen, Ed O’Neill, Matt Dillon, Eminem, Patrick Dempsey, Justin Bieber, and Mark Wahlberg.
These actresses are left-handed too: Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Demi Moore, Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Mila Jovovich, Scarlett Johansson, Emma Thompson, Oprah Winfrey, Hilary Swank, Tina Fey, Julianne Moore, Shirley MacLaine, Diane Keaton, Kim Novak, and Anna Kendrick.
Hollywood actresses who have had abortions: Anne Archer, Bess Armstrong, Polly Bergen, Jill Clayburgh, Joan Collins, Ava Gardner, Whoopi Goldberg, Margot Kidder, Rita Moreno, Kathy Najimy, and Sinead O’Connor.
Hollywood stars are not spared from having irrational fears. Scarlett Johansson is scared of birds, while Robert Pattison is scared of horses. Gums and balloons make Oprah Winfrey go nuts. Don’t ever think Nicole Kidman likes butterflies; she’s scared of them. Katie Holmes has been open about her long-time fear of raccoons.
Jake Gyllenhaal developed a phobia of ostriches while filming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Tyrese Gibson has an overwhelming fear of owls that he has to avoid anything associated with them. Snakes terrify Matt Damon.
Don’t expect Christina Ricci to get in a pool any time soon because she has afraid of it. Jennifer Anitson has a real fear of going underwater due to a traumatic experience she had as a child. Johnny Depp’s phobia of clowns reportedly dates back to childhood, when he would have nightmares of clown faces. Kristen Stewart has had a phobia of horses since she was a child.
Billy Bob Thornton doesn’t go near antiques; they send shivers down his spine. Tyra Banks has a huge fear of dolphins. Channing Tatum considers porcelain dolls as freaky, so he fears them. Helen Mirren doesn’t answer her phone because she’s afraid of talking on it.
Unknowingly, some stars suffer from unusual health problems. Robin Williams was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) as a child and bipolar disorder as an adult. Justin Timberlake also has ADHD and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Other stars with ADHD include Liv Tyler, Emma Watson, Paris Hilton, and Channing Tatum.
Daniel Radcliffe suffers from dyspraxia, a neurological problem that impairs the organisation of movement. Christopher Reeve suffered a spinal cord injury while horse riding.
Tom Cruise is extremely dyslexic, which is classed as a learning disability. Elton John has struggled with epilepsy for years but was indeed induced by years of drug use. Stevie Wonder was blind.
Lady Gaga revealed that she has fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that can cause pain all over the body. Andrea Boccelli was born with congenital glaucoma, which left him partially blind. Marlee Matlin become deaf at just 18 months after losing all hearing in her right ear and 80% in her left.
Scarlett Johansson has problems with the great outdoors, mostly succumbing to problems with grass pollen. Drew Barrymore is fairly allergic to garlic. Britney Spears has a known allergy to bee stings. Billy Bob Thornton has allergic reactions to numerous types of shellfish including oysters and clams.
Singer Lionel Ritchie struggles with lactose intolerance. Jessica Simpson has problems with digesting wheat. Jon Bon Jovi suffers from hay fever. Cameron Diaz is allergic to flowers. Vanessa Hudgens cannot go swimming in public and private pools due to the presence of chlorine, which she is allergic to.
Tom Hanks and Halle Berry have one thing in common; they were diagnosed with diabetes. Other stars who are living with diabetes include Salma Hayek, Sharon Stone, Nick Jones, Vanessa Williams, George Lucas, Sherri Shepherd, James Earl Jones, Drew Carey, Randy Jackson, Larry King, Delta Burke, Bret Michaels, Jerry Mathers, and Paul Sorvino.
Hollywood stars are health-conscious, especially when it comes to their bodies and faces. But there are those who go beyond. George Hamilton (who starred in Love at First Bite) is such a health fanatic that he has a private blood bank in his own house.
Bing Crosby used to hand-wash all his shirts before sending them to hotel laundries as he was embarrassed about the staff seeing the dirt. Walt Disney used to wash his hands up to thirty times an hour for hygiene purposes.
Joan Crawford had all the bathtubs in her house removed, as she felt that it was unsanitary to sit in one’s own bathtub water. Howard Hughes’s fear of bacteria was so intense that he wouldn’t allow visitors in his front door without a thorough examination.
Illegal drugs are addictive. But it didn’t stop some stars from taking them. A few violent experiences on coke saw Charlie Sheen come close to losing not only his career but his life. Jack Nicholson has been snorting since the 1960s – sometimes even before the camera.
Robert Mitchum was busted for smoking pot in the 1940s. Carrie Fisher dragged herself back from the hallucinogenic precipice to become a born-again author. Dennis Hopper claims that he was once so strung out on dope that he walked out onto the wing of a plane as it was about to take off.
After a decade of drug abuse rumors, Whitney Houston confirmed in 2002: “My business is sex, drugs, rock and roll. You know? My friends, we had a good time. But as you get older and you get wiser – you stop a lot of the kid stuff. Trust me. I partied my tail off. You get to a point where… the party’s over.”
On February 11, 2012, Houston was found dead in her guest room at The Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California. The official coroner’s report showed that she had accidentally drowned in the bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors.
Other famous people whose lives were snatched by drugs include Cory Monteith, John Belushi, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, River Phoenix, Michael Jackson, and Heath Ledger.
Some of the world’s famous stars died in accidents. Both Vic Morrow and Jayne Mansfield were decapitated. Morrow was beheaded by the rotor blade of a helicopter while filming Twilight Zone: The Movie (1981) after a special-effects explosion went horribly wrong. It happened to Mansfield during a horrific car crash when she was only 34.
Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash also at the age of 34. James Dean broke his neck in 1955 in a horrific car crash days after the filming of Giant (for which he received an Oscar nomination) ended.
Grace Kelly plunged 120 feet to her death in 1982 after her brakes failed. Acclaimed director Alan J. Pakula likewise suffered the same fate when he lost control of his car after a metal pipe flew into his windscreen.
Carole Landis took an overdose when she realized that Rex Harrison was never going to leave his wife, Lilli Palmer, for her. Other stars who committed suicide include Pier Angeli, Peg Entwistle, Jean Seberg, Albert Dekker, Margaux Hemingway, John Gilbert, Diane Barrymore, and Alan Ladd.
There were stars who died from diseases. Vivien Leigh was 54 when she died from tuberculosis. Veronica Lake, also 54, perished due to hepatitis. Jeff Chandler got blood poisoning after surgery for a slipped disk and died in hospital at age 43.
The following died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS): Peter Allen, Emile Ardolino, Amanda Blake, Brad Davis, Denholm Elliot, John C. Holmes, Rock Hudson, Liberace, Freddie Mercury, Anthony Perkins, Robert Reed, Tony Richardson, and Ray Sharkey.
There are several stars who died of cancer. Patrick Swayze, at age 57, died of pancreatic cancer. Paul Newman was 83 when he succumbed to lung cancer. Anal cancer ended the life of Farrah Fawcett at 62. Anne Bancroft was 73 when she died of uterine cancer.
Bestselling author Michael Crichton was 66 when he died of cancer. At age 74, award-winning film director Sydney Pollack died of stomach cancer. Eartha Kitt was 81 when she died of colon cancer. Jerry Orbach was 68 when he succumbed to prostate cancer.
Now, you know!
