Nowadays, the thought of Gemma Collins selling used cars and Hugh Jackman dressing up as a clown to make ends meet seems pretty far-fetched.
Or imagining Kim Kardashian stacking clothes and her ex-husband Kanye West working in the GAP - it’s all pretty bizarre.
However, nobody is born famous, and so, just like the rest of us, whether you're the biggest diva in Essex or Calabasas, you have to start somewhere to earn some cash.
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Many celebrities avoid talking about their lives before making it big, but even the biggest stars have all done their fair share of odd jobs to pay the rent.
From working as a lap dancer to de-bugging Christmas trees, here are some of the most surprising careers global stars have had.
Kanye West
Before Kanye West became one of the most talked-about men on the internet, the worked at GAP.
Now that he is the mastermind behind the successful Yeezy clothes and shoe line and one of the top-selling rappers across the globe, the image of him folding shirts in a store is a little harder to imagine.
Writing about his experiences of the store in an essay for Paper magazine, the star even praised the store for inspiring his passion for fashion.
"When I was working at the Gap at 15, I don't think I had any desire to actually make clothes, but I always felt like that's what I wanted to be around," he wrote.
"I loved the fabrics, I loved the colors, I loved the proportions."
Despite his love of clothes, Kanye hinted in his 2004 song Spaceship that he wasn't earning much at the time.
"Let's go back, back to the Gap, Look at my check, wasn't no scratch," he rapped.
Kerry Katona
Kerry Katona is best known for her days in Atomic Kitten and her many stints on reality TV, but before she made it big in the public eye, she had another career.
At the tender age 17, Kerry worked as a lap dancer.
She revealed that she took up the job while waiting for her music career to take off, and had no problem pulling in plenty of cash.
She wrote in her new! magazine column: “I only did it for three weeks - I quit when the Kittens took off - but I could make up to £500 a night.
“I had a great set of tits, so there was no need for me to drug or rob anyone to get cash.”
Gemma Collins
Gemma Collins - AKA ‘The GC’ - has been entertaining the public with her diva antics across a number of reality shows for some time now.
However, before the Essex beauty skyrocketed to fame, she had much more humble beginnings.
The TOWIE star started out as a used car salesman before finding TV fame.
It was through this job that Gem first landed a role on TOWIE, as she was filmed trying to sell a car to the star of the show, Kirk Norcross.
Taylor Swift
Before she became one of the biggest superstars on the planet, Taylor Swift had a very unexpected job to make ends meet.
Growing up, the songstress lived on a Christmas tree farm, which was run by her family.
Her not-so-glamorous job involved de-bugging the trees so they could be re-sold to families for the holidays.
Reflecting on her time at the farm, Taylor told Rolling Stone: “I had the most magical childhood, running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head.
“We all had jobs. Mine was picking the praying mantis pods off of the trees, collecting them so that the bugs wouldn’t hatch inside people’s houses.” Magical.
Phillip Schofield
Before he became the kind of daytime TV, hosting This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby, the 60-year-old had to start from the bottom.
As a teenager, after years of writing to the BBC, Phil worked as a bookings clerk and tea boy for BBC Radio in London.
He was their youngest employee when he worked there, but it appeared to cement his passion for broadcasting, and he went on to work for multiple radio stations in New Zealand, before returning to the UK and working his way up the ladder.
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian is arguably the queen of pop culture even more now - in 2022 - than when Keeping Up With The Kardashian became a global phenomenon.
Believe it or not, but before making it in the world of reality TV, fashion, fragrance, beauty, business, and modelling, she was once clearing out the wardrobes of other A-listers.
Working as a closet organiser, Kim sorted through celebrities belonging and sold their unwanted items on eBay for them, working with stars including Nicole Richie, Rob Lowe, Serena Williams, and most famously, her then-BFF Paris Hilton.
While fans often wrongly assume that Kim was Paris' assistant, she has been quick to clear up speculation when looking back on the days when she was bossed around by The Simple Life star.
"I would work with Paris, and I would love to organize and clean out their closets and get rid of all their stuff and sell it on eBay and then shop for them, shop for her.
"That was my job. I loved it. But people will say ‘assistant.’ They always have it wrong," Kim once recalled.
Mark Wright
Reality star Mark Wright's The Only Way Is Essex days seem like a lifetime ago now he's made it in America and forged a presenting career back home.
However, Mark actually started out as a semi-professional footballer, with a youth career at West Ham United, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur.
On top of this, The Bachelor host – who is married to actress Michelle Keegan – also worked as a nightclub promoter.
Hugh Jackman
Mega star actor Hugh Jackman is known for his roles in The Greatest Showman, Wolverine and X-Men - to name but a few.
However, the handsome star once used his acting skills for a very different role.
He used to dress up as a clown for children's parties, long before he landed the big Hollywood roles.
Or at least, with most of his fans...as he hilariously recalled that one child was less than impressed with his act.
“I was Coco the Clown and I had no magic tricks and I remember a six-year-old standing up at a party saying 'Mummy this clown is terrible, he doesn't know any tricks' - and he was right,” he once reminisced.
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