Have you ever thought about celebrities who were born into rich families? Before they became famous, many celebrities had money and inheritances. While most actors struggle to pay their rent while following their Hollywood goals, some superstars were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Some were even born into performing families, which has helped them advance in their professions.
Because they grew up with privilege, some stars rose to popularity without needing the cash that came with it!
While many celebrities have heart-wrenching rags-to-riches stories to tell the audience, some were born with wealth. Some of these celebrities have had a fortune in their families for centuries, while others were reared by extremely wealthy parents.
In any case, these stars have utilized their abilities to carve their own path to wealth. Take a closer look at 18 celebrities that came from wealthy families to discover who has the biggest family fortune.
#1 Taylor Swift
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Before
Taylor Swift left Big Machine Records, her father, a Merrill Lynch stockbroker, purchased a 3% share in the firm for a reported $300,000 when Taylor was producing her debut album.
#2 Adam Levine
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M. Frederic, an elite retail business, is owned by Adam Levine's family. He also went to the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, where he met two of his Maroon 5 bandmates.
#3 Lady Gaga
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Lady Gaga has previously stated that her family is not affluent, yet her father owns a telecommunications firm and her mother is a vice president at Verizon. They were able to send their children to an excellent private school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and they now run Joanne Trattoria, an Italian restaurant.
#4 Kate and Rooney Mara
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Did you know Kate and Rooney Mara were football royalty? Their billionaire family founded not one, but two NFL teams: the Pittsburgh Steelers on their mother's side in 1933, and the New York Giants on their father's side in 1925. According to Rooney, football is "the glue that ties our family together." I'm curious what it's like at that stadium when the Giants and Steelers square off.
#5 Ariana Grande
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Ariana Grande's parents were both business titans: her mother was the CEO of Hose-McCann Communications, while her father operated a graphic design firm in Florida. Ariana was able to get her start thanks to their contacts, which led to her appearing on cruise ships and singing the National Anthem at sporting events.
#6 Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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While Julia Louis-Dreyfus is probably set for life owing to all of those Seinfeld repeats, she was also born into billions. Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, her father, is the chairman of the Louis-Dreyfus Group and is worth $4 billion.
#7 Nick Kroll
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Jules B. Kroll, the founder of Kroll, Inc., is Nick Kroll's father and has a net worth of $2 billion. The investigative firm aided in the discovery of corporate conspiracies and fraud, and it appears that Kroll made a tidy profit after selling the company for $1.9 billion.
#8 Olivia Wilde
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Olivia Wilde's father is a journalist and Harper's Magazine editor, and her mother is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker with connections to some very famous people. During her upbringing in Washington, D.C., her parents routinely hosted prominent acquaintances in their home, including Mick Jagger and Steven Spielberg.
#9 Anderson Cooper
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Have you ever heard of the Vanderbilts? Anderson Cooper is a direct Vanderbilt descendent; his great-great-great grandpa Cornelius Vanderbilt once had more money than the United States Treasury. Cooper has published Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, a book that delves into his family's history.
#10 Rashida Jones
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Quincy Jones, Rashida Jones' father, is one of the world's most successful music producers, with a six-decade career that has paid him an estimated $500 million. From Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, he collaborated with some of music's biggest personalities.
#11 Benedict Cumberbatch
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Benedict Cumberbatch hails from a wealthy family with some shady beginnings. The "merchants and adventurers" family possessed a sugar plantation in Barbados with slaves. Cumberbatch has criticized his family's history, calling it "dodgy."
#12 Riley Keough
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Riley Keough's mother is Lisa Marie Presley, who is, you guessed it, Elvis Presley's daughter. Even though Elvis earned an estimated $100 million during his career, his estate was only worth roughly $5 million when he died in 1977. When his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, took over the estate, she was able to increase its worth to well over $100 million, which she passed on to her daughter, Lisa Marie, when she reached 25.
#13 Salma Hayek
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Salma Hayek was raised in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, where her father, Sami Hayek Dominguez, worked in the oil sector and managed an industrial-equipment company. Her father allegedly purchased three tigers when she asked for them.
#14 Edward Norton
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If you enjoy coming to the mall, you owe it to Edward Norton's grandpa, James Rouse. Rouse was a real estate developer who is credited with the invention of retail malls. Rouse later built the whole city of Columbia, Maryland, where Norton grew up. Rouse was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 for his contributions to urban design.
#15 Carly Simon
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Carly Simon's father created Simon & Schuster, one of the world's largest book publishers. He founded the firm with one of his close friends in 1924 after seeing a scarcity of crossword puzzle books on the market. Simon & Schuster was just purchased for $2 billion.
#16 Darren Criss
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As a kid, Darren Criss relocated to Honolulu, where his investment banker father founded EastWest Bank and served as chairman and CEO. He eventually became the chairman of the Chase Manhattan Trust Company of California, and he was a fixture in San Francisco society, where he directed the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Performances, the Stern Grove Festival, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
#17 Chevy Chase
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Chevy Chase was born into a wealthy New York family. His father was a prominent magazine editor and novelist, while his mother's adoptive father was a business magnate who managed the Crane Company, which made bathroom fittings. His father married into the Folgers Coffee family after his parents separated.
#18 Paul Giamatti
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Paul Giamatti's father was not only the president of Yale University, but also the commissioner of Major League Baseball, earning an estimated $22 million a year.