15 Now Stunning Celebs Who Grew Up As The 'Ugly Duckling'
Don't lie - growing up was tough. Adolescence tends to slap most people across the face and leave them for dead… at least it did before contouring was a thing. Teenagers going through their “awkward” phases these days have it a little too easy with people like Kylie Jenner and Rihanna producing endless supplies of makeup and tutorials in order to create a new generation of plastics (those words actually hurt Kylie way more than it does Rihanna). Seriously, have a chubby phase or suffer from brace-face trauma, c'mon kids!
However, if you're a celebrity, growing up in the public eye is a completely different sort of nightmare. OR! If you're a celebrity and happen to have gone through an awkward teenage phase when you were a kid, you have to face the horror of Ellen DeGeneres or Jimmy Fallon digging up the most embarrassing picture imaginable from your youth. You have to face the horror of it going viral and you end up on a list like this. Even though most people hate the term “ugly duckling”, they can take pride in leaving that phase of their life in the dust and can be proud of the fact that they flourished in their looks AND their careers.
So take THAT adolescence.
15 Such A Sturdy Looking Boy - Kesha
Now, you've gotta feel bad for singer Kesha here. Not just because she's going through a whole bunch of lawsuit issues or the fact that when she sings, she sounds like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal, but because she looked absolutely nothing like she does now. Okay, so she appeared to be a little manly back then, but she's far from masculine these days. It was clear that she eventually blossomed into the beautiful, strong woman she is today. Usually, when we had a tough childhood (especially if we were less than gorgeous), it gives us thicker skin that will prepare us for adulthood. And if that's the case, then Kesha's skin is thicker than heck. Sure, she's stunning now, but man, she would've made a dang good linebacker back then.
14 Thank Heaven For Plastic Surgeons - Kylie Jenner
If you were ever a fan of Keeping Up With The Kardashians in the past, you noticed that the youngest member of the family looks a little… different than she did when she was younger. Okay, A LOT different. Kylie Jenner was often picked on by her more glamorous siblings and even her own mother for her supposed plain-Jane looks. She was thin-lipped and had a stick figure. Which is fine for anyone NOT named Kardashian. But when you're in that family, all you really have to fall back on is your looks, so you're more often than not bullied into getting plastic surgery - much like what Kylie did. She's now a mere shell of her old self and looks like a clone of big sis Kim. Apparently, there's no such thing as originality in that family.
13 Pre-Spice Life - Victoria Beckham
Back when she was with The Spice Girls, she was known as “Posh Spice” due to her posh like attitude and fashion sense. That and she seemed to have that duck-face down flat whenever she posed. These days, model and mom Victoria Beckham is the wife of one of the most famous men on the planet, and still has her posh-like looks. But back when she was a teenager, it appears that wasn't the case. Like most girls back in the 1980s, Beckham fell victim to the whole, side-of-the-head fountain ponytail and braces look. Sure, it was adorable back then, but nowadays, it's just asking to be teased. She was pure definition of an 80's teen and didn't seem shy about it either. At least she figured out how to do her hair properly later in life.
12 We Can't Blame Drew - Taylor Swift
Never in my life would I have assumed that award-winning singer Taylor Swift was ever considered an “ugly duckling”. Even when I look at this old shot of her, she's not as bad as she could've been. Sure, she seems to have invisible eyebrows, the pre-braces mouth, and the very 90's hairstyle, but it could've been worse. If you've ever heard the song “Teardrops On My Guitar”, you know it's about a former school crush of Taylor's named Drew. She complained that she was only seen as a friend to Drew, even though she was head over heels for him. He would come to her and complain about other girls he was interested in while she just swooned from a distance. And now we can see why.
11 Those Adolescent Years Really Kill - Rashida Jones
Sure, she had the famous last name (her father is Quincy Jones), but that really didn't help actress Rashida Jones through the awkward days of her childhood. Jones claims that she was a “chubby nerd” while in high school and even carries a picture of herself from back in the day as a reminder of how far she's come. “Every time I look at a photo of myself as a teenager, I think, this is who I feel like… there I am. So uncomfortable, so sad, so much food… ” Jones said in a phone interview with The Guardian. Even as an adult, Jones still has her own style, which looks amazing on her. She doesn't feel she needs to conform herself to the typical “LA Barbie doll” type, and she really doesn't need to.
10 The Attack Of The Crimping Iron - Zac Efron
I have SOOOOOO many questions (or rather just comments) about young Zac Efron. First of all, I just assumed he was born, fully formed with an eight-pack and politician's smile. Apparently, I was far from right. Sure, he's one of Hollywood's hottest guys right now, but back when he was a kid, he was, well… not so much. He was pretty much every single wannabe skater boy you saw in the halls of your high school. He was one of the boys who seriously “tried too hard” to look like your basic, everyday high school California boy. Thankfully, he stopped trying “so hard” and just started living. Now, women and girls from all over the world are throwing themselves at him and fainting in his presence. That's quite a leap from his childhood days.
9 Former Butter Ball - Ryan Seacrest
Believe it or not, host-of-literally-everything Ryan Seacrest used to struggle with his weight as a teenager. But since losing the weight, Seacrest has to maintain a strict schedule in order to stay in tip-top shape. “I schedule my workouts as if they were meetings, and I make sure they don't get canceled,” the American Idol host told Mensfitness.com. “I make a deliberate plan to fit in a workout each day of the week within my schedule. I'm adamant about exercising during the week to keep up with the different moving parts. I'm most productive when I have a chance to exercise during the day.” Seacrest revealed that he used to be overweight in order to give other kids that are going through the same thing hope for the future. He wants children to know that it WILL get better, you just need to work at it.
8 Kate Who? - Kate Hudson
Growing up, actress Kate Hudson had A LOT to measure up to, considering her very famous mother, Goldie Hawn, who was always considered one of the sexiest women on the face of the planet. If you look at that toddler picture of her, she looks almost unrecognizable (but really, don't we all from our infant days?). While Kate is confident now, it seemed that she took the long, scenic route in order to get there. “When I hit puberty, I started trying to figure out who I was and trying to come to terms with my feminine power,” the actress told Vanity Fair. “Then you look at your mother, who got this incredible figure. You're standing there with little bee stings on your chest, saying “Well, what about me? Am I pretty? Am I going to have a nice figure? Am I sexual?”. Clearly, she's all of those things now.
7 Talk About Doing A Good Job Growing Up - Chris Pratt
Talk about turning into a swan - a handsome, insanely hot, hot, hot swan. It actually wasn't too long ago when actor Chris Pratt seemed to blend into the background when it came to his looks. His personality, however, not so much. Pratt seemed to steal every single scene he was in on the hit series Parks and Recreation despite the fact that he was a tall, somewhat heavy man. He was simply charming. When he was cast in the film franchise Guardians of the Galaxy, Pratt had to beef up a little in order to play Star-Lord and soon, his entire image seemed to change overnight. He was suddenly the hot, funny guy (Ryan Reynolds style) and everyone wanted a piece of him. And this is only the beginning. Pratt's star is still very much on the rise.
6 Longbottom-ing It Right - Matthew Lewis
This actor was the one who started the entire “long-bottoming” movement. Urban dictionary defines it as “the sometimes slow, sometimes overnight, always surprising transformation of someone, usually a man, from decidedly unattractive to hot as hell.” The name comes from the character Neville Longbottom, who was a character in the Harry Potter franchised, played by actor Matthew Lewis in the films. Lewis was an awkward and nerdy looking boy, who suddenly changed overnight into this hot piece of man meat. He once was considered the most unattractive of all his cast mates, and now he's outshined them all in the looks department. What makes the transformation even better is that Lewis seems pretty dang modest about his looks and sudden shift from puberty. Talk about growing up right.
5 Ummm, We're Speechless - January Jones
Actress January Jones has been through a lot in her career. She once dated actor Ashton Kutcher, who had the audacity to tell her that she would never make it in the acting world (proved him horribly wrong when she was cast as the cold-hearted Betty Draper in the hit series Mad Men). Not only that, but she appears to have been the utter definition of “ugly duckling”. Jones has taken to posting pictures of her past when she was little and looked like… a young boy. She had the short, cropped hairdo and the charismatic, sneaky tomboy eyes going on there. She even captioned one particular picture of her as a youngin' “#swan”. However, that doesn't mean she was referring to herself as an ugly duckling, per se. “I don't think that young girls should be worried about that s*** (how they look),” she said.
4 Mr. Bowl Cut - George Clooney
You would never have expected someone that People Magazine called “Sexiest man alive” would appear on this list. But take one look at this old picture of him with a bowl cut and psychedelic Clockwork Orange glasses and you'll see why. While Clooney has long since left that life behind, he still has the sharp wit of someone who had to build up their personality in order to get noticed, oddly enough. Even today, he's constantly made fun of by his Ocean's Eleven co-stars (and close friends) Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, who still claim that Clooney is one of the ugliest people they've ever laid eyes on. This could be because they have to stay on their toes around the actor because he's such a prankster. That or they're just plain jealous.
3 The Not-So-Future Mrs. Michael Douglas - Catherine Zeta-Jones
Here's another stunning woman appearing on this list that I never thought would appear on a list like this. Catherine Zeta-Jones first caught the world's attention by way of the sword via The Mask of Zorro back in 1998. Her exoticness and chemistry with co-star Antonio Banderas was off the charts. She then went on to be one of the world's most coveted actresses and starred with Julia Roberts in America's Sweethearts and with Sean Connery in Entrapment. She even won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Chicago, so her talents always seemed to overshadow her gorgeous looks later on in life. She found happiness with actor Michael Douglas and the couple has two beautiful children together (who are not considered ugly ducklings AT ALL).
2 Jenny From The Block - Jennifer Lopez
We assumed that Jenny from the Block was tough, ambitious, talented, and always was the same beauty we see these days. We had no idea that Lopez was considered average and often blended into the background. That is until she became a Flygirl on Fox's In Living Color. These days, Lopez is busy taking her Las Vegas show on the road while paling around with new beau Alex Rodriguez. Not to mention the fact that she's still acting and raising her children. The woman literally does it all and never slows down even for a second. So while she may have been considered a plain-Jane, the Selena star is far from it now and is pretty much taking over the entire world with her non-stop talents and diva nature.
1 SOMEONE Fell Asleep In A Tanning Bed - Megan Fox
I get it - I was a victim of it too back when I was an idiot kid: the whole tanning fad. Sure, we seem to be still obsessed with it still, but at least we're going about it in a healthier (yet slightly orange-ish) manner. It seems like actress and beauty Megan Fox was obsessed with the phase too. Luckily, she seemed to leave behind the fad without any repercussions affecting to her alabaster skin. However, in this particular picture, it appears that Fox happened to fall asleep in the tanning bed itself and then decided to pose for a picture (well, that was the wrong thing to do). While she doesn't appear to have been a complete ugly duckling, she seemed to make some pretty poor decisions back then regarding her delicate skin. Thank god she grew up and learned a thing or two.
