15 Unbelievable Celebrity Comebacks

There are few things more heartbreaking for diehard fans than seeing your favorite star fading away from the spotlight. We know that even the biggest superstars need time out from their crazy lives, but when you love someone's music or movies, you can get serious withdrawal symptoms when you don't get them!

The best thing about celebrity hiatuses is that sometimes, the star's return to the spotlight is truly epic. New look, new sound, new projects, new philosophies-it's all blissful to the hardcore fans, because more than anything, you just want to see your fave shining and killing it like you know they can.

There have been a couple of celebrity comebacks that have truly outshone the rest, thanks to the star's major and unbelievable transformations that absolutely nobody saw coming. Take a look at these 15 impressive returns to the spotlight that practically had fans frothing at the mouth. Do you remember any of them?

15 Britney Spears: 10 Years Later

If you grew up in the late '90s or early 2000s, there's a good chance that Britney Spears was your idol at some point. There's also a good chance that your heart broke when you saw her go through a messy public meltdown around 2007. During Britney's darkest moments, there was an unhealthy marriage, impromptu head-shaving, paparazzi assaults, divorce, and horrible custody battles. But thankfully, Brit released Circus in 2008, which was labelled by many critics as her comeback album. Though there have been ups and downs since then, Brit has released a string of popular singles, successful albums including Femme Fatal, Britney Jean, and Glory, became a respected judge on The X Factor and landed her own Vegas residency. So it's safe to say that although she was once mocked by the media, she is now a music legend, a strong mother, and has officially been restored back to her former glory.

14 Ellen DeGeneres: Third Time's A Charm

We now know Ellen DeGeneres as one of the most famous women in television, and it's difficult to even imagine a time when she wasn't popular. But in reality, the premiere of The Ellen DeGeneres Show can be called a comeback, since it came after Ellen's career troubles and setbacks. Between 1994 and 1998, Ellen starred in the ABC series called Ellen, which was hugely successful. But after announcing her orientation on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1997, the show lost a lot of viewers and was eventually canceled during its fifth season. During this time, Ellen tried to make it as a stand-up comedian and tried to launch another TV sitcom called The Ellen Show in 2001. Unfortunately, this show was canceled before the first season had even finished. In 2004, Ellen came out with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which reminded the world of everything we love about this amazing woman!

13 Joaquin Phoenix: Leaf It All Behind

Actor Joaquin Phoenix has made more than one comeback to acting in his lifetime. Starting off as a child actor, his career was disrupted in 1993 when his older brother, River Phoenix, passed away from a widely publicized overdose outside The Viper Room in Los Angeles. The media circus that followed provoked Joaquin (who was known as Leaf at the time), to take a break from the public eye. He returned to acting when he was 15 years old, and his first big comeback came through the role of Commodus in Gladiator, which was one of the biggest movies of 2000. A number of prominent roles came his way after that, and he featured in major films like The Village and Walk the Line. His career was derailed once more when he checked into rehab in 2005 and exhibited some strange public behavior, but he came back a second time with a critically acclaimed role in Her.

12 Matt LeBlanc: How You Doin'… Now

After the monstrous success of the iconic sitcom Friends, you wouldn't think that any of the main six cast members would have had trouble finding work. Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani, was a particular favorite, and had just about the entire planet mimicking the words, “How you doin'?” But after the end of the series in 2004, he didn't see anything close to the same success for quite a while. He initially starred in a spin-off series called Joey, which was all about his Friends character starting an acting career, but it didn't sit as well with fans as the network execs had hoped, and was canceled after two seasons. His luck changed in 2001 when he made his comeback by joining the Showtime series Episodes and starred as an embellished version of himself. Interestingly, it wasn't until Matt appeared on Episodes that he actually earned a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy.

11 Drew Barrymore: Tough Times

The longer a star has been in the industry, the more likely they are to go through some lows and then make a killer comeback! Drew Barrymore began starring in massive movies when she was still a child, appearing in E.T., Cat's Eye, and Firestarter. By 1989, the pressure and other downsides to being a child star really started to weigh Drew down, and she was taken to rehab. The first time she was forced there because of her addiction to powder, and the second because she had attempted to take her own life. At the time, it seemed we had lost the child actress we adored, but fans were ecstatic in 1995 when Drew returned to the screen to star in Boys on the Side, alongside Mary Louise Parker and Whoopi Goldberg. Since then, she's starred in several prominent films, including Scream, The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates, and more recently, He's Just Not That into You.

10 John Travolta: Never Not Relevant

Another actor who it's hard to picture ever actually needing a comeback is Danny Zuko himself, John Travolta. In the 1970s and 1980s, his successes extended well beyond Grease, and he starred in films like Saturday Night Fever, Carrie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, and Stayin' Alive. On top of that, he was a magnetic pop star. But by the 1990s, things weren't looking so good for John. He starred in movies that it seemed his former-self would never appear in, like Look Who's Talking. His return to the A-list came in 1994 when he was cast in the iconic Pulp Fiction. Since then he has returned to starring in film adaptations of musicals, such as 2007's Hairspray, and has appeared in his fair share of action blockbusters. Although he still sometimes appears in films that seem a bit odd, he has maintained the respect of Hollywood ever since appearing in Pulp Fiction.

9 Eminem: The Beyonce Of Rap

Eminem is kind of like the Beyoncé of the rap world-no matter what he does from now on, he's solidified his place in the industry, and any comments against him are met with retaliation from his huge legion of fans. So even though not everyone likes him, quite a lot respect him! He didn't always have such a hold over the industry, though. After rising to fame in 1999 with the debut album The Slim Shady LP, which made him a winner at the Grammys, Eminem gathered millions of fans through his series of catchy and unique records. However, in 2005, Eminem declared that he wanted to focus on his career as a label executive and wanted to take a break from music. So fans didn't get any new material until five years later in 2010. Though he wasn't the topic of conversation during his hiatus, he sold millions of copies of his comeback album, Recovery.

8 Lady Gaga: Revamped Monster

The rise of Lady Gaga was legendary, to say the least. After releasing her hits “Just Dance”, “Poker Face”, “Paparazzi,” and “Bad Romance”, she had the attention of the media, other superstars, and her millions of Little Monster fans in her Mother Monster Paws. By the time she released Born This Way in 2011, she was unstoppable. She couldn't go anywhere without being mobbed, and nothing she did or wore would stay out of the papers (but to be fair, she wore some pretty newsworthy outfits during that time!). She embarked on one of the biggest tours the world had ever seen. But after suffering an injury which affected her performance and releasing ARTPOP in 2013, which performed disappointingly, by comparison, it seemed like she'd lost all that status. In 2016, Gaga came back with her album Joanne, which reminded millions of the talent that drew them to her in the first place.

7 Jimmy Fallon: Change Is Good

Talk-show host Jimmy Fallon has it going on at the moment. His late-night show is one of the most popular, he brushes shoulders with the biggest celebrities in the business, and he's become an A-lister himself. It may come as a shock to discover that The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon isn't actually the funnyman's first venture into the business; it's his comeback vehicle. In fact, Jimmy appeared on Saturday Night Live for six years (you can still catch some of his sketches on YouTube!). But in the early 2000s, the public found him more annoying than anything. There was even an article written about him called “Nine Things I Hate About Jimmy Fallon” which was published in the Philadelphia Weekly. He might not be everyone's favorite talk-show host, but it's clear that the general public doesn't hate him since he revamped his image and came out with his entertaining version of The Tonight Show.

6 Robert Downey Jr.: Most Respected Man

Robert Downey Jr. was on his way to becoming a prominent actor in the 1980s, appearing in films like Weird Science and Less Than Zero. The 1990s were less kind to the actor, and he faced seemingly endless legal and drug problems during the decade. All the trouble eventually resulted in a prison sentence of three years, which was later brought down to just one year and attached to quite a significant fine. After going through a period involving rehab and relapse, the actor finally kicked his habit at the beginning of the millennium, and his first acting job after his drug troubles was an appearance in Elton John's music video. Thanks to help from his buddy Mel Gibson, who paid his insurance bond for the first film he did after his hiatus, Robert found his way back to mainstream films and is now one of the most respected and beloved actors in the industry.

5 Jennifer Lopez: No Longer Jenny From The Block

There was never really a time where Jennifer Lopez wasn't on the radar at all. Sure, the early 2000s were her years to shine in terms of hit movies and hit songs, and the projects that she worked on immediately after that didn't make headlines the way they used to. Rather than choosing to stay away from the industry for her health or forming an addiction and facing legal consequences, Jen took some time to focus on being a mom after giving birth to twins in 2008. She didn't stay completely away from work, but the projects she came out with from around 2006 to 2009 saw just a shadow of the superstar's former success. That all changed in 2010 when she was brought in as a judge on American Idol. Her comeback single “On the Floor” from the album Love? was the most successful she'd had since “Jenny from the Block”.

4 Teri Hatcher: A Desperate Housewife

Teri Hatcher was a household name in the 1980s. Starring on The Love Boat and McGuyver, she became even more prominent when she starred on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997. It seemed like her career was set, but following this, the actress had trouble getting work. Other than appearing as a guest on a few TV shows, Teri had basically nothing coming in for a few years. She even had to do commercials and TV movies to support herself and her young daughter. That all changed in 2004 when Teri made what would later prove to be one of the best decisions of her life, and signed onto ABC's Desperate Housewives. Starring as Susan Mayer on the show, Teri was arguably the central housewife and not only returned to being a household name, but scored herself one of the biggest paychecks for a TV star in Hollywood.

3 Vanessa Williams: Started A Trend

Speaking of Desperate Housewives, Vanessa Williams, who appeared later on the show, also made a spectacular return to the limelight after a few career lows. Winning the title of Miss America in 1984 and being the first African-American woman to do so, it seemed that Vanessa had already cemented her legendary status. Then unauthorized private photos of her appeared in Penthouse, and she had no choice but to give up her title. The controversy surrounding her situation forced her to stay out of the public eye for a while, but she came back in 1988, this time as a singer. Her singles even earned her some Grammy nominations! She also found success as an actress, starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser. In the 2000s, she landed the role of Renee Perry on the seventh season of Desperate Housewives and charmed a whole new generation of fans with her talent and beauty.

2 Janet Jackson: Making Waves

Janet Jackson never quite reached the level of success that her brother Michael did, but just about nobody else did either! Janet was still extremely popular, having begun her solo career in the 1980s and releasing hit after hit for over 20 years. But after the death of her brother in 2009, Janet put a halt on the album-making and took some time out. Though she worked on different short-term projects and tours in the years following his death, she didn't return to making albums, or to appearing in the mainstream spotlight, until 2015. Her comeback album, titled Unbreakable, featured singles that entered the Hot 100 chart, went to number one on the Billboard chart, and became trends on Twitter. She announced a global tour to support the album, but fell pregnant in 2016 and gave birth to her first son in 2017. Currently, the superstar has plans to continue her tour in September 2017.

1 Nicole Richie: That's Hot

Starring alongside Paris Hilton on the reality TV show The Simple Life, Nicole Richie was one of the original reality superstars. Like it did Paris, the it-girl lifestyle got to Nicole, and she ended up facing charges for a DUI and possession of illegal substances, for which she served 82 minutes in prison. She was rumored to be suffering from an eating disorder and was criticized for her partying antics in the years following her rise to prominence, causing her to step away from the public eye. In 2008, Nicole pleasantly surprised everyone when she debuted her fashion line, The House of Harlow. Since then, she has turned her reputation around, having written a semi-autobiographical novel called “The Truth About Diamonds” and dipped her toes in the world of musical theatre. Now a mom of two, Nicole has been named Glamour's Entrepreneur of the Year and has returned to acting, receiving a much more positive reaction.