Plenty of celebs stay humble, but oftentimes, reaching a certain level of fame or wealth skews their perspective on what life is like for people who don’t have the same level of privilege.
Here are 38 times celebs were wildly out-of-touch about wealth, work, and privilege:
1.
In 2018, Gwyneth Paltrow told the Wall Street Journal, “I went to do a yoga class in LA recently, and the 22-year-old girl behind the counter was like, ‘Have you ever done yoga before?’ And literally I turned to my friend, and I was like, ‘You have this job because I’ve done yoga before.'”
2.
On the topic of being a working single mother, Gwyneth Paltrow told E! News, “I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it’s not like being on set.”
She also said, “I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning, and then you come home in the evening. When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,’ and then you work 14 hours a day, and that part of it is very difficult.”
She responded to criticism with a Goop blog post titled “Ending the Mommy Wars.” She wrote, “This [quote] somehow was taken to mean I had said a 9-5 job is easier, and a lot of heat was thrown my way, especially by other working mothers who somehow used my out-of-context quote as an opportunity to express feelings (perhaps projected) on the subject. As the mommy wars rage on, I am constantly perplexed and amazed by how little slack we cut each other as women. Is it not hard enough to attempt to raise children thoughtfully, while contributing something, or bringing home some (or more) of the bacon? Why do we feel so entitled to opine, often so negatively, on the choices of other women?”
3.
While interviewing Danny Pudi in 2020, Larry King asked him about the luxuries he can’t live without — then rejected his answers, telling him, “Coffee and socks are not a luxury.”
4.
In 2020, YouTuber Jake Paul launched the Financial Freedom Movement, an online course that, for $20 per month, promised to teach you how to start a career on social media and the internet. In the first video, he reportedly encouraged students to “quit your job and fire your boss, or quit school because you’ve been lied to” and said, “The system is broken. Ask yourself why are there teenagers making millions of dollars and broke 40- and 50-year-olds?”
To make matters worse, the course was targeted at children and tweens. Leslie Rasmussen, an associate professor at Xavier University, told BuzzFeed News, “We have this high-profile YouTuber selling this path that to me is a little dangerous, and to me, it’s particularly dangerous to the younger viewers of this channel. It isn’t probable for most folks to hit it big on YouTube because it’s so saturated now. The landscape now isn’t what it was when Jake Paul entered.”
Jake told BuzzFeed News, “If you want to become an entrepreneur and you want to become financially free, you don’t need school. But my message is not to drop out of school…Your kid is wanting more. If they’re the kid in class that is maybe not applying themself but are super smart, this will teach them skills they’re not learning in school and they’re learning from someone they look up to. Think about learning from someone you look up to versus some Mrs. Smith who you don’t even know…This is something I’m super passionate about, and before I die, I want to make a difference in the world.”
5.
In 2021, Dixie D’Amelio told Vogue, “I fully got into college [in] August of 2019, and I decided not to go just because traveling back and forth was going to be a lot. And I was also really scared because I saw someone make a TikTok saying that they would play my songs at a frat party, and that’s really what, like, turned me away from going to school because I don’t think I could handle that level of embarrassment, being at a frat party, and someone playing my song.”
6.
On a 2023 episode of The D’Amelio Show, TikTok star Dixie D’Amelio complained about working. Many viewers felt her comments were entitled.
7.
On a 2024 episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg — who reportedly has a multi-million dollar contract with ABC — said, “I appreciate that people are having a hard time, me, too — I work for a living! If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, okay? So, I’m a working person, you know? My kid has to feed her family. My great-granddaughter has to be fed by her family. I know it’s hard out there.”
In the comments and in stitches, many viewers pointed out that not buying coffee wouldn’t actually make that big a difference in their bank accounts.
Following the backlash, Mark didn’t address the criticism, but he did post another “tip of the day.” He said, “What’s the tip of the day? Be nice, smile, cause smiling takes nothing. And you know what? We all rather do business with someone that smiles, we all rather work with somebody that smiles, we all rather just make someone’s day with just a smile. It’s so easy.”
9.
In the 2023 Netflix docuseries The Beckhams, Victoria Beckham claimed she grew up “working class” — only to be playfully called out by her own husband, David.
The moment went viral. Victoria embraced it and sold pricey “My Dad Had A Rolls-Royce” t-shirts.
10.
In 2011, discussing the tax rate on her album sales, Adele told Q magazine, “I’m mortified to have to pay 50%! [While] I use the NHS, I can’t use public transport anymore. Trains are always late, most state schools are shit, and I’ve gotta give you, like, four million quid — are you having a laugh?”
11.
Amidst the Great Recession, Natalie Portman told Interview Magazine, “As far as the more general state of things right now, I think it’s kind of an exciting time. I mean, everyone is cutting back. It’s happening in every industry — including our own. But I think that’s going to translate into a situation where people aren’t motivated by money as much as they have been in the recent past.”
“A lot of my friends from college went into fields like banking for financial reasons — obviously people have school loans and things to pay off. And now, all of a sudden, they’re doing jobs that they hate, and they’re not making as much money as they thought they would, or they’ve lost their jobs entirely. So I’ve started to see people looking more toward their own passions and what really excites them. Obviously it’s much easier to say that you’re going to follow your passions when you’re financially secure, but at least we can take solace in the fact that we now have the time to pursue the things that we really want to pursue because now the option of doing things just for the money isn’t necessarily there,” she said.
12.
Discussing red carpets in 2015, Natalie Portman told Harper’s Bazaar, “I get asked so many questions about the Middle East, and I’m like ‘Can you please just ask me about my dress? Let’s just talk about the dress!’…I like to look at what people are wearing, but I do see the sexism in it. Yeah, you could reject it all, but I don’t know anyone who has done that and been able to maintain the level of work I’d like to maintain.”
13.
Discussing her runway career with Love magazine in 2018, Kendall Jenner said, “Since the beginning, we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the fuck those girls do. More power to ’em. But I had a million jobs, not only catwalks but everything else. The whole combination was very overwhelming, and I started to freak out a little bit and needed to take a step back.”
After being called out by other models, she apologized on Twitter, writing, “I was misrepresented in a recent interview over the weekend, and it’s important to clarify the meaning. It was intended to be entirely complimentary but unfortunately, my words were twisted and taken out of context. I want to be clear. The respect that I have for my peers is immeasurable!”
14.
On a 2021 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kendall Jenner denied that being a reality star helped her break into modeling. She said, “Of course I had a platform, and I never took that for granted. I always knew that that was there, but that almost made my job a little bit harder. Only because people probably didn’t want to hire me because I was on a reality TV show.”
15.
In a 2022 family interview with Access Hollywood, Kendall Jenner didn’t know what the word “frugal” meant.
16.
Speaking to Inside Edition in 2007, Kim Kardashian claimed growing up in a well-off family made things “harder” for her and her siblings.
Following backlash, she told Good Morning America, “It wasn’t a blanket statement towards women…it was taken out of context, but I’m really sorry if it was received that way.” Variety denied her words were taken out of context.
18.
In 2018, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were No. 54 and No. 27 on Forbes‘ list of “America’s Richest Self-Made Women.” In response to backlash, Kim told Refinery29, “I really didn’t get it, because [Kylie] is ‘self-made’ — we are all ‘self-made.’ What, because we came from a family that has had success? To me, that doesn’t really make sense … I know so many people like that [who] haven’t turned out to be as successful as Kylie. If anything, I’ve seen the complete opposite. … Me, Kylie, not one [of the siblings] has ever depended on our parents for anything besides advice. That’s how I lived my life with my dad. He never gave me anything. We might have the opportunity, but I’ve seen it go the complete opposite way. Nobody works harder than my sisters and my mom.”
19.
Then, in 2019, Forbes labeled Kylie Jenner the “youngest self-made billionaire.” Following criticism of calling her “self-made,” she told Interview magazine, “There’s really no other word to use other than ‘self-made’ because that is the truth. That is the category that I fall under. Although I am a special case because before I started Kylie Cosmetics, I had a huge platform and lots of fans. I did not get money from my parents past the age of 15. I used 100 percent of my own money to start the company; not a dime in my bank account is inherited…and I am very proud of that.”
However, she later told the New York Times, “I can’t say I’ve done it by myself. If they’re just talking finances, technically, yes, I don’t have any inherited money. But I have had a lot of help and a huge platform.” Then, in 2020, Forbes revoked her billionaire status, alleging she inflated the size and profit of her business. Kylie denied this.
20.
In 2024, Khloé Kardashian reposted a “simple formula for living” from the account @mindfulchristianity to her Instagram story.
Some fans criticized her as lacking self-awareness, given the statement advised readers to “live beneath your means.” They also called out the dissonance between the advice to “give clothes not worn to charity” and Kardashian Kloset, where Khloé and her family resell their clothes online.
21.
During a 2009 interview special, the interviewer told Mariah Carey that his to-do list included “pay bill.” In reply, she asked, “Pay who? Bill who?”
22.
On an episode of her podcast Anything Goes, Emma Chamberlain described why she thought having a 9-5 would be easier than being a self-employed influencer. She said, “Because you’re an employee of somebody else, mentally, it’s easier for you to disconnect after work so that you can enjoy all of your free time to the fullest without having to think about your job. Whereas, when you’re self-employed…you never stop thinking about it. You never get to disconnect. You never get to be like, ‘Oh, I’m done for now.’ It is so hard.'”
23.
Discussing the challenges of having a public-facing career, Alicia Vikander told the Sunday Times, “Sometimes, you go through things that are tough in life, and if you have an office job, you can step away for a bit. But there are times that myself or colleagues have been through something and, well, I can’t understand how they went on to the red carpet afterwards.”
24.
Discussing the challenges of parenting with The Times magazine in 2014, Salma Hayek said, “You have to work very hard to please them all. If you are making pizza, there is one who doesn’t like cheese, and another who hates tomato. Our chef sometimes looks so downhearted. He’s always saying, ‘Madam, what are we going to do?'”
25.
In 2020, Elizabeth Banks told People about celebrating the holidays with just her husband and sons. She said, “[We] had no help, no nannies, no babysitters. It was crazy. You forget how difficult it is to wake up in the middle of the night, how exhausting it is. I lost all my nails. I did dishes and cleaned bottles for 10 days, so I lost all those nails!”
26.
Appearing on The Diary of a CEO podcast in 2021, influencer Molly-Mae Hague — who, at the time, was reportedly making six figures as creative director for PrettyLittleThing — repeated some familiar advice that doesn’t take into account the different privileges, circumstances, etc. that mean everyone isn’t on a level playing field.
27.
In her parenting book The Kind Mama, Alicia Silverstone advised postpartum mothers to take as much time as possible to do nothing but “lying-in” with their newborns “instead of hurrying on to the next thing.” She wrote, “I know what you’re thinking: Who am I to tell you that you should consider taking time away from work? I assure you that it’s not something that only the super-privileged and trust-fund endowed can afford.”
28.
In a viral TikTok from 2022, a fan asked Oprah Winfrey to suggest “a favorite gift for [their] mom [who’s] not doing well.” Oprah replied, “You know, a wonderful thing is that jewelry box that I had on ‘Favorite Things.'” The fan said, “That’s too expensive for me,” then Oprah replied, “It’s not. It’s really not, it’s like 100-and-something dollars.”
However, after a bit of back-and-forth, she finally said, “Okay, then this is the perfect gift for your mom; you do a list of your top 10 reasons why you love her, and you make a beautiful card, and it’s your top 10.”
29.
In 2005, Simon Cowell told GQ, “Money brings you security and choice. You can make decisions in a different way if you have a lot of money. But when you have nothing, you have a naivety, and a more fearless attitude because you have nothing to lose. To get money, you have to be successful, which means you have to work bloody hard, which I did. I paid myself £5,000 a year, paid off my debts, and learned more from the whole thing than anything else. I wasn’t ashamed, I just accepted it.”
30.
Discussing her aspirational wellness lifestyle and mental health in 2020, Gisele Bündchen told the Guardian, “[People] just have to make the decision of working at it. That’s the problem with today’s society, people want instant gratification where it’s, you know: ‘I want to do something, and [when] I wake up I want to look like this.’ I’m like, ‘Er, well, you know, for me to cure my panic attacks, it took months. I could have taken a pill, but I decided no. I’m going to wake up every morning, and I’m going to meditate and do breath work.’ It took months…Everything starts with discipline.”
31.
In 2010, Gisele Bündchen told Harper’s Bazaar UK, “I think breastfeeding really helped me keep my figure…Some people here [in the US] think they don’t have to breastfeed, and I think, ‘Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?’ I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months.”
32.
In 2009, Craig T. Nelson discussed his dissatisfaction with the way California spent his tax money. He told Fox News, “I’m really thinking about [not paying income tax anymore]… because as a fiscally responsible grandfather, there are programs that they’re asking me to fund that I refuse to fund…I’ve been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No. They gave me hope, and they gave me encouragement, and they gave me a vision. That came from my education.”
He also said, “[California is] no longer a state. It’s a hedge fund…Well, I do have a solution. There is only one way. We have to make people stand up for the responsibilities. They were accountable. And they haven’t been. No one is accountable anymore for anything. No one did anything wrong. Well, you’re to blame. That’s to blame. This is to blame. As an investor, as someone who gets taxed an awful lot, I just say I’m not going to pay until you guys can show me that you’re fiscally responsible…”
33.
Responding to criticism that, unlike many of his peers, he didn’t use his music to address police brutality in the US in 2015, A$AP Rocky told Time Out, “I’m A$AP Rocky. I did not sign up to be no political activist. I wanna talk about my motherfuckin’ lean, my best friend dying, girls, my jiggy fashion and my inspirations in drugs. I live in fucking Soho and Beverly Hills. I can’t relate. I go back to Harlem, it’s not the same. It’s a sad story. I gotta tell you the truth. I’m in the studio, I’m in fashion houses, I’m in these bitches’ drawers. I’m not doing anything outside of that. That’s my life. These people need to leave me the fuck alone.”
A year later, the interview resurfaced, leading to renewed criticism. In response, Rocky told The Breakfast Club that the quotes had been taken out of context. He said, “The racism is real. I don’t go to middle America cities. We’re in the major markets. We don’t know what it’s really like for the people who go to work and come home everyday. …. We don’t know how they get along. What I see and try to promote is unity.” He went on to compare the damage his previous comments did to his legacy to the way sexual assault allegations ended Bill Cosby’s career.
34.
On a 2018 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen and her guest Ali Wong discussed their experiences with poverty. While Ali said that she was “still super duper cheap,” Ellen said that growing up poor had the “opposite effect” on her.
35.
Ariana Grande’s fans called her out over a since-deleted Instagram post, which she captioned, “When you’re cute but you’re also the hardest working 23-year-old human being on earth.” On social media, fans pointed out that, around the world, there are other 23-year-olds who are “making 60 cents a day trying to provide for their families” or “working four jobs to stay in their tiny apartments.”
36.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Wales’s lockdown rules prevented people who owned second homes in the country from traveling there. In 2020, New Order frontman Bernard Sumner, who was living in England, told the Times, “I’ve got a brand new boat waiting for me in Wales, and I can’t go to it because the fucking Welsh won’t let me. So yeah, lockdown’s doing my fucking nut in.”
37.
In 2013, Dr. Dre and his Beats Electronics co-founder Jimmy Iovine donated $70 million to USC to build a new academy with their names on it. Six years later, Dr. Dre posted about his daughter’s college acceptance on Instagram, writing, “My daughter got accepted into USC all on her own. No jail time!!!” Following backlash, he deleted the post.
38.
And finally, in 2022, Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp — who reportedly received financial help from her family to purchase her first house — told the Sunday Times, “When I bought my first property, going abroad, the easyJet, coffee, gym, Netflix lifestyle didn’t exist. I used to walk to work with a sandwich. And on payday I’d go for a pizza, and to a movie, and buy a lipstick. Interest rates were 15 percent; I was earning £11,500 a year… I don’t want to belittle those people who can’t do it. But there are loads of people who can do it and don’t. It is hard.”
She reportedly responded to a critic via Twitter, saying, “Either you think I’m an out-of-touch rich bitch who doesn’t get how hard it is to buy a home in many parts of the UK or you don’t. The Times can twist things as much as they want, but in the end, it’s down to whether you believe in my empathy, understanding, and experience or not.”
