Wealth and celebrity status go together like peanut butter and jelly — most of the time. George Clooney’s $500 million net worth is staggering, but it’s also expected.
When a low-key celeb who hasn’t crossed your mind in a decade racks up that kind of dough, however, things get interesting. Some of these names aren’t the biggest in the business and others you might not think have as much as they do, but either way, they have become some of the richest celebrities around.
Last updated: Aug. 15, 2020
Impressive as it is, $40 million doesn’t put you among the richest of the rich celebrities. What’s surprising about Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg’s fame and fortune, however, is the way he made it.
PewDiePie is among the first of the new type of celebrity — he’s one of the highest-paid YouTube stars. And although a handful of arduously trained pro gamers make bank at competitions, PewDiePie makes tons of money by streaming and commentating on games. His fame has brought attention to his past racist and anti-Semitic comments, so that good fortune might be at risk.
It’s probably a safe bet that Cuban-born Daisy Fuentes is the wealthiest former MTV-VJ by, well, a lot. In addition to being Revlon’s first Latina spokeswoman, Fuentes has launched a successful clothing line and a line of beauty products that are driving hundreds of millions in sales for Kohl’s annually and have pushed her net worth to about $75 million.
Not counting the terribly reviewed Netflix-exclusive “Fuller House” — a sequel to the show that put Bob Saget on the map in the early ’90s — the last time this stand-up comic made a pop-culture splash was as the narrator of “How I Met Your Mother.” Saget’s combo of stand-up and sitcom work, in addition to his hosting “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” netted him an estimated value of $50 million — not the mention the big bucks he brings in from reruns.
That’s right, Billy Campbell from “Melrose Place” is worth nine figures. After his career on television, Shue would go on to co-found the popular website CaféMom with childhood friend Michael Sanchez, which rebranded to CafeMedia in 2015 and, as of 2017, boasted some 91 million unique visitors a month to its websites. In addition, CafeMedia ranked as one of the top sites for parenting, food and home by ComScore.
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Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean and Johnny English characters were a quirky oddity in America, but they were pop-culture staples across the pond. So was “Blackadder,” a sitcom Atkinson appeared in from 1983 to 1989. He’s not at that peak of fame anymore, but Atkinson’s work continues and his net worth has more than doubled since then.
How much is it worth to be the second-most popular lead singer of Van Halen? Quite a bit, but certainly not that much. Hagar’s success in music is paired with his Cabo Wabo Cantina restaurant that ultimately gave rise to a Cabo Wabo tequila and a string of other successful eateries.
You expect Jessica Alba to be rich, but not one of the richest actresses of all time. Although Alba hasn’t had a major box-office smash since the 2000s, she has been consistently working in film and TV since she was 13 years old. In addition to steady movie paychecks, Alba co-founded The Honest Company, maker of green household products, which was valued at $1.7 billion in 2015.
Reese Witherspoon might have a long, successful career as an actress, including an Academy Award, but her acumen in business is shaping her career today. She has founded the production company Pacific Standard, digital content company Hello Sunshine and Southern-themed lifestyle brand Draper James. With all her financial success, it seems like Reese “Silverspoon” could be a fitting moniker.
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Even at $250 million, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ fortune is considerable for someone who dropped out of college and has primarily just acted on television. Her appearance on this list, however, is also due to the fact that her family founded and still owns the Louis-Dreyfus Corporation valued at nearly $5 billion. Her inheritance from her father, who died in 2016, could play a role in her net worth.
Regardless of who shot J.R., Victoria Principal, with a net worth of $350 million, is probably ready to pay for a robust legal defense. Principal would rise to fame as Pamela Barnes Ewing on “Dallas,” but her tremendous wealth has a lot more to do with her status as a best-selling author and a successful line of natural skin care products under her Principal Secret brand.
Plenty of Americans might underestimate just how popular Indian cinema is globally, but Bollywood is wildly successful throughout the world. Actor Amitabh Bachchan got his start with “angry young man” roles in the 1970s and went on to appear in more than 100 films by the early 1980s. He also founded his own production company, the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, en route to a net worth of $400 million.
The Brazilian-born supermodel is potentially best known in the U.S. for being a Victoria’s Secret model and marrying New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Even so, maybe her claim to fame should also be for being filthy rich. Gisele has a wildly lucrative career as a spokesmodel for various clothing and beauty lines and is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme.
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Before Larry David starred in the beloved “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” his name was known only to hardcore sitcom fans as one of the creators and writers — and real-life inspiration for George Costanza — on “Seinfeld.” It’s the latter pop-culture phenomenon that accounts for David’s insane wealth — nine years after the show ended, PR Newswire estimated that an unprecedented syndication deal earned the “Seinfeld” alum $3.1 billion. At that time, the same source projected Larry David’s net worth at $900 million.
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Powered by Money.com - Yahoo may earn commission from the links above. Two things are certain: Larry David is filthy rich, and wealth hasn’t changed him much. “[Money] gave me something that I didn’t have, but […] it’s not a total transformation. I still, to this day, couldn’t walk up to a woman at a bar and say hello,” he told Charlie Rose in a 2015 “60 Minutes” interview. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” earned four Emmy nominations in 2018 and came back for a tenth season in 2020. David’s net worth isn’t done growing — even if his self-confidence is.
Judy Sheindlin’s show, “Judge Judy,” doesn’t need high production values to be a hit — it’s already in its 22nd season. Sheindlin’s not only an actual former judge, but she’s also a smart, shrewd and ruthless negotiator — and as of 2016, she was the highest-paid personality on TV, taking home $47 million per year.
Sheindlin described her annual paycheck “negotiations” with CBS bosses in a transcript The Hollywood Reported obtained. She hands them an envelope containing her salary demands and other requests for her crew and production — if CBS doesn’t accept her terms, she walks and produces the show herself.
In March 2020, it was announced that “Judge Judy” was coming to an end. However, Sheindlin also announced that she would be moving onto “Judy Justice.”
Victoria Beckham rose to fame as one of the Spice Girls in the late 1990s. But if you’re thinking three pop albums almost 20 years ago will net you close to half a billion dollars, think again. Posh’s net worth has more to do with her successful career in fashion as she launced her own fashion line in 2008.
The rhythm is gonna get you, and, if you’re Gloria Estefan, make you a half-billion dollars in the process, apparently. Estefan’s tremendous success as a pop musician in the 1980s gave way to a career in Miami business and real estate that led to the founding of multimedia entertainment company Estefan Enterprises.
A net worth of $500 million is pretty high for someone who arguably wasn’t even the best-known model of the 1980s. But the real story of Ireland’s success actually starts in 1993 when she launched her own line of socks. That would lead to Kathy Ireland Worldwide, which clocks over $1 billion in sales a year on 15,000 different products.
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You might think of Jimmy Buffett as the guy with a Hawaiian shirt whose records your dad always plays during barbecues, but you should also think of him as one of the richest celebrities in America.
Once a busker in New Orleans, Buffett now has nearly 30 records and about 40 live tours under his belt — and he’s a smart investor. In partnership with OSI Restaurant Partners, the book author, casino owner and hotel magnate owns the Cheeseburger in Paradise and Margaritaville restaurant chains.
Hailing from Lansing, Michigan, Magic Johnson was a basketball phenom from a young age, winning state championships in high school, the National Championship with Michigan State in 1979 and four NBA titles over his professional career.
The size of his fortune, though, derives primarily from his business acumen. Johnson earned less than $25 million for playing basketball, but he used that to launch Magic Johnson Enterprises, which is worth an estimated $1 billion today.
The creative duo behind the show “South Park” — and the voices of the show’s characters Cartman and Kyle — Trey and Matt are worth over $1 billion combined. The ever-relevant humor and media empire of “South Park” is their bread and butter, but Parker and Stone also co-created the Broadway hit “Book of Mormon,” which pulled down more than $500 million worldwide.
Near, far, wherever you are, you might be pretty surprised to learn that Celine Dion is worth almost $1 billion. She has banked most of her fortune through international touring and her extremely lucrative Las Vegas residencies.
Dr. Dre, born Andre Romelle Young, might be straight outta Compton, but his talent as an entrepreneur over the years is straight outta Wall Street. Although Dr. Dre’s initial rise to prominence came through his skills as a producer and DJ, it was his foray into designer headphones that made him so rich. Apple purchased “Beats by Dre” in 2014 for $2.6 million in cash and $400 million in stock.
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Anyone familiar with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ successful but relatively brief music career in the 1990s might be a little shocked to know that he’s edging in on billionaire status. Diddy has always kept an eye on business, however, from founding music production company Bad Boy Entertainment early in his career to his Sean John clothing line to his lucrative development deal with Ciroc vodka.
Born Shawn Corey Carter, Jay-Z, has one of the more successful hip-hop careers ever. But it’s his myriad of other interests, spread out across a vast business empire, which have truly helped get him to the edge of billionaire status. Jay-Z created a joint venture with Live Nation called Roc Nation, launched the clothing line Rocawear and studio Roc-a-Fella Films. The rapper also owns the 40/40 nightclubs, Roc Nation Sports — a sports management division of Roc Nation that represents huge names like Kevin Durant — and the streaming service Tidal.
David Copperfield is the most commercially successful magician in history, according to Forbes, but how rich can a magician be? The answer is enormously, insanely, ridiculously rich.
At a downright shocking net worth of $1 billion — up from about $930 million in 2017 — Copperfield is now part of the elusive billionaires club. Copperfield made over $60 million before taxes in 2018 — after a jam-packed year that included 670 shows at the MGM Grand Hotel and private shows at his personally owned islands in the Bahamas where guests pay six figures to vacation and watch him perform, according to Forbes.
Apparently, you can count Oprah’s massive sums of money among one of her favorite things. Her entertainment empire is undeniably impressive in its scope, but her journey from popular talk show host to a multibillionaire is what’s really stunning.
It’s certainly no surprise that the legendary director of “E.T.,” Jaws” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” among others, is incredibly rich. But his net worth in excess of $3.7 billion puts him in extremely rarified air for someone in the entertainment industry.
Of course, even Spielberg and Oprah have to crane their necks to get a look at George Lucas, whose sale of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 paved the way to the wildly popular “Star Wars” sequels as well as a $4 billion payday for Lucas, who was the sole owner. May the dividend check be with him.
It’s not a surprise that fashion designer Ralph Lauren is a wealthy man for his role in founding his eponymous apparel company. What’s surprising is just how rich he is. Worth more than $8 billion, Ralph Lauren is richer than New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. Apparently, there’s more money in prep-wear than one might think. In 2018, the designer celebrated the iconic brand’s 50th anniversary at New York Fashion Week with a black-tie event that had huge celebrities like Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, Kanye West and Tony Bennett in attendance.
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Andrew Lisa and Priscilla Aguilera contributed to the reporting for this article.
All net worth figures are provided by Celebrity Net Worth unless otherwise noted and are accurate as of May 8, 2020.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Celebrities Who Are Richer Than You Think
