Stars Who Struggled Before Making It Big

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry is now one of the most successful filmmakers of his time for making movies that people can easily relate to, but growing up was a different story. Suffering from multiple counts of abuse, he often found refuge in going to church with his mother on Sundays. As he grew older, he took up writing to come to terms with everything he endured growing up. Perry eventually wrote I Know I’ve Been Changed, which was about adults forgiving their abusers.

He decided to turn it into a play and spent all of his savings to fund the production. Unfortunately, only 30 people showed up to the first showing and he ended up broke. He then had to live on the streets and had to save more money taking jobs in construction and working as a used-car salesman.