Celebrities With Big Transformations in the Last 10 years
If you’re over 25, it’s hard to believe that 2010 was a whole decade ago. A lot has undoubtedly changed in your life in those 10 years, celebrities are no different. Some were barely getting started in their careers back then, while others were on a trajectory that didn’t last.
With so many celebrities out there, it’s impossible to keep track of them all, so you’re certain to be surprised by some of the changes they’ve experienced. Read on to find out who changed the most.
Chris Pratt Was That Goofy Guy on Parks and Recreation
After roles in teen dramas Everwood and The O.C. in the 2000s, Chris Pratt reintroduced himself to audiences as the out-of-shape ex-boyfriend of Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation. Season two began with Andy Dwyer living in a pit and established the dumb but loveable nature of the character.
While this was Pratt’s breakthrough role, at the time, he was still being typecast in youthful and immature roles. When he did secure parts for himself, they were usually as minor characters.
Now He’s an Action Film Heartthrob
2013 was a turning point in Chris Pratt’s career. He landed leading roles in not one, but two action movies: Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy. With multi-film contracts and epic box office sales, Pratt was helming two gigantic franchises.
The decade saw Pratt drop 70 pounds, achieve success in voice acting with The Lego Movie, rank number two on People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive list, and earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Overall, it was a pretty great 10 years for the 40-year-old, who is now married to Katherine Schwarzenegger.
Kylie Jenner Lived in the Background of her Family’s Show
In 2010, 12-year-old Kylie Jenner had a background role in the fifth season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. She got into minor trouble like most teenagers for breaking house rules and playing pranks on her older siblings.
At that point, Kylie was still enrolled in private school at Sierra Canyon School where she was a cheerleader. Her biggest worries on-screen were about tension in her parents’ relationship and her mom’s secret smoking habit. By 2011, Kylie began wanting some space from momager, Kris.
Now She Is a Self-Made Billionaire
Less than five years ago, 18-year-old Kylie took the $250,000 she earned from modeling and sponsorships and launched her first line of lipstick. That quickly grew into the Kylie Cosmetics enterprise, which is now valued at $1.2 billion.
In 2019, Kylie Jenner set records as the youngest-ever “self-made” (meaning she didn’t inherit her money) billionaire. She hit the $1 billion mark two years younger than Mark Zuckerberg did. Recently, the 22-year-old mom sold a 51% majority stake of her company to Coty Inc. — the owners of CoverGirl, Clairol and OPI.
Bradley Cooper Was Typecast as the Attractive Supporting Actor
After many supporting roles as the hot funny guy, Bradley Cooper dabbled in drama with the 2008 horror film The Midnight Meat Train. Unfortunately, his lead performance was not seen by many moviegoers.
2009 saw his career breakthrough with The Hangover, which reinforced audience expectations of the actor. His role in The A-Team was as poorly received as the film itself with Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph writing, “Cooper confirms his credentials as perhaps the most smugly narcissistic performer.”
Now He Is a Hollywood Legend With Seven Academy Award Nominations
Bradley Cooper proved everyone wrong about his acting skills with his portrayal of the complex Pat Solitano Jr. in 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook. His performance earned him his first MTV Movie Award and Best Actor nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Over the years, he gained more critical and commercial success with his work in American Hustle, American Sniper, The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and A Star Is Born. The latter was his directorial debut and earned him numerous award nominations and praise.
Meghan Markle Was Looking for Her Big Break
With only minor roles and guest appearances on TV and in movies, Meghan Markle’s most consistent acting work up to 2010 was being a “briefcase girl” on Deal or No Deal. Between acting gigs, she supported herself as a freelance calligrapher and bookbinding instructor.
Before landing her role on Suits in 2011, Meghan found her ethnic ambiguity limited her career. Writing in 2015, she explained, “I wasn’t black enough for the black roles and I wasn’t white enough for the white ones, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn’t book a job.”
Now She Is the Duchess of Sussex
After being set up with Prince Harry on a blind date in 2016, Meghan’s drastically changed. As the couple became more serious, she made the decision to close down her lifestyle website, The Tig, and delete all published articles.
Upon announcing their engagement, Meghan retired from acting and pursued British citizenship in preparation for her new role as duchess. She deleted all her social media accounts a few months before their wedding in 2018. She is now the Duchess of Sussex and mother to the 7th in line for the throne.
Prince Harry Was the Wild Younger Brother Making Tabloid Headlines
Speaking of the British monarchy, Prince Harry spent his teens and early 20s displaying a rebellious streak that often landed him in the tabloids and at odds with the paparazzi. His transgressions included underage drinking and smoking pot, inappropriate Nazi costumes and using racial slurs with his military comrades.
After five years in the royal military and a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Prince Harry was presented with his flying wings in 2010. He then began training for his Apache flying test so he could return to the frontlines in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot.
Now He Is a Respected Activist, Husband and Father
In 2014, Prince Harry took a more active role in charity work by launching the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style sporting event for men and women injured in the line of duty.
He remains a patron of the foundation as well as the HALO Trust, the London Marathon Charitable Trust and Walking With The Wounded. He has been an active advocate for HIV testing and mental health awareness through the Heads Together initiative. And of course, he married a certain American and is now a father.
Lady Gaga Was Known for Her Outlandish and Polarizing Persona
The most notable person on the 2010 VMA red carpet was Lady Gaga clad in meat. Real. Raw. Meat. At only 24, she had already released albums The Fame and The Fame Monster with chart-topping singles Just Dance, Poker Face and Bad Romance, setting the bar for the pop music of the next decade.
By October of that year, she was the first person to hit more than one billion combined views on YouTube and the first woman to receive two nominations for Video of the Year at the same ceremony.
Now She Is an Oscar-Winning Leading Lady
Her single You and I on the 2011 album Born This Way proved beyond a doubt her singing talent. Each of her next three albums was distinctly different, from the traditional vocal duets with Tony Bennett on Cheek to Cheek to the folk-inspired Joanne.
Lady Gaga also showed her chops as an actress in her Golden Globe-winning performance on American Horror Story: Hotel and her starring role in A Star Is Born, which not only earned her dozens of award nominations, but also an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Joaquin Phoenix Retired From Acting to Pursue a Hip Hop Career
After an impressive acting career, Joaquin Phoenix shocked the world when he announced his retirement from acting to pursue a career as a rapper in 2008. When he appeared completely out of it on the Late Show with David Letterman the next February, many speculated that he’d truly lost it.
Meanwhile, Casey Affleck began filming a documentary about Joaquin’s career transition. The film, I’m Still Here, premiered on September 6, 2010. It wasn’t revealed until another appearance on the Late Show in late September that it was a mockumentary. Phoenix had been in character for the past two years.
Now He Is Back on Top as an Acclaimed Actor
With his public return to acting in 2011, Joaquin Phoenix quickly earned himself more award nominations for his role in The Master. A string of critical successes followed including his notable performances in Her, You Were Never Really Here and Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.
Phoenix received his sixth Golden Globe nomination in 2019 for The Joker. A box office blowout, it was the first R-rated film to pass the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office. The year ended with him working on another independent film with Mike Mills and A24.
Miley Cyrus Was Barely Navigating Life Beyond Hannah Montana
A freshly eighteen Miley Cyrus began to flex an edgier adult image in 2010. Even though she still had another year to go on Hannah Montana, she shed the persona of her Disney Channel role for The Last Song. That began her 10-year on-again, off-again relationship with Liam Hemsworth when they met during shooting.
Later that year, a viral video of her smoking salvia from a bong made the rounds. Her controversial third album, Can’t Be Tamed featured songs with racier lyrics and performances by her on tour.
Now She Is Redefining Herself Yet Again
The past 10 years saw Miley try on many different looks and musical styles. 2013 was marked by her tour and album Bangers, which she described as “dirty south hip-hop”. She experimented with a psychedelic sound on Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz before getting in touch with her country roots again in Younger Now.
While openly identifying as pansexual and gender-fluid, Miley married long-time boyfriend Liam Hemsworth in 2018. Less than a year later, the two separated and filed for divorce.
Shia LaBeouf Already Had Multiple Blockbuster Hits Under His Belt
By 2010, Shia LaBeouf had fully transitioned from child Disney star on Even Stevens to adult action hero with movies like Disturbia, Eagle Eye, Indiana Jones and the Transformers franchise. While he slowed down in 2010 with only one film release, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, his performance was a critical success.
The Hollywood Reporter listed LaBeouf as part of the next generation of Hollywood A-listers. He also made his directorial debut with the 2009 music video I Never Knew You by American rapper Cage.
Now He’s Re-entering Hollywood’s Good Graces After Some Rough Years
Shia began a bit of a downward spiral in 2014 when he wore a brown paper bag over his head with the words “I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE” written on it to the Berlin Film Festival. This marked the beginning of controversial performance art pieces with artists Luke Turner and Nastja Säde Rönkkö.
2014 and 2017 would land LaBeouf in jail for disorderly conduct and rehab for alcohol and drug addiction. While in rehab, he wrote the screenplay for Honey Boy, which was released in 2019 and met with critical acclaim.
Kristen Stewart Collected a Steady Paycheck With The Twilight Saga
After her uncredited acting debut in 2000, Kristen Stewart had consistent work in films for the next decade. With the release of the third Twilight movie, she was the highest-paid actress of 2010. Her portrayal of Joan Jett that year in The Runaways earned significant critical praise.
The Metro Times commented, “It turns out that Stewart is actually really good at capturing Jett’s icy, tough-but-cool girl swagger, adding the needed touches of vulnerability that transform it into a pretty terrific performance … Stewart is a genuine rock star here.”
Now She’s Changed Her Look and Is Picky About Her Roles
After leading roles in Snow White and the Huntsman and an outed affair with her older, married director, Stewart decided to take a break from big-budget films. However, she continued to receive critical praise for her work in independent productions. In 2019, she returned to the silver screen in Charlie’s Angels.
Stewart also began a near-constant string of relationships with various women after the end of her four-year relationship with co-star Robert Pattinson in 2013. Most recently, she has dated screenwriter Dylan Meyer since August 2019.
Jonah Hill Was Still Chubby and Starring in His First Major Film
Jonah Hill got his start in the 2004 indie comedy I Heart Huckabees. He continued acting as supporting characters in Judd Apatow films and other teen comedies. His first leading role was with Michael Cera in Superbad.
In 2009, he was an associate producer and writer on the Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary Brüno. 2010 marked the release of his biggest film yet, Get Him to the Greek. He turned down a leading role in The Hangover for the British-American dramatic comedy Cyrus.
Now He Has Proven Himself as a Dramatic Actor and Filmmaker
When Hill appeared at the 2011 ESPY awards, he was notably slimmer, a step he took to obtain more serious roles. That same year, he broke out of his comedy typecast with his role as a nerdy statistician in Moneyball. The performance earned him both a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
More recently, he starred in Maniac opposite Emma Stone and released his directorial debut, Mid90s, which he also wrote. He earned a spot on Vanity Fair’s best-dressed list and is in negotiations to play the next Batman villain.
Gal Gadot Was Only Known in The States For Fast & Furious
Gal Gadot won Miss Israel at 18 years old in 2004. As an Israeli, she fulfilled her two years of mandatory military service beginning when she was 20. She continued modeling during that time and was featured in Maxim‘s 2007 “Women of the IDF” photoshoot.
After her first year of college studying law, she auditioned for Quantum of Solace. That put her on the casting director’s radar for Fast & Furious auditions three months later. Her military experience is what won the director over, and she performed her own stunts in the 2009 film.
Now She Is a Household Name as Wonder Woman
It wasn’t until Gal Gadot’s role in the 2017 Wonder Woman that she skyrocketed into household name status. When the movie debuted it became the highest-grossing film directed by a woman (now beaten by Captain Marvel).
As a mother to two girls, her success in the role meant more to her than a paycheck. She explained in an interview, “Most of the movies, the men are in charge, the men are the most powerful ones … Wonder Woman was never there. I’m so happy when [Alma] grows up she’s going to see a female figure she can be inspired by.”
Justin Bieber Had Just Released Baby and Bieber Fever Was About to Spread
A baby-faced Justin Bieber broke out when his debut EP landed in November of 2009. At just 15 years old, he was the first musician to have seven songs from a debut record make the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
He rang in the new decade with a performance at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. In January, he was invited to sing Lionel Richie’s opening line in the We Are the World anniversary remake for Haiti. He presented at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards and dropped his single, Baby, all in the same month.
Now He’s Working on His First Studio Album in Five Years
Unsurprisingly for a teenage boy growing up in the spotlight, Justin caused a few scandals, including a 2014 arrest. He finally released a number one song in 2015 with his album Purpose. Professionally, he focused on collaborations for the past five years, but he is now working on a new studio album.
After an eight-year on-again, off-again relationship with Selena Gomez, the couple finally broke up for good in 2018. Justin Bieber then began dating model Hailey Baldwin, and they quickly became engaged with a formal wedding in 2019.
Bruce Jenner Was the Former Olympian Dad on Keeping Up With the Kardashians
When Keeping Up With The Kardashians began, Bruce Jenner was the most famous member of the family as the former “world’s greatest athlete”. By 2010, however, he was a quiet background figure trying to be the voice of reason amid the drama and chaos.
At 60 years old, he was no stranger to cosmetic surgery and had recently had a second facelift to correct previous work. Kim commented on her blog, “Bruce looks better than ever and he is extremely happy with the result.” Later in the year, stepson Rob helped him get his ears pierced.
Now She Is Embracing Life as Caitlyn Jenner
After a couple of years of public speculation, Jenner came out as a trans woman to Diane Sawyer in a 20/20 interview in 2015. She revealed she had crossdressed and taken hormone replacement therapy for many years prior to her relationship with Kris but discontinued when they married in 1991.
She legally changed her name to Caitlyn Marie Jenner in September 2015 and underwent sex reassignment surgery in January 2017. She released a memoir, The Secrets of My Life, later that year. She currently identifies as asexual and is enjoying life at 70.
Donald Trump Was Best Known for His Catchphrase “You’re Fired” on The Apprentice
Since the late 1970s, Donald Trump has garnered public attention with his business activities. As a real estate mogul, he heavily invested in New York City buildings, including the Plaza Hotel. Financial losses in the 90s forced Trump to change his focus to branding and licensing his name for building projects owned and operated by outside entities.
Eventually, Trump’s organization owned several hundred business ventures. In 2004, he began hosting the NBC reality show The Apprentice where business people completed corporate projects in competition for a one-year $250,000 contract in a managerial position with Trump.
Now He Is the President of the United States
In 2015, Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States with the slogan, “Make America Great Again”. As one of 17 Republican candidates, his campaign was not taken seriously at first by political analysts.
Trump won the 2016 election in a stunning political upset. His presidency was met with one controversy after another, including the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. He is only one of three presidents in U.S. history to be impeached, with the others being Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999.
