9 celebrities you didn't know grew up super rich (2024)

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Nick Kroll's father founded a corporate investigation company, which he sold for $2 billion in 2004.

Kroll is an actor, comedian, writer, and producer known for Comedy Central's "The Kroll Show" and for creating and starring in Netflix's "Big Mouth" and "Human Resources,"among other hit shows, but he's not the only success story in his family.

According toThe Richest, Fortune credits his father, Jules Kroll, with creating the corporate investigation industry. In 2004, he sold his company, Kroll Inc., for almost $2 billion, Forbesreported in 2014.

Nick Kroll grew up in Westchester County, New York. In 2009, he told The New Yorker that he and his siblings had a relatively normal childhood. He also said that although he was grateful that his father made time for him despite his job, he felt embarrassed when Jules would arrive at his Little League games in a limousine.

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Anderson Cooper belongs to one of the richest families in the United States.

Journalist and commentator Anderson Cooper is a direct descendant of the Vanderbilts, whom Britannica describes as"one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in the United States."

His great-great-great grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, built his fortune primarily through investing in steamships and railroads. Upon his death in 1899, Cornelius had amassed $100 million — over $3 billion in today's money.

"He had more money than the US Treasury," Cooper told CBS in 2021.

Cooper's mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, grew up as an American socialite due to her family's status. She later became an artist, actress, designer, and author. She died in 2019.

His father, Wyatt Emory Cooper, was Vanderbilt's fourth husband. Before he died at the age of 50, he worked as an author and an actor.

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Gwyneth Paltrow describes herself as "completely self-made" despite having been raised by parents in the entertainment industry.

Gwyneth Paltrow comes from a family of entertainment-industry natives. She spent her childhood at prestigious private schools in Los Angeles and New York City, before dropping out of college to act.

Bruce Paltrow, her father, was a nine-time Emmy-nominated director and producer. His most notable titles include "St. Elsewhere" and "White Shadow." Meanwhile, her mother is Emmy- and Tony-winning actress Blythe Dannerof "Meet the Parents," "Meet the Fockers," and "The Last Kiss."

Despite her parents' success, Paltrow refers to herself as "completely self-made."

"People think, 'She's just a rich kid.' Until I was 18, I was. Then I was broke. I've never taken a dime off my parents. I'm completely self-made," she told Glamour in 2016.

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Cara Delevingne's family isn't just rich — they have ties to the royal family.

Supermodel and actor Cara Delevingne is the daughter of Charles Delevingne, a successful real-estate developer, and Pandora Delevingne, a socialite. Her paternal grandmother was a socialite, and her paternal grandfather was a notable lawyer and politician.

But that's not where it ends. According to Vogue, Cara's maternal grandfather, Sir Jocelyn Stevens, owned Queen magazine, which is now Harper's Bazaar. Further, her maternal grandmother, Janie Sheffield, was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus' father, a businessman, was reportedly worth $3.4 billion at one point.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the great-great-granddaughter of Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, who founded the Louis Dreyfus Company, a merchant firm that deals primarily with agriculture, food, and shipping. Her father, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, eventually became the chairman of the company. In 2006, about 10 years before his death, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $3.4 billion, and named him the 200th richest billionaire in the world.

In 2018, the"Seinfeld" star toldThe New Yorker that her father's wealth is overestimated by the press, and that she finds the term "billionaire heiress" to be "heinous."

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Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's parents were prominent figures in the entertainment industry.

Their father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is an Emmy-winning director who has worked on films such as "Paris Trout," "Homegrown," and "A Dangerous Woman." Their mother, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning screenwriter whose most notable film is "Running On Empty."

The Gyllenhaal siblings, Maggie and Jake, have had prolific careers ever since their costarring breakout roles in "Donnie Darko" in 2001.

In 2010, Jake told The Guardian, "My mother would say that there are people who have so much money who don't give any of it away and there are other people who have much less money, who give more than the richest people in the world. It should all be about giving something back."

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King Princess' great-great-grandfather owned Macy's, and her father owns a well-known recording studio.

Pop artist King Princess — or Mikaela Mullaney Straus — is the great-great-grandchild of Isidor and Ida Straus.

Before the couple fell victim to the Titanic sinking, Isidor served as a member of the United States Congress and co-owned Macy's with his brother, Insider's Gabbi Shaw previously reported. Isidor and Ida Straus have been depicted in multiple movies and have a memorial garden in New York City.

In 2019, King Princess told Rolling Stone that she didn't inherit their money.

"They were very rich and Jewish, [but] I didn't inherit any of this money. It was a little frustrating, but whatever," she said.

The pop star's father, Oliver Straus, is also successful. He owns a recording studio in Brooklyn called Mission Sound, where world-famous bands like Arctic Monkeys have recorded music.

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Actor Armie Hammer's great-grandfather, Armand, was an oil tycoon and, like his great-grandson, was a controversial figure.

Armand Hammer, Armie Hammer's grandfather, was an oil tycoon who managedOccidental Petroleum Corporation. According to Britannica, under Armand Hammer's leadership, Occidental went from the brink of bankruptcy to bringing in billions of dollars annually. In 1986, Forbes estimated Armand Hammer's net worth to be $200 million.

However, according to Elle, Armand Hammer's biographer, Neil Lyndon, referred to him as "the most satanic man of the second half of the 20th Century" and the "embodiment of sin [and] ruthless ego" in a 2022 docuseries, "House of Hammer."

"In terms of corrupting the political process, in terms of controlling people, and making them dance his tune, there is no comparison," said Lyndon.

Armie Hammer has also been mired in controversy. Two women have accused him of sexual abuse, including an ex-girlfriend, Courtney Vucekovich, who claimed to have endured trauma throughout her romantic relationship with the actor. According to Vucekovich, in addition to suffering from sexual abuse inflicted by Armie, he sent her messages in which he alluded to cannibalistic desires, including, "I am 100% a cannibal" and "I want to eat you." Armie Hammer has denied the allegations, saying that any interactions with his partners were consensual.

In 2022, Casey Hammer, Armie Hammer's aunt, told Insider that she "wasn't surprised or shocked" by allegations against him.

"You don't just wake up one day and become a monster," she said. "It's a learned behavior and again, that's why I wasn't shocked by a lot of what was happening."

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Lana Del Rey's father is the founder of a successful company, WebMediaProperties.com.

Lana Del Rey, whose given name is Lizzy Grant, is the daughter of Rob Grant, the founder of WebMediaProperties.com. According to Who API, Grant's company operated 1,600 websites and owned about 800 domain names as of 2012.

A 2012 article in The Guardian by Paul Harris discusses the way Lana Del Rey hid her real identity as she emerged as a star.

"People were suspicious of the way Grant's failed album, and all her social media websites, appeared to have been scrubbed from the internet just before Del Rey appeared," Harris wrote.

The same Guardian article claims that her father backed her career when she was just starting out.

Grant recently announced that he will be releasing his first album, "Lost at Sea," on June 9, 2023. Although Del Rey has not commented on her father's success as a businessman, she recently discussed his budding music career.

"This is either gonna be the beginning of something beautiful or take us all down," Del Rey said in Instagram comments in February, according to Virgin Radio UK.