Celebrities Who Are Heirs To Giant Fortunes
Some celebrities were just born lucky — becoming heirs to giant fortunes before they were even old enough to walk.
So, while Academy-award winning actor Viola Davis grew up in an environment where she realized she "was the kind of poor where I knew right away I had less than everyone around me," and Leonardo DiCaprio's single mother worked several jobs to support herself and her son, there were other future famous folk out there who never had to worry about saving pennies.
And we doubt they can relate to the plights of celebs like Hilary Swank, who lived in a car with her mother before she started landing roles, or rapper Missy Elliot, who resided in a trailer park in Jacksonville, N.C. Born into enormous wealth and privilege before they stepped foot on a red carpet, these very fortunate stars have fall-back plans in case their careers don't work out. As children and grandchildren to musical icons or media bosses, these celebrities are heirs to giant fortunes. With any luck, you might be related to one of them.
Zoe Kravitz
"When I was younger, I really wanted to prove to people I was a normal human being, that I was cool, chill," Zoë Kravitz told Complex in 2015. "When kids were mean, the first thing they'd say is, 'She thinks she's so f***ing cool because her dad is famous.'" She added, "I just wanted to fit in."
That's a great problem to have, so we can't feel too sorry for Zoë Kravitz — especially since her dad is rocker and actor Lenny Kravitz, who has a reported net worth of $40 million. Oh, and her mother is The Cosby Show and A Different World star Lisa Bonet, who has a reported net worth of $10 million.
And did we mention Zoë's stepfather, Game Of Thrones and Aquaman star Jason Momoa? He married her mother in 2017 after 13 years of dating, and he has a reported net worth of $14 million. We get the feeling that — no matter what — Zoë Kravitz is going to be okay.
Riley Keough
Since her film debut in 2010's The Runaways, Riley Keough has starred in one critically acclaimed hit after another, including Magic Mike, Mad Max: Fury Road, American Honey, It Comes At Night, Logan Lucky, and Netflix's Hold The Dark.
Keough could walk into any party and brag about her accomplishments, but, if anyone tried to top her story, she could then counter with, "Oh yeah? Well, I'm Elvis Presley's granddaughter and Michael Jackson's stepdaughter." Seriously. Her mom, Lisa Marie Presley, married Michael Jackson in 1994 when Keough was five.
However, she probably wasn't worried about being named in Michael Jackson's will. Her grandfather, who died in 1977, made $35 million in 2017 and still has an estimated net worth of $300 million, as of May 2017. Being a Presley has also influenced Keough's acting career. "It's been a huge help," Keough admitted to The Guardian in 2017. "I'm very privileged. Like the normal story of moving to LA and it takes you three years to find an agent? I got one in a week."
Balthazar Getty
Lord of the Flies star Balthazar Getty was born into American royalty. The world's richest man at this time of his death, the actor's great-grandfather J. Paul Getty became a billionaire with Getty Oil. And when Texaco bought the company in 1984 for $10.1 billion, the price of Getty stock went "from $50 a share to $125 a share" with the family owning 40 percent (per CNN). You do the math. In 2015, Forbes ranked the Gettys as the 56th wealthiest family in America with an estimated net worth of $5.4 billion.
Balthazar Getty struggled with his family's legacy growing up (it likely didn't help for him to learn that his father, John Paul Getty III, was kidnapped and held for ransom in 1973, as portrayed in 2017's All The Money In The World), and he had to wait for his inheritance. "I didn't ever want to be labeled a rich kid, because I wasn't," he told People in 2014. "The structure of how [family trusts] work didn't allow me to be at that point." He continued, "We didn't have anything material-wise, that didn't happen until much later."
By 2016, he fully embraced the Getty name. "I don't see it anymore as something I have to run from," he told the Evening Standard. He even bought a Porsche Turbo. "It was my first 'F**k You' car," he explained. Poor guy.
Spike Jonze
As a prolific music video director, Spike Jonze worked with the likes of Fatboy Slim, Bjork, Weezer, Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, and Beck, and he helped define Gen X. In the years that followed, Jonze directed his first feature film, Being John Malkovich, which earned him a Best Director nomination at the 72nd Academy Awards. Whether Jonze is acting in movies like Three Kings, or directing critically acclaimed hits like Where The Wild Things Are or Her, he remains firmly entrenched in the business.
But we know what you're thinking. "Hey, 'Spike Jonze' sounds like a fake name," right? Well, you'd be correct because it is a fake name. Spike Jonze was born Adam Spiegel. And if that moniker sounds familiar, it's because it's the name of the direct marketing and catalog company Spiegel. Making Jonze (per New York Magazine) the "heir to the $3-billion-a-year" business. If he ever decides to make a film about a catalog company, Jonze will have come full circle.
Ivanka Trump
You may know Ivanka Trump as the First Daughter and advisor to her father, President Donald Trump, but she's also a successful businesswoman. Per Money, Ivanka Trump made $12 million in 2017 from a variety of sources: a $289,300 book advance from Penguin Random House for Women Who Work, a $2 million severance package when she left the Trump Organization, $3.9 million "from her stake in the Trump International Hotel," and "$5 million from the Ivanka M. Trump Business Trust."
According to the New York Times, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, made "between $82 million and $222 million" in income through their "real estate holdings and other investments." Her estimated net worth is $300 million and, combined with her husband's income, she sits on approximately $800 million.
That amount isn't chump change, but it's a far cry from what she'll inherit from her dad. As the Forbes 400 reported in 2018, Donald Trump's estimated net worth is a staggering $3.1 billion.
Willow and Jaden Smith
"Growing up and trying to figure out your life while people feel like they have some sort of entitlement to know what's going on, is absolutely, excruciatingly terrible," Willow Smith told Girlgaze (via W Magazine) in 2017. "The only way to get over it is to go into it. You can't change your face. You can't change your parents." Willow's brother Jaden Smith also found living in their parents' shadow to be pretty bad, as he asked for his legal emancipation at the age of 15.
However, he must have quickly remembered that celebrities Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were his parents and that they have an estimated combined net worth of $280 million. "See, here's the thing I need to explain: I'm not going anywhere. The thing that people don't get is everything at [his father's] house is free," Jaden said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2013. "I can get anything and everything that I want at his house, so I think I'm going to be there for 20, 30 more years." We feel this is a wise decision.
Carly Simon
Carly Simon rose to fame in the 1970s with songs like "Anticipation" and "Coming Around Again." While the people who inspired her hit, "You're So Vain," remain a mystery (we only know that one verse is about Warren Beatty), it is known that the famous singer's surname is part of something even more famous — the book publishing powerhouse, Simon & Schuster.
Simon's father, Richard Simon, who co-founded the company in 1924, was forced out in 1957 and died of a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 61. According to Rolling Stone, Carly Simon revealed in the autobiography, Boys In Trees, that she spent her "small inheritance" on therapy and psychoanalysis due to very unfortunate and horrific reasons. In an interview with People in 2015, the singer claimed she had a sexual relationship with a family friend starting when she was just 7 years old. "It was heinous," she explained. "It changed my view about sex for a long time."
Anderson Cooper
CNN's Anderson Cooper is the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and the great-great-great-grandson of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was reportedly worth $100 million in 1877. Let that sink in for a moment — he was worth $100 million in ...1877. Although his fashion designer mother is worth $200 million — plot twist! — Anderson Cooper won't see a dime.
"My mom's made it clear to me that, like, there's no trust fund," he told Howard Stern in 2016. "There's none of that." Claiming that he doesn't "believe in inheriting money," the Anderson Cooper 360 host said any potential inheritance would be an "initiative-sucker" or a "curse."
"Who's, like, inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life?" he added. "From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some like pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would have been so motivated." Let's hope Cooper's future children don't hear this because their dad earns $11 million a year at CNN, making him one of the highest-paid anchors on television, and he has an estimated net worth of $110 million.
Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney is a fashion designer who has amassed a net worth of $75 million. A Hollywood and fashionista favorite, Stella McCartney's designs have been worn by the likes of Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. She even designed the little number Gwyneth Paltrow wore at her 2018 wedding reception.
Earlier that same year (per The Guardian), Stella purchased a 50 percent stake in the label she founded in 2001, giving her full control and cementing herself as a fashion heavy-hitter for years to come. "It is the right moment to acquire the full control of the company bearing my name. This opportunity represents a crucial patrimonial decision for me," she said in a statement. "I look forward to the next chapter of my life and what this brand and our team can achieve in the future."
You have to appreciate that level of work ethic when you know her father is former Beatle and living music legend, Sir Paul McCartney. You can appreciate the work ethic more when you realize Sir Paul McCartney's estimated net worth is a whopping $1.2 billion. You read that right. Billion. So clearly, as a celeb of the fashion world and the presumed heir to Paul's fortune, Stella will never have to worry about money.