Amazing Interviews That Skyrocketed A Celeb's Career
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Turn on any talk show, and viewers are sure to see their favorite celebrities promoting their next big thing. Whether it be a major motion picture or memoir detailing their road to fame, it's become a pretty standard way nowadays for a celebrity to build their brand. After all, people repeatedly tune in hopes to see what their favorite stars are up to or to catch even just a glimpse of hot new Hollywood gossip. There's always something going on in this city filled with celebrities.
Every once in a while, however, there's that one interview that stands out from the rest. It gets the Internet interested, causes social media to spiral, and eventually skyrockets the star's sometimes already cozy career even further into fame. We've all seen those certain someones blowing up our newsfeeds. Read on for some pretty amazing interviews that were the surprising start of skyrocketing these celebrities' careers.
Danielle Bregoli's rehab turned into rap
When 13-year-old Danielle Bregoli appeared on Dr. Phil in 2016, the mouthy teen walked away with more than just a therapeutic trip to Turn-About Ranch. It was in the midst of negotiating issues between Bregoli and her mother, which regularly turned violent, that the TV therapist inadvertently created an Internet favorite. "Cash [catch] me outside! How 'bout dat?" the teenager quipped back to a jeering audience, and with that, a star, a catchphrase, and a nickname were all born at once. But first, rehab.
When she arrived home from the residential treatment program for teens, Bregoli had unknowingly made a name for herself. A man named Adam Kluger immediately reached out to her and her mother, telling the The New York Times that he explained, "I want to manage you. Give me some time, and I'll make you a star. I'll make you rich." It seemed to be a no-brainer for the mother daughter team. "With no hesitation, they were like, 'O.K., done,'" he said. "They had no clue what that meant."
A rapping career followed for the teen, branding Bregoli with a name that was spelled as incorrectly as her catchphrase — Bhad Bhabie, which is pronounced "bad baby." A Snapchat-based reality show followed, receiving 10 million views within its first 24 hours (via Inquisitr).
It all seems fitting coming from the psychologist who also got his big career break from an interview that aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The interview where Meghan Markle was not okay
Between juggling a newborn and newlywed life — oh, and did we mention becoming royalty? — Meghan Markle's had a lot on her plate, but nothing shook the world more than her revealing 2019 documentary on ITV. When Markle was asked how she had been doing in the royal spotlight, it became fair to say not so good. "Not many people have asked if I'm okay," Markle responded to the reporter. "But it's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."
Everyone everywhere in the world seemed to take to social media to voice their empathy for the young couple. #WeLoveYouMeghan immediately started trending online (via NBC News). A few months after the iconic interview, Markle and Prince Harry decided to "step back" from their senior roles in the royal family. "It was so many months of talks of so many years of challenges," he issued in a statement. "And I know I haven't always got it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option."
Following this decision, attention from the media — and the world — seemed to only skyrocket the couple even further into stardom. As Markle is no longer constricted by royalty's rules, it has given her the opportunity to pursue what the former actress is most comfortable with: television. As such, the couple is already said to have made inroads with both Netflix and Disney (via Western Telegraph).
One interview took Dr. Mehmet Oz from surgeon to set
Oprah made a powerhouse psychologist, and she also made America's direct-to-TV doctor. "I grabbed a bunch of organs in an Igloo cooler," Dr. Mehmet Oz told Mediabistro of his first interview, adding, "And I walked onto the set, put on my $14 cotton scrubs to keep my clothes clean, and appeared on the Oprah show." But the doctor initially had no intentions of being on any big screens, until he realized the power that media could have on medicine. "America wasn't getting the message, because American medicine wasn't giving it to them," he said. "And I wanted to change that."
Naturally, his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show was a discussion on an extremely important topic — passing gas. The now famous doc admits that he was pretty naive when it came to first stepping foot on set. "I think, actually, that's why it worked," he told Fox 35 Orlando. "Because if I had been really aware of what a big deal it was to go on the Oprah show, I don't think the relationship would have worked."
Fortunately, it did work for the embarrassingly honest, scrub-wearing star. Winfrey loved him so much that he appeared on her show regularly for five years before leading him to a series of his own, The Dr. Oz Show (via Oprah.com).
"It has changed my life," Dr. Oz told Mediabistro. "Because I was able to attend the Oprah Winfrey University." Free tuition, too.
A psychic foresaw Kelly Ripa's future on live TV
Before Kelly Ripa got her co-hosting gig on Live with Regis and Kelly — or Live with Kelly and Michael or Live with Kelly and Ryan — she had to audition for the job just like everybody else. In 2000, she was invited onto the show to see if she had the career charisma to replace the kooky Kathie Lee Gifford.
That day, a psychic named Char Margolis was a guest, and Ripa's interview with the woman was a little more divulging than she initially intended to share during her first "interview" for the job. When the psychic medium came into contact with Ripa's deceased grandmother, she explained, "She's saying that she's going to watch over you when this new baby comes, and it's soon. It's not far away." Ripa was immediately stunned when the psychic flat-out asked her, "You're not pregnant yet, are you?" It's definitely not a question many women are concerned with during their first job interview (at least, not legally, anyway).
"I haven't told my boss yet," was Ripa's reply on live television. She had only told a few close family members.
Regis Philbin recalled in his autobiography (via The Washington Post) that they immediately hired Ripa after this unforgettable altercation. "In the end, it could only be Kelly," he wrote, adding, "We kind of knew that from her memorable debut onward. She was the right choice and really the only choice."
Kalen Allen's cooking commentary made him a celeb
Before appearing on The Ellen Show in 2018, college kid Kalen Allen had five jobs all while juggling being a full time student — not including the popular food review videos he was regularly posting on Youtube. From ketchup cakes to peanut butter and cheese fudge, food critic Kalen followed along and filmed his reactions to recipes that others posted online. After posting his first video, he explained, "When I went to sleep that night, it had maybe, like 20 likes on it. Then I woke up the next morning, it had, like, 6,000 followers on my Twitter!"
When Ellen DeGeneres caught wind of this, she immediately had to meet him. During this Philly food kid's first appearance on the popular talk show, he was offered a dream job on the spot. "We want to make a deal with you so you actually have a platform and to help you make these videos," DeGeneres told him during their interview.
He was stunned. Before even finalizing a contract with the comedian, Allen had already moved himself out of his college dorm and to the big city of Los Angeles. The food critic now regularly creates content for her digital platform, EllenTube, that gains hundreds of millions of viewers with each posting. "You have really just changed my entire life," he told DeGeneres in a later interview.
Nate Berkus designed a life of stardom after a single Oprah interview
Another student to come from the infamous Oprah Winfrey University was interior designer Nate Berkus, who also never dreamed about being on television prior to his debut on her talk show in 2002. "Being famous or having a show was never the motivation," he told Forbes. "I got a call and was swept up by the challenge of that first small space redesign. We got out in the field and I found that I loved doing it."
His first mission on her show: Redesign a 319 square foot apartment. The client was so blown away by the transformation that Oprah Winfrey had the young designer as a regular guest for another 130 interior makeovers. Winfrey exclaimed to the crowd following his first interview, "That's Nate Berkus, people! Remember that name!"
And people did. Berkus' initial interview led to New York Times best sellers, collections at Target and Living Spaces, and a starring role on the Emmy Award-winning The Nate Berkus Show, which had a two year run. However, his television career didn't end there. TLC was quick to pick up Berkus and his also designer husband for a new television show, Nate & Jeremiah by Design. "There's a thousand makeover shows on TV. There's a thousand people that do makeover shows, but I think the distinction with ours is that we really care and connect to the homeowners," Berkus told BUILD Series, adding, "These families have our mobile phone numbers." Maybe they'll share?
Tiffany Haddish name-dropped the right person in this interview
Tiffany Haddish's career was beginning to gain her recognition after the release of the funny film Girls Trip, but after an interview with GQ in 2018, the magazine — and the world — got a little more than they bargained for while getting to know the rising actress.
Of course, one of the perks of rising to celebrity stardom is meeting other celebrities and fangirling over them. That's exactly what happened to Haddish at a party in December 2017 when she saw Beyoncé, but she explained to GQ that her exciting story didn't stop there. "There was this actress there that's just, like, doing the mostest," she said. "She bit Beyoncé in the face." Unsurprisingly, the Internet went wild with intrigue. Who was this actress? She bit Beyoncé in the face? When GQ reached out to Beyoncé's team for a comment, they were even at a loss for words. "I absolutely cannot comment on any of this, as I have no knowledge," one of Queen Bey's representatives responded.
A few months later, The Hollywood Reporter did a follow-up interview with Haddish to get to the bottom of this mystery that sincerely seemed to break the Internet. Haddish divulged that it was actress Sanaa Lathan, who quickly denied she was the biter on Twitter. As for Haddish? "I got invited to way more parties after that," she told THR. "It's ridiculous how many parties."
Sophia Grace Brownlee & Rosie McClelland sang their way into the spotlight
Like any proud parent, Sophia Grace Brownlee and Rosie McClelland's moms showed them off online. In 2011, they posted a video of the adorable tutu-wearing duo singing a tune that's not heard often on the playground — "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj. When it went viral, Ellen DeGeneres was the first to invite the two talented British cousins, who were 5 and 8 years old, onto her show to perform in person. Of course, the two showed up in their signature pink tutus. "We love pink!" Brownlee told DeGeneres, which is why the two girls were drawn to Minaj's music video. "It's got a motorbike made of ice, and pink! Everything pink! I just love pink!"
Something else they love? "We LOVE Nicki Minaj! We want to meet her so much!" They said, so, of course, the talk show host had to introduce them. "We are watching a journey that's about to be about, like, amazing, right?" Minaj said upon meeting the adorable duo. "I mean, you are incredible."
Their journey did continue from there. Regular appearances on The Ellen Show gave way to a book deal that put them on the New York Times best seller list. From there, they made a full length film called Sophia Grace & Rosie's Royal Adventure. As of this writing, Sophie Grace and Rosie are now full-blown social stars, and, we presume, still dedicated Barbies.
Caitlyn Jenner had a riveting reveal
"I would say I've always been very confused with my gender identity," Caitlyn Jenner told 20/20 in 2015. Though many people already knew Jenner as a former Olympic athlete who appeared on Keeping Up with the Kardashians for too many episodes to count, this very frank interview served as a lanchpad for the new identity she was revealing to the world. Speaking quite candidly at the time, Jenner described herself as having "lived a lie [her] whole life about who [she] is, and [she] can't do that any longer." And with that, Jenner pulled the elastic out from her ponytail and forever changed the way the world viewed this reality star.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 17.1 million people tuned in to watch this infamous 20/20 interview, with many skeptical, making claims that it was a publicity stunt for the upcoming season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. However, it wasn't and continues not to be. That same year, Jenner received her own reality show on E!, called I Am Cait, which documented her transition to becoming a woman. In 2017, she released a memoir called The Secrets of My Life, which, unfortunately, caused turmoil within the Kardashian family for some of the secrets that were revealed.
Whatever the case, Jenner is proud of the attention that she's given the transgender community. Jenner told Diane Sawyer during the infamous interview, "What I'm doing is going to do some good, and we're going to change the world."
Dr. Phil McGraw's psychological breakthrough
In the '90s, Oprah Winfrey aired a special on her infamous talk show about mad cow disease of all things, and that's when her beef with the meat industry began. When Winfrey divulged she had stopped eating burgers altogether after the eye-opening segment, cattle prices dropped, farmers blamed her, and the whole fiasco was taken to court (via The Texas Tribune). Luckily, she came across Dr. Phil McGraw's specialty psychology firm to come to her aid. Winfrey walked away from court with a win, and she walked away with another winning segment too.
After the trial, Winfrey invited Dr. Phil to appear on her show, which led to a weekly segment (via Business Insider). "I do use an approach that is very straightforward with people, because, I mean that's just who I am," he explained during one of his first appearances on her show. "I'm not much on psycho-babble and buzz words." And perhaps that's why the straight-to-the-point psychologist is so successful. That, and his ability to adapt. "If what I'm doing isn't working with that person, I change it and do something that will," he added.
In 2002, the now estimated $440 million dollar doctor received his own show (via Celebrity Net Worth) — appropriately titled Dr. Phil — that looks like it won't be going anywhere soon. He has signed a several season deal with CBS to continue his multiple Emmy-nominated episodes through the year 2023.
Noah Ritter's interview apparently invented him a career
"I don't watch the news, because I'm a kid," kindergartener Noah Ritter told his local Pennsylvania news team during an interview in 2014. However, after this iconic interview that received nearly 43 million views online, more people will probably watch the news now.
When a television reporter asked young Ritter what he thought of a ride at their county fair that day, apparently he really liked it. "Because, apparently, you're spinning around, and apparently every time you get dizzy, so all you do is get dizzy," he said. "And I've never, ever been on live television."
Ellen DeGeneres was the first to get the Internet famous "apparently" kid on her show that same year, where he told her, "This is my first time on a talk show!" And it wouldn't be his last. He continued to appear on her show as a regular guest and even received his own segments where he had plenty of honest things to say. While interviewing actress Sofia Vergara, he even told her, "I never watch Modern Family. It's not a cartoon show!"
Ritter's sincere honestly got him a spot on two seasons of ABC's television show The Toy Box, where kids judge toymakers' inventions for a once in a lifetime chance to be made by Mattel — and the cartoon-loving kid saw some pretty cool inventions. "A cannon that shoots candy? Who wouldn't want that?" He told one of the designers, and we completely agree.