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The amount of money these celebrities made on their second jobs is enough to turn their back on their first career choice. Surprisingly, some of the names on the list are already established names in the industry that made more money with their venture into different sectors. Some of these celebrities ventured into starting their own business, while others completely changed their careers to try out luck and take a different path.
Work in the entertainment industry is not always guaranteed; that is why some already well-known celebrities try to diversify and find another niche to try their luck on. With luck on their side, some stars banked on their venture on the different industries while some even made even more fortune on the second career they have chosen. Some even had surprising first career choices as some did not generate much fame on their first career choice.
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson is one of the celebrities who transitioned from a pop princess into a business mogul after launching her business Jessica Simpson Collection. The company is a fashion line and accessories, bringing about $1 billion in sales every year since 2014. The pop princess never has to sing a single note again with the money she is making from her business. Simpson, born on July 10, can spend her birthdays being filthy rich.
Drake
With a net worth of $180 million, Drake did not get his money from acting alone. Most of it even came from his second career, which is rapping. Before becoming a rapper and a phenomenal hip-hop artist, Drake was popularly known as Aubrey Graham, who starred on Degrassi: The Next Generation, a famous Canadian TV series. He was on the show from 2001 to 2009. After the show ended, Graham released his first-ever mixtape titled So Far Gone, which landed on No.1 in 2010. He then collaborated with Rihanna with What’s My Name and has since released numerous successful albums and singles. The fans are currently anticipating his upcoming sixth album with the title Certified Lover Boy, released in the summer.
Rihanna
Rihanna, whose net worth is $550 million, initially launched as a singer; however, she launched her own cosmetics line after some time. The pop star already made a name for herself and has been a household name in the music industry for years; however, she made even more money when she ventured into the lucrative entrepreneurial business. She co-owned Fenty Beauty, a makeup line which earns estimated $570 million annual revenue since 2018. The makeup line even reported $100 million in sales in the first 40 days after launch. According to Forbes, the current net worth of the company is $1 billion in valuation.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson initially entered the industry as a wrestler; however, he has become more famous as an actor. Johnson started his career as a pro wrestler but eventually transitioned to becoming an actor, where he earned his net worth of $400 million. He is currently one of the highest-paid actors in the world with his earnings per project. He was able to make $87.5 million in 2020 alone with his projects considering its pandemic; his earnings were not affected. According to reports, he is currently charging $20 million per movie.
Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre has a net worth of $780 million, but he did not earn those millions from rapping alone; in fact, he made the majority of it from his side business, electronics. Dr. Dre is more famous for his creation, Beats headphones. The rapper had a great career in hip-hop as a rapper and producer as well. But he does bring in more money from his headphone company, Beats By Dr. Dre. The company moved him into a higher income bracket and has been one of the most famous headphones since 2010. With the quality of the product, Apple got interested and eventually acquired his company for $3 billion in 2014. It was reported that he took home about $500 million from that deal alone, and it helped him be named the highest-earning musician in 2010.
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg first became well known as a rapper named Marky Mark. His music career gave him fame as a teen idol during his rapping era, but that did not give him the job he is enjoying right now. However, things turned for the better when he eventually ventured into acting and banking on it ever since. Wahlberg is more popularly known as an actor than a rapper; some people did not even know he was a rapper before. He is currently earning millions per project and earned $58 million in 2020 alone.
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon is an actress but also an entrepreneur who is currently worth $200 million. The actress did have a hard time choosing a suitable role for her in the earlier decade, so she decided to create a business for herself. With her passion for the industry, Witherspoon decided to launch her own production company, Pacific Standard, established in 2012. The production film is the producer behind the movies Gone Girl and Wild. In 2016, Witherspoon tied up with Otter Media to release Hello Sunshine which operates audio programming with Audible, a book club with multiple podcasts and Apple TV+ collaboration. Apple reportedly wanted to buy the project Hello Sunshine for $1 billion, but the deal is yet to happen.
Sources: Go Banking Rates, Teen Vogue, Business Wire, Tech Crunch