21 Actors Who Were Bullied In School

Yup, even beautiful, buff bae Zac Efron had to deal with mean kids in school, after he was described as nerdy. One of his ex-classmates growing up told The Mirror in 2008,

"He was a very sensible kid, a bit nerdy. He had a gap between his teeth until he wore a brace and he didn't hang out with the cool crowd... He wasn't like other kids at school, he was away acting in community theatre and most kids didn't get it... Zac never knew how to handle the kids who teased him. He wasn't bullied constantly, but for him it made going to class very difficult."

Kate Winslet has shared the problems she had in school because of her weight, and she told Marie Claire U.K. in 2009 that she was "bullied for being chubby." On CBS Sunday Morning in 2015, Winslet said, "I was teased for how I looked. In part, yeah, because I was quite stocky as a child. And was very much teased for that." Well, it sure looks like she came out on top.

Megan Fox is known for being a sex symbol today, but she dealt with her share of haters when she was in high school. She told E! News in 2009,

"I was bullied and it's hard, you feel like high school's never going to be over. It's four years of your life and you just have to remember the person picking on you has their own problems and their own issues... and you're going to be OK."

When he was promoting Bad Teacher, Jason Segel spoke to Young Hollywood about some bad names he was called in high school. He revealed that he was bullied for his height, and said,

"Well, it’s just one terrible memory that replays every time I have a moment of insecurity... They would stand around me in a circle and they would jump on my back one by one and they would chant, ‘Ride the oaf, ride the oaf.’"

Back in the early '00s, Brittany Snow was in high school and dealt with early cyber bullying. In an interview with People, Snow said,

"AOL Instant Messenger was a big thing back in the day, where girls would get on it and make fun of me... There was a certain girl, and she wanted to make me feel bad."

Her experience with bullying lead her to launch Love is Louder with The Jed Foundation to encourage kindness and stop bullying and discrimination.

It's tough to imagine Christian Bale getting bullied by anyone, considering he's worked his way up to being in the top tier of Hollywood talent. It was a different story when he was experiencing some success as a young actor, and the kids turned on him. He told Contact Music in 2008,

"It was not a great time. I was a victim of bullying and had other kids kicking and punching me every day. It was an early lesson in how making a film can set you apart. If you don't want to live with the consequences then don't make the film."

In a fan Q&A for Cleveland.com, Selena Gomez revealed to a fan struggling with bullying that she had to deal a lot with it as well when she was younger. She wrote,

I was bullied every second of every day in elementary and middle school. Obviously, people are going to bring you down because of your drive. But, ultimately, it makes you a stronger person to turn your cheek and go the other way.

Can you imagine that the gorgeous and talented Christina Hendricks wasn't the most popular girl in high school? Hendricks shared with The Guardian that kids were actually very mean to her because of her "goth" appearance:

"We had a locker bay, and every time I went down there to get books out of my locker people would sit on top and spit at me. So I had to have my locker moved because I couldn't go in there... I felt scared in high school."

In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Lady Gaga revealed that her penchant for music and theater made her a target in high school. She said,

"Being teased for being ugly, having a big nose, being annoying... 'Your laugh is funny, you're weird, why do you always sing, why are you so into theater, why do you do your make-up like that?' ... I used to be called a sl*t, be called this, be called that, I didn't even want to go to school sometimes."

Gaga took matters into her own hands and has since created the Born This Way Foundation, meant to empower young people in the face of adversity and give them the confidence to be themselves.

Justin Timberlake is one of the most iconic performers of the past decade, but back in high school, kids didn't understand why he didn't play sports like everyone else. In an interview on Ellen, Timberlake revealed he was called a "sissy," and added, “I got slurs all the time because I was into music and art... I was an outcast in a lot of ways.”

And what did he have to tell kids about this? "Everything that you get picked on, or you feel makes you weird, is essentially what's going to make you sexy as an adult."

Before Michael Phelps became the Olympian with the most medals ever, he was a tall, skinny boy with protruding ears suffering at the hands of bullies. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, his mom, Debbie, shared that she encouraged him to walk away, but he once fought back and got suspended from school. He told Yahoo! of his bullies,

"It's kind of crazy... When I do go up around where I used to live [in Baltimore], you still see the same people who were picking on me... They'll try to talk to me and I'm thinking, 'Yeah, why are talking to me now? You were picking on me then.'"

Taylor Swift seems like Miss Popular now, but she's been open in speaking about being bullied in high school. She spoke to Teen Vogue early in her career, and said,

"They didn't think I was cool or pretty enough, so they stopped talking to me... The kids at school thought it was weird that I liked country [music]... They'd make fun of me."

She counts her bullying as the reason she became the artist she is today, and shared, "Really, if I hadn't come home from school miserable every day, maybe I wouldn't have been so motivated to write songs. I should probably thank them!"

Victoria Beckham, a Spice Girl and wife of David Beckham, has shared her pain in growing up awkward, "skinny and sallow-faced," and told OK Magazine in 2011 (via Independent.ie),

"Children picking things up out of the puddles and throwing them at me. I just stood there, on my own. I didn’t have any friends... I was mentally and physically bullied at school. That gave me a very thick skin. The only reason for me bringing that up is I have always been a fighter."

In an interview with Wonderland magazine, the seemingly always confident Kylie Jenner opened up about her school years:

"Growing up, I’ve heard the worst things anyone could ever say about me and bullying was such a big part of my life, with the whole entire world judging me and stuff. So I started to look towards people with, like, I think, bigger more real issues then I have.”

While promoting her film Girl In Progress, the beautiful Eva Mendes revealed to Showbiz Tonight that she had a bully from 7th through 9th grade. She said,

"I would just try to make myself smaller inside. It was torture... I literally had to deal with it on my own and it took me two years to figure out how to do that."

Steven Spielberg is one of the most successful people in film ever, and he had his share of mean kids while growing up. He told 60 Minutes (via E! News), "I was a nerd in those days. Outsider... Like the kid that played the clarinet in the band and orchestra, which I did." He didn't let that stop him, and he found his true passion: film.

"I had found a way to accept myself in my own life by making movies. I found that I could do something well." I wonder how those bullies feel now?

In 2012, Demi Lovato became an ambassador for Secret's "Mean Stinks" campaign to combat bullying in schools after she revealed some of her personal experiences. She told People of her difficult time in school,

"I had a really tough time when I was in middle school... People would write 'hate petitions' [about me] and send them around to be signed... They'd come to my house, stand across the street and yell things. It was a very emotional time for me, and all I wanted to do was get away."

I know what you're thinking: How could anyone ever be mean to Sandra Bullock? Well, never underestimate school-aged kids. Bullock's questionable fashion got the wrong attention in school and she told Contact Music,

"I'd come back from Europe and I looked like a clown compared to the cool way the other students looked and dressed. So I got my ass whooped a little bit. Kids are mean and the sad thing is that I can still remember the first and last names of every one of those kids who were mean to me!"

Jennifer Lawrence spoke about her bullying in elementary school to The Sun: "I changed schools a lot when I was in elementary school because some girls were mean. They were less mean in middle school, because I was doing all right, although this one girl gave me invitations to hand out to her birthday party that I wasn’t invited to." In true J. Law fashion, she learned to brush it all off:

“Don’t worry about the b*tches — that could be a good motto, because you come across people like that throughout your life.”

Glee star Chris Colfer endured some tough times in school, both for his body type and sexuality. He told Entertainment Weekly he had to be home schooled during middle school because the bullying was so bad. “I was very tiny," he said. "I spent most of my time stuffed into lockers. Thank god for cell phones, or I’d still be in there.”