Being a celebrity is hard, especially if you are a child star. Many are so focused on their careers that they forgo something many of us take for granted – a high school education. And while many of them will make more as high school drop outs that most of us with diplomas, there is a certain pride in finishing school.
Christian Slater was one of those that realized that. The new star of NBC’s “My Own Worst Enemy” told Parade Magazine that he had to “swallow his pride” and go back to school with students much younger than himself (Christian is 39). Why did he do it? He wanted to set a good example for his kids – 9 year old Jaden and 7 year old Eliana. He said “I obviously care for them to get an education, and I want them to take it seriously, so I am going to have to do something.”
I felt a bit better when I went on to read that Christian was never good at math as that was never one of my strong suits either. Like myself, Christian said he “squeaked by” despite having a tutor help him study.
Christian is not the only famous celeb to dropout of high school then return later to finish his education. Here’s a list of other “dropouts:”
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby failed 10th grade. Instead of repeating, he got a job at a show repair shop. Bored with that, he decided to do four years in the Navy before decided that finishing his education was important. He got a diploma equivalency through a correspondence course.
The “Spin City” star dropped out of high school in 12th grade. But, in 1995, he returned to get his GED.
Jessica Simpson
In 1997, Jessica dropped out of J.J. Pearce High School when she was 16 to focus on her musical career. But, she later earned her GED.
(This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the United States Marine Corps. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.)
Mark Wahlberg
My personal favorite dropout, Mark was running with a bad crowd when he dropped out of high school at 16. But like everyone else, he eventually realized the importance of education and got his GED.