We recently wrote a post where people who went to school with celebrities and the ultra-rich revealed what it was like, and the stories were absolutely wild. In the comments, more readers revealed their experiences with wealthy (or famous) classmates, and it’s fascinating. Here’s what they had to say:
Note:Â Obviously, we can’t 100% verify all of these stories, but these people are allegedly speaking from their own experiences, so enjoy!
1.”I went to multiple exclusive private schools in the LA area, and there were multiple celebrities and children of celebrities who attended. The most prominent one that comes to mind is when I was in the same class as Emma Roberts in fifth and sixth grade. She was out of school for a few months because she was filming Blow. She was a really nice girl and well-liked overall.”
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2.”I went to a private high school with a member of the Kennedy family. This person was quite literally high all of the time, reeked of weed, rarely went to class, and broke every single code of conduct rule. Anyone else would have been expelled. It was tough for the rest of us who were highly motivated, hardworking, and just trying to make the most of the opportunity our education could give us.”
—ellie4me
3.”I met a guy the first week of college who said he was still living with his parents. ‘Doesn’t that kind of cramp your style?’ I asked. ‘We have a big house,’ he shrugged. It turned out that his father was a billionaire. He was fairly low-key about it, although he bought a new Mercedes every year.”
“His sister also went to school with us, though, and she was a pretentious a-hole and has continued that trend into adulthood.”
—Anonymous
4.”I went to an international school in Asia for high school where the tuition was around $50,000 a year, so most of the kids were wildly rich (or, like me, had parents with jobs at embassies or companies that paid directly for their children’s tuition). The kids I went to school with were generally the worst. I once overheard a guy complaining that he had to use all his ‘spending money’ to fix a table he had jumped on and broken while drunk. This was at a villa in Thailand that his parents had rented and paid for him to fly to for spring break. His spending money was like $3,000 (USD).”
“I wasn’t rich or popular, so I was basically invisible. A girl with whom I had a couple of classes and who was also a professional model once told me I wasn’t a senior because ‘she knew all the seniors.’ This was while I was wearing a sweatshirt that said ‘senior’ with my name on the back. I was so happy to graduate and get out of there.”
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5.”I went to high school with someone who was in the NFL. He’s retired now. He was super sweet. I was a freshman when he was a senior. I had my nose in a book, carrying more while walking down the hallway, and LITERALLY ran into him. I thought I hit a wall or a door. The force knocked me down, and all the books I held were scattered. He apologized to ME and immediately bent down to help me gather my books and help me up.”
“I was super embarrassed, obviously, I had just run into a person. But he was so kind, it made it a lot better than it could have been. He was known for being really sweet. I was happy to see he made it.”
—lalalace1640
6.”I grew up in a town with many wealthy families, so the public school was almost as snooty as a private school. We also had two private schools in the town. All the kids from one of the private schools looked at us ‘townies’ like we were dirt. They had uber-wealthy and famous people’s rich kids. The other private school was full of rich, genius kids who were generally much nicer. My school was looked down on if you didn’t have the newest fashion.”
“Eventually, I just said screw it and did my own thing, and I got much more credit for that than trying to be like all the rich kids.”
—Anonymous, 54, Arizona
7.”I went to an all-girls Catholic boarding school where some were rich and the others worked on campus to pay their tuition. I was the latter. There was a girl whose father gifted her a Bentley convertible on her 16th birthday. She totaled it within a couple of months, so he bought her another one. This continued until she was on her fifth-plus Bentley, so her dad just arranged to have a private driver ready for her at all times.”
—Anonymous, 67, Florida
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8.”In my freshman year of college, there was a geography course taught in a big lecture hall. The TAs would have a few classes of 10–20 each, and I sat in the front of the class, but I noticed a classmate behind and across from me who was being asked for autographs and quietly signing a few for other students. I didn’t recognize him, but I realized that he might have been a basketball or football player (this was a Division A school).”
—Anonymous, 41
9.”Went to high school with someone who became a bona fide supermodel and married into royalty. In school, she was kind, quiet, and nerdy. She did well in class and was very, very low-key (came from a middle-class family). Great things happened to a great person; no notes.”
—Anonymous
10.”In the ’70s, my mom attended a prestigious private high school in Los Angeles, but was given scholarship funds to attend. We have a family story: My mom started wearing a UCSD sweatshirt after visiting her sister at UC San Diego. She lost it, and the next day, she saw it being worn by Jamie Lee Curtis!”
“This was back when collegiate merch wasn’t as abundant as it is today, so my mom was pretty certain it was her sweatshirt, but since my mom was a grade younger (and the kid on scholarships), she just let it go. Makes for fun family lore, though.”
—Anonymous, 30, California
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11.”My bestie is actually pretty rich. She would never act like it, except when we go to the mall together, and she buys, like, 10 different things from Lululemon that all cost $100. Her house is huge, but she is the sweetest person alive.”
—Anonymous, 18, Maryland
12.”My high school was one of the top 10 in income and testing in the country. Still, many kids went to private schools nearby in the same suburb. The wealthiest families bought real estate, books, and art — stuff that could be passed down to future generations — and made donations to cultural and religious entities, often anonymously. Many of the kids who had cars worked for them, usually at family businesses during the summer. None had office jobs or were made supervisors. They sweated and appreciated how money was made.”
—Anonymous, 83, Ohio
13.”One time in high school, the son of a representative locked a substitute teacher out of the classroom. Then, he climbed out the window to play soccer on the roof with the rest of the class. The sub spent the whole class period knocking on the classroom door, but no one let her in because they were all on the roof messing around. The representative’s son was the ring leader of that incident.”
—Anonymous, 18, Utah
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14.”I don’t come from a super wealthy area, but some families here were able to grow their wealth or have generational wealth. Of course, one of the biggest indicators of wealth here is what kind of car you drive, especially when you’re a teenager. You could always tell whose parents had a lot of money by what car the kid drove to school. There was one kid I remember: He was two grades below me and drove a brand-new Ford F-350 — diesel, long bed, extended cab — probably one of the biggest trucks on the market at the time. It was lifted and had aftermarket wheels on it. Honestly, it was ridiculous and stood out in the parking lot like a sore thumb. This kid was obnoxious, always yelling in the hallways, either at his friends or the school staff, taking up four parking spots at a time, or whipping donuts in the back of the parking lot.”
“I remember hearing from my brother, who was in the same grade as this kid, that he had recently gotten into trouble with his mom, and she was trying to punish him in some way by not giving him anymore money for his truck (i.e., no more car wash, accessories, or gas money). Well, apparently, this really pissed the kid off, so he stole her credit card for weeks. He was fueling up on her dime the whole time and fueling his friends’ cars on her dime, too. I’m not sure what came of it; I never heard if he was held accountable for his actions, but it just blows me away that he had her card for weeks, and it seemed like nothing could be done about it. Like, why didn’t she just have her card shut off, or why didn’t she take his keys, or even disable his truck? Totally baffling.”
—Anonymous, 30, Idaho
And finally…
15.”My family isn’t particularly wealthy, but my siblings and I all went to private school for at least a few years and brushed elbows with some exceedingly rich people. One family was redoing their house (by knocking it down and restarting from scratch), but instead of renting another place to live like normal people, they bought a nearby house to live in for the year, then sold it for a profit when their original construction was completed. Another family bought all three houses on a cul-de-sac, knocked them down, and built a giant mansion across all three properties. My brother had a kid in his grade whose family is obscenely wealthy. For his 13th birthday, he had a huge party with monogrammed barstools and personalized duffel bags as party favors.”
“When the youngest son turned 13, the parents chartered a plane and took the entire class to Europe for a long weekend. A friend had a baby earlier this year, and this family gave her a $900 stroller as a baby gift. Fortunately, they are very nice, kind people; they just have a ridiculous amount of money.”
—Anonymous, 32, New Jersey
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Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Honestly, wow. If you went to high school or college with the wealthy or famous, what was your experience like? Tell us in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.