Plenty of people who dream of becoming famous love to fantasize about the purchases they'll be able to make when they hit it big, but there are some huge stars who don't need to live in the lap of luxury. They may have millions of dollars, but you can still find them using hand-me-down clothes or clipping coupons. Maybe they were just raised to save money, or maybe their fame has never quite felt real to them, but regardless, they all have millions set aside for a rainy day. Let's take a look at some huge stars who live like normal people.
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00:00Most people assume that once a star hits it big and starts banking that serious cash,
00:05their life changes completely. But what if that megawatt fame and fortune didn't alter
00:09their lives that much? Here are some of the biggest names in show business who,
00:12in spite of their stratospheric success, have managed to stay down to earth.
00:17Jay Leno
00:18One of the most famous late-night talk show hosts of all time,
00:21the incomparable Jay Leno has built up a considerable falling over his 30-year career,
00:25along with some major bank, with an estimated net worth around $350 million.
00:30However, Leno learned how to save in his formative years,
00:32reportedly working two jobs in his youth, saying,
00:34"...I'd spend the money from one job and save the money from the other.
00:37That strategy has lasted a lifetime."
00:39He later told 60 Minutes,
00:40"...I always tell new people in show business, I say, look,
00:43show business pays you a lot of money because eventually you're gonna get screwed.
00:47And when you get screwed, you will have this pile of money off to the side, alright?"
00:51Since retiring from The Tonight Show, the wages for which he reportedly put entirely
00:54into savings, Leno has lived purely off the proceeds from his lucrative stand-up career.
00:58He might have a serious predilection for collecting classic cars, but according to
01:02the funnyman himself, he has yet to spend even a dime of his television earnings.
01:07Sarah Jessica Parker
01:08She'll always be Carrie Bradshaw to most of her fans, a character who,
01:11in spite of submitting maybe 1,000 words of copy a week, managed to live in a $7,000-a-month
01:16apartment in New York City while hoarding Manolos and throwing back Cosmos on the daily.
01:20According to The Richest, Sarah Jessica Parker is worth an estimated $90 million in real life.
01:24So if she wanted to buy a new pair of Louis Vuittons every week, she could.
01:28However, in a 2008 interview with Parade, Parker extolled the virtues of working hard for your
01:32money, revealing how she dressed her son, James Wilkie, in hand-me-down clothing throughout his
01:36younger years. The actress grew up on welfare and inherited a frugal outlook, now living in
01:40a modest brownstone in NYC with her husband, Matthew Broderick, and their three kids.
01:44As for dressing herself in the latest threads, Parker supposedly had her choice of Carrie's
01:48clothes once Sex and the City wrapped, so she probably doesn't need to fork over for
01:51new stuff for herself too often, either.
01:54Sarah Michelle Gellar
01:56Another A-lister who learned to live frugally thanks to a difficult upbringing is Buffy
02:00herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. Gellar, whose father left the family when she was a young child,
02:04isn't ashamed of using coupons and striving to get the best deal wherever she shops,
02:07crediting her mother with teaching her to live modestly.
02:10When she's not busy saving the world from encroaching vampires — or,
02:13more often these days, being a mother to her two kids — the actor told Self that
02:16she frequently uses coupons and buys fish at Whole Foods, only when it's on sale.
02:20She told the mag,
02:21all the time.
02:22Why should you pay more for something that someone else is paying less for?
02:26Tyra Banks
02:27It's tough to imagine this multi-hyphenate business mogul, supermodel, Harvard Business
02:31School grad, and creator of Smizing as a simple living person. But in reality, Banks learned a
02:36lot from her mother, who traveled with her and assisted in Banks' early career as a model,
02:39teaching her how to make her earnings last. In a 2008 interview with The New York Times,
02:43Banks openly described herself as frugal. As a kid, she saved a little bit from her
02:47weekly allowance, and she admits that these days her only real indulgences are food and
02:51luxury toiletries. Banks even admitted to Forbes,
02:53I'll ask my accountant if I can afford something,
02:55which seems crazy for a woman worth an estimated $90 million. But maybe that's how she keeps it.
03:01Dave Grohl
03:02He's a member of two of the biggest rock bands of all time, but Dave Grohl still lives like
03:06a jobby musician. Although his stints with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters have netted him
03:10a cool $225 million, Grohl fears spending too much, too fast. In a 2003 interview,
03:15the rock star confessed that, in spite of having plenty of money to live off,
03:18he's afraid to spend it. The multi-instrumentalist is reportedly wary of ending up broke because he
03:23never got his high school diploma. But as long as the Foos continue to sell out arenas worldwide,
03:27there's no need to worry about his career slowing down anytime soon.
03:31Zooey Deschanel
03:33She headlines a hugely successful TV show, but new Girl star Zooey Deschanel hasn't let her
03:37considerable success go to her head. Deschanel may currently be raking in a massive $125,000
03:43per episode, but she's anything but flashy. Court documents, revealed to tabloids in the
03:47midst of her 2012 divorce from Def Cap for Cuties Ben Gibbard, showcased a frugal spender with eyes
03:51set on future financial security. The TMZ-published report showed that, although the actor was
03:56bringing in almost $100,000 per month at the time, her expense sheet totaled just $22,500,
04:01including less than $1,000 in utility bills, with another two grand dedicated to charitable
04:05donations. On top of this, nearly half of her total assets were safely held in bank accounts,
04:10with the rest spread out across stocks, bonds, and real estate, and her three credit cards had
04:14zero balances. Not bad for someone who could easily afford to max them all out each month
04:18without feeling the slightest pinch. Jennifer Lawrence
04:23J-Law is one of the most famous and highly paid actors on the planet, scoring an Oscar for her
04:27role in Silver Linings Playbook and spearheading the hugely lucrative Hunger Games franchise,
04:31among a multitude of other projects. Now reportedly worth $75 million,
04:35Lawrence claims not much has changed in her life since her massive career explosion,
04:38with the Oscar winner even continuing to live in the same apartment as before she was famous,
04:42until she recently bought Jessica Simpson's former house in Beverly Hills.
04:45She told Fabulous magazine in 2013,
04:48"...I was raised to have value for money, to have respect for money,
04:50even though you have a lot of it."
04:52Lawrence also does not employ a personal assistant and shops for bargains herself,
04:55all while driving a sensible Chevy Volt.
04:58Kristen Bell
04:59She played Veronica Mars for years before graduating to massive movie mega-hits like
05:03Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Frozen, and now she's married to Parenthood star Dax Shepard,
05:07with two kids to top it all off. But Bell hasn't let fame alter her spending habits.
05:11In spite of the couple's combined net worth of over $20 million,
05:14their wedding was very low-key. As the actress described to Ellen,
05:17"...it was the two of us and $142 in legal fees, and we signed our name on a piece of paper."
05:26And that included gas to drive to their courthouse wedding.
05:28She even joked with Flaunt magazine about how she and Shepard are hillbillies at heart.
05:32In an interview with Conan, Bell went into hilarious detail about how frugal she is,
05:36sharing her hottest couponing tip with the host.
05:38"...the best coupon you can get, possibly in the world, is the Bed, Bath & Beyond coupon."
05:44Clearly, she's not just a master detective on TV, but one in real life, too.
05:49Ballin' on a budget
05:51The old adage still applies. Money doesn't buy you happiness. Maybe true happiness comes from
05:55good family values and spending within your means. If Buffy doesn't want to pay more for
05:59her shopping than everyone else, why should we? So on that day when you hit the big time,
06:03consider taking a page out of the celebs' super-frugal,
06:05down-to-earth playbooks and stay true to your roots.