From red carpets to startups: Celebrities who reinvented their careers

For many celebrities, fame isn’t the end game, it’s just the first chapter. Whether stepping off the stage into fashion, changing scripts for startups, or taking a seat in the director’s chair, these celebrities prove that reinvention can be the biggest power move of all.

Here are some top celebrities who switched their careers with remarkable success

Victoria Beckham:

Victoria Beckham, before she was designing sleek silhouettes, was selling out arenas as one of the Spice Girls.

In 2008, she launched her namesake luxury label, and though it took years of investment, persistence paid off. By 2022, the brand finally turned a profit, reporting revenues of £58.8 million and double-digit growth.

The former Spice Girl didn’t just dabble in fashion, she also built a fashion house in the process.

Rihanna:

Rihanna’s pivot from global pop icon to business mogul is one of the top decisions. In 2017, she launched Fenty Beauty in partnership with LVMH, disrupting the cosmetics world with its radical shade inclusivity.

The gamble more than paid off. Forbes values the brand in the billions, crediting it as the cornerstone of Rihanna’s billionaire status. As of today, her empire has accumulated over $1.4 billion. 

Olivia Wilde:

Many remember Olivia Wilde as Alex Kelly, the rebellious bad girl on The O.C. But Wilde was taking notes long before she ever stepped behind the camera.

Reflecting on her early projects, she once admitted, “I’ve been in some really bad [films], and now I think, ‘I did those to learn all the cautionary tales that would help me define myself as a director: how I will never speak to a crew, how I will never speak to actors, how I will never schedule a movie.’ All of that comes from those bad experiences.”

Wilde has emerged as one of Hollywood’s rising directors, which provides that the best lessons often come from the hardest gigs.

Gwyneth Paltrow:

When Gwyneth Paltrow swapped acting for wellness with the launch of Goop, many critics dismissed it as a midlife experiment. But the move proved savvy. What started as a weekly newsletter has grown into a lifestyle empire, redefining the conversation around wellness and sparking plenty of debate along the way.

Turns out, stepping away from Hollywood was one of Paltrow’s most award-worthy moves.

Jessica Alba:

Jessica Alba who was an American actress and gave several Hollywood blockbusters, turned her energy toward business.

Back in 2012, she co-founded The Honest Company, focusing on eco-friendly baby and household products, which proved to be a huge success and captured market is short time span.