Revealed: A-listers who hid their privileged backgrounds - as Blake Lively is the latest star whose 'working class' upbringing doesn't quite ring true

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They live the glamorous life of red carpets, private jets, glitzy parties and never ending wardrobes, however some celebrities like to create the illusion that they are 'just like us' and are in fact ordinary people from modest beginnings. 

Earlier this week Blake Lively became the latest celebrity to be rumbled after she received criticism for whitewashing her background to appear working class. 

Speaking about how the couple are raising their children to have as 'normal life as possible' the actress' husband Ryan Reynolds insisted the couple 'both grew up very working class'. 

However fans quickly blasted the claim as 'ignorant' and questioned whether the star knew what the term meant as they referenced Blake's Hollywood veteran parents and suburban upbringing in Los Angeles.

Yet Ryan and Blake aren't the only celebrities to put a humble spin on their background, with others going so far as to embellish tales of crime and deprivation to make them seem more gritty. 

Rapper Vanilla Ice and music legend Bob Dylan both embellished tales of growing up poor to boost their credibility, while rapper Biggie Smalls was called out by his own mother for painting a picture of a deprived childhood when he, in fact, attended private school. 

From Posh Spice's Roll's Royce to Ed Sheeran's homeless nights outside Buckingham Palace - the celebrities attempting to whitewash their backgrounds as fans slam Blake Lively's 'working class' upbringing

Posh Spice sent fans into hysterics last year after her iconic Rolls Royce clip from her BECKHAM Netflix documentary went viral (pictured as a child seated on her dad's car) 

Blake Lively:  Grew up in showbiz family

Gossip Girl star Blake hails from a family of actors and has even been called a 'nepo baby' by some, therefore it fell rather flat when Ryan referred to the star as 'working class'. 

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter the Deadpool star explained: 'We both grew up very working class, and I remember when they were very young, I used to say or think, like, "Oh God, I would never have had a gift like this when I was a kid", or, "I never would've had this luxury of getting takeout," or whatever.'

However, fans quickly blasted the 'ignorant' claim, referencing Lively's Hollywood veteran parents and her suburban upbringing in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles. 

Blake grew up on sets and made her acting debut just aged 10 in the 1998 film Sandman which was directed by her late actor and director father Ernie Lively. 

Her mother, Elaine Lively, was also an actress and a talent manager and her siblings also all work in the entertainment industry. 

After The Cut reposted Ryan's quote from THR interview on Instagram, fans quickly called out his working class assertion.

One wrote: 'Quick search: She grew up in Tarzana and then went to Burbank High. Her whole family was in the entertainment business. She was cast in Sisterhood for the Traveling Pants while she was a teen. 

'It's giving at least middle class. Anyway none of that matters bc she's rich and insufferable now. Bye.'

'You keep using that word, 'working class.' I do not think it means what you think it means.' 

 Earlier this week Blake Lively became the latest celebrity to be rumbled after she received criticism for whitewashing her background to appear working class

Blake previously discussed growing up on sets. She made her acting debut at age 10 in the 1998 film 'Sandman,' directed by her father; seen with her parents in 2016

Blake grew up on sets and made her acting debut just aged 10 in the 1998 film Sandman which was directed by her late actor and director father Ernie Lively (pictured with BH90210 star Jason Priestley as a child) 

Victoria Beckham: Taken to school in a Rolls Royce 

Meanwhile Victoria Beckham sent fans into hysterics last year after her iconic Rolls Royce clip from her BECKHAM Netflix documentary went viral. 

Posh Spice, 50, attempted to insist she was from a working class background in the candid film, before her husband David pointed out that her father used to drive her to school in a Rolls-Royce. 

In a segment talking about growing up Victoria says: 'We both come from families that work very hard we're very working class'.

Hearing the interview from another room David then pokes his head round the corner and chips in: 'Be honest!' before an agitated Victoria replies: 'I am being honest!'

David then asked her: 'What car did your dad drive you to school in?'

She then started to answer saying: 'So my dad did...' before her interrupted her saying: 'It just needs one answer!'

Posh then retorted that it 'wasn't a simple answer' before he asked her again what car it was.

The fashion designer owned her class blunder as she later debuted her own brand £110 'My Dad Had A Rolls Royce' T-shirt which was available to buy through her website 

She then said: 'It depends but yes in the 80s my dad had a Rolls Royce!' - before David retorts 'thank you' and then leaves.

Viewers were quick to react to the moment as one joked: 'Victoria Beckham is the queen of dry humour!'

Another said: 'Love him humbling her. Like her name was posh spice.'

The fashion designer owned her class blunder as she later debuted her own brand £110 'My Dad Had A Rolls Royce' T-shirt which was available to buy through her website. 

Ed Sheeran: Slept rough despite wealthy family 

Ed Sheeran has spoken multiple times about his days of homelessness as he explained he would couch surf and even slept on the streets outside Buckingham Palace at one point. 

Before finding fame the singer-songwriter spent two years without a permanent roof over his head as he struggled to make his mark in the music industry. 

His night outside the palace even inspired his track Homeless as he explained: ‘There was an arch outside Buckingham Palace that has a heating duct and I spent a couple of nights there.

The star was 16 when he moved from Suffolk to London in 2007 to study at music college. 

But when the course ended, he no longer had a grant to pay for the rent and had to carve out a living performing gigs and selling CDs from a rucksack.

He spent the next two and a half years sleeping on London Underground trains or ‘sofa surfing’ in friends’ homes. 

Ed Sheeran has spoken multiple times about his days of homelessness as he explained he would couch surf and even slept on the streets outside Buckingham Palace at one point (pictured in 2024) 

However Yorkshire-born Ed enjoyed a privileged upbringing after moving to Framlingham in Suffolk when he was four years old (Ed pictured as a child) 

He said: ‘I didn’t have anywhere to live for much of 2008 and the whole of 2009 and 2010, but somehow I made it work.

‘I knew where I could get a bed at a certain time of night and I knew who I could call at any time to get a floor to sleep on. Being sociable helped. Drinking helped.’

‘That’s where I wrote the song Homeless and the lines “It’s not a homeless night for me, I’m just home less than I’d like to be.” ’

However Yorkshire-born Ed enjoyed a privileged upbringing after moving to Framlingham in Suffolk when he was four years old. 

The singer then attended the independent Brandeston Hall Preparatory school before attending a Thomas Mill High School. 

However speaking in 2014 he admitted: 'I wasn’t really homeless. Not proper cardboard box stuff. 

'But yeah, I would gig at night and, if I didn’t have a sofa to crash on I’d sleep on the Circle Line all day. Then I’d gig the following night, and do it all again.'

Lana Del Rey: Cultivated 'white trash' image 

Lana Del Rey has faced criticism for glamorising domestic abuse and painting an image of 'white trash' despite her father being a millionaire. 

Lana, whose ancestors are from Scotland, was born in Manhattan, and grew up in a small town in upstate New York near Lake Placid.

Lana Del Rey has faced criticism for glamorising domestic abuse and painting an image of 'white trash' despite her father being a millionaire

While the Born To Die hitmaker has insisted her father's found wealth came after her childhood she did attend a $65,000 a year Kent boarding school in Conneticut

It's no secret that she was well-off during her upbringing, as her dad, Robert England Grant Jr., is a successful businessman that is said to be worth more than $1 million.

While the Born To Die hitmaker has insisted her father's found wealth came after her childhood she did attend a $65,000 a year Kent boarding school in Conneticut. 

The singer-songwriter refuted rumours that she grew up in wealth in a deleted Instagram video back in 2023 as she explained Lake Placid, New York was 'not a wealthy town'.

She also explained she could only got to a private boarding school due to 'financial aid' offered as her uncle worked in the administrative building.

The star claimed she was bullied at school for not being wealthy and was subsequently given the nickname 'White trash from Lake Placid.'

She told fans: 'We had absolutely no money… that’s a little story the news loved to assign to me.

'I grew up in a mountain town in a little house, and we struggled as much as everybody else in the town of 900, there is no other truth than that… there are people who are well-known, who grew up rich – I’m not one of them.'

While Lana has now had a successful career spanning over a decade she revealed she only came into money at the age of 26 after launching her music career and had been living in a trailer park or boyfriend’s accommodation until that point. 

She added that she was living in a hostel on 17th Street in New York when she performed on Saturday Night Live in 2012.

Bob Dylan: Fabricated a poor background  

he legendary Bob Dylan has been caught in more than a few lies about his childhood including tales he didn't know his parents and was even raised in New Mexico (pictured in 1963)

He embellished the orphan angle saying he had run away from orphanages as a child and bounced between foster families (pictured in 2023) 

The legendary Bob Dylan has been caught in more than a few lies about his childhood including tales he didn't know his parents and was even raised in New Mexico.  

The musician grew up in a northern mining town of Hibbing with his father, Abraham, who was the son of Jewish immigrants who fled a pogrom in Odessa in Ukraine, and his mother Betty, who came from a family of Lithuanian Jews that immigrated to Minnesota.

Bob and his brother David grew up in a close-knit northern Jewish community of relatives and friends, but Bob wasn't close to his father and was restless.

After moving to New York when he was 20 years-old his personal narrative and fantastical tales exploded.

He claimed he was an orphan from New Mexico, part Sioux Indian and part Irish-English-Welsh-Okie.

He embellished the orphan angle saying he had run away from orphanages as a child and bounced between foster families.

One family included a riverboat gambler and a professional burglar so he ran away from that.

Another lie had him joining a traveling carnival at age thirteen and being responsible for greasing the Ferris wheel, driving tent stakes and playing piano for the carnie dancers.

Vanilla Ice: Invented a bad boy rapper persona 

Slightly less elaborate than Bob's lies, Vanilla Ice initially claimed he had a rough upbringing in Florida and was met with controversy after alleging Miami was his hometown. 

Originally born in Dallas the rapper appeared to admit he has skewed details on his upbringing and admitted he was 'embarrassed' to tell people he was from an inner-ring suburb of Dallas. 

He said in an interview with The Ringer: 'I lived in Miami and wrote Ice Ice Baby about it. I didn't think about where I was from at the time. That only became a thing after I was famous.

Slightly less elaborate than Bob's lies, Vanilla Ice initially claimed he had a rough upbringing in Florida and was met with controversy after alleging Miami was his hometown (pictured in 1990)

He said: 'I was like, "Where I'm from? Who fucking cares where I'm from?" I was embarrassed to tell people I was from Farmers Branch. I didn't tell them I was from Miami' (pictured 2024)

'I was like, "Where I'm from? Who f***ing cares where I'm from?" I was embarrassed to tell people I was from Farmers Branch. I didn't tell them I was from Miami. I didn't tell them I was from anywhere.

'I was just like, "Listen, I'm from around the corner, man. I'm from around the f*****g way." I actually tried to detour people.' 

Journalists also discovered he had driven an IROC Camaro Z28 while growing despite the claims he 'grew up poor on the streets'.

However, Vanilla Ice insisted in an interview with the Los Angeles Times: 'We lived in a lot of places in Miami and Dallas when I was growing up.

'We didn’t have money. I remember I had this fancy car I bought with motocross money, but I couldn’t even afford gas. People may have thought I had money but I didn’t.'

He added he had bent the truth to protect his privacy as he didn't want people to fully find out who he was dur to his bad behaviour as a teenager growing up. 

Biggie Smalls: Mother called him out over songs about poor childhood 

Yet Vanilla Ice isn't the only rapper to lie about where he is from after the late Biggie Smalls also did the same, claiming he was so poor growing up that he would eat sardines for dinner. 

In his hit Juicy he rapped: 'Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner' however his mother Voletta Wallace later denied this was true. 

She also explained her son liked to exaggerate after he said they skipped Christmas.

In his biography of the rapper, Unbelievable, Cheo Hodari Coker wrote: 'Voletta was a Jehovah's Witness, so they technically didn't celebrate holidays, but exaggeration is good for street cred.'

The musician, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in 1997, also went to a private Roman Catholic school in Brooklyn and the 'one room shack' he referenced growing up in as a child in his music was actually a seven-room apartment in the city. 

The 972-square-foot apartment was refurbished with new floors, appliances and countertops, and put on the market for $4000 per month back in 2019. 

Admittedly, Biggie dropped out of school at 17 and did sell crack, going on to rap that 'the hustlers on the corner were my role models.'

However, his mother was middle class with a master's degree in education, and his  upbringing was loving and supportive - but he didn't return the favour by buying her a mink coat or a car, despite his lyrics. 

She told The Guardian: 'I can't drive. It's something he would have liked. Some of the stories are his friends' stories.

'He rapped that he was poor and Christmas missed him? Christmas never missed my son. As far as the line about the landlord insulting us, I never owed. Up to this day, my credit is the best in the world. He's telling a story.'

Yet Vanilla Ice isn't the only rapper to lie about where he is from after the late Biggie Smalls also did the same, claiming he was so poor growing up that he would eat sardines for dinner (pictured in 1995) 

The musician, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in 1997, also went to a private Roman Catholic school in Brooklyn 

Rick Ross: Styled himself as a gangster 

Elsewhere Rick Ross' expletive-laden rap songs boast about pushing drugs including 'dope', curating an image of himself as a gangster.

But in 2007, a photo emerged of the rapper in what appeared to be the uniform of a correctional facility officer, suggesting his lyrics about being a drug kingpin were somewhat inaccurate.

Initially, Ross denied it was him in the photo, but when Smoking Gun published social security details which appeared to confirm he had been employed by the South Florida Reception Center as a correction officer for 18 months, the game was up.

Elsewhere Rick Ross' expletive-laden rap songs boast about pushing drugs including 'dope', curating an image of himself as a gangster (pictured 2024) 

In 2007 a photo emerged of Ross wearing a correctional facility officer uniform as reports confirmed he had worked in the role for 18 months in his early 20s

Ross admitted he had worked in the role from 1995-1997 when he was in his early 20s, but insisted his lyrics were about 'real' experiences.

He told XXL magazine: 'The stuff I talk about is real. The dope is real.'

Ross also insisted he never actually worked in a prison, as he had not worked his way up to the position.

He also revealed he was on a salary of $1,000 per month and he did not enjoy the work at all.

Kid Rock: Grew up on sprawling estate

Kid Rock made his name as a hip hop artist who epitomised the so-called 'white trash' culture

In reality, the young Robert James Ritchie grew up on a sprawling estate where he picked apples in an orchard and tended to family horses

Kid Rock made his name as a tattooed, vest-wearing, snapback-donning hip hop artist who epitomised so-called 'white trash' culture (an image for which he has been widely criticised).

While many people found his entire image offensive to working-class Americans, some took even further issue with his aesthetic considering that the rapper is not even from a working class background.

Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, grew up on a sprawling estate owned by his mother Susan and father William Ritchie, who owned a string of car dealerships.

His upbringing was a far cry from the 'trailer park' life he has sung about in his songs - which tipped over into the country rock genre.

While growing up on his father's enormous estate, he picked apples in the orchard and tended to the family's horses.

After his hyper-privileged background was revealed, Ritchie was cricicised for his 'fake redneck' status.

An article in the Detroit Free Press in 2017 also accused him of 'cultural appropriation of black music'.