8 Famous Black People Who Were Once Homeless

It is estimated that nearly half of all Americans are just one financial disaster away from homelessness. Depressing statistics to be sure; there are few situations that seem more hopeless than not having a place to live. However, there are a surprising number of famous people who lived through just this situation and not only bounced back, but did so in a big way. Here are a few rags-to-riches stories in our community that you may not have known about. Tyler Perry Born in 1969 in New Orleans, Tyler Perry escaped an abusive household and moved to Atlanta to pursue his dreams of becoming a writer. However, he soon found out how difficult pursuing your art can be without a support system, and even ended up living in his car. He remained there, until his play I Know I’ve Been Changed, finally took off. Djimon Hounsou Djimon Hounsou doesn’t like to talk about his past. Born in Benin in 1964, when he was 13 years old, he and his brother immigrated illegally to France to find work. Instead, they found themselves living on the streets of Paris, where he told People magazine, he lived "for some time." It was a chance encounter with French fashion designer Thierry Mugler that changed Hounsou's fate. Mugler encouraged him to consider modeling and invited him to an audition, which in turn launched his career. Halle Berry Halle Berry moved to Chicago to pursue her acting career when she was 21. With work scarce, and no connections in the city, Berry quickly ran out of money. When her mother refused to send her money to help out, she faced the choice to move back home to Ohio, giving up her dreams of acting, or sticking it out in any way she could. In the end, Berry spent some time in a homeless shelter and continued to pursue her dreams. Michael Oher Raven’s offensive tackle Michael Oher may be better known for his life story than his playing after the 2009 release of the award-winning movie "The Blind Side," which was a fictionalized version of his life. Though Oher is quick to point out that the movie misrepresented quite a few aspects of his life, it is true that he lived in foster care sporadically for much of his life, and he was homeless for a while after that, before he was given shelter by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. Chris Gardener Another African-American whose life was immortalized by Hollywood is Chris Gardener, whose life was detailed in the 2006 movie "The Pursuit of Happyness." Gardener and his two-year-old son spent a year living alternately in a church basement and a BART station bathroom, while he completed a one year unpaid internship at Dean Witter Reynolds, stock brokerage and securities firm. His determination paid off, and Gardener is now a multimillionaire, who works as a motivational speaker, philanthropist and international businessman. Steve Harvey After splitting from his wife, comedian Steve Harvey fell on hard times when a few of his paying gigs fell through. He ended up living in his car, and the occasional hotel whenever a gig would pay for it. His struggle continued for three years until 1990, when he landed a steady job on the television show, "Showtime at the Apollo." Luckily, this was the gig that proved to be his big break. Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt did not have a steady place to call home as a child, and grew up being passed from relative to relative. In the 1940s, she ended up living in New York with a woman she knew as her aunt, but later found out, may have actually been her birth mother. Life in the city was not good -- Kitt’s caretakers were often abusive, and she ran away from home and lived on the streets on and off for years. It was those hard times that gave her such compassion for others. Lil' Kim When she was kicked out of the house by her father as a teenager, Kimberly Denise Jones, aka Lil’ Kim, found herself without anywhere to go. She spent some time living on the streets or with friends before hooking up with a man named Christopher Wallace, soon to be known as Biggie Smalls. When Biggie's career took off, he helped launch other artists he knew, including his then-girlfriend Lil’ Kim.

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