Just because your name is in the headlines every week doesn’t mean you’ve been immune to life’s many gut-wrenching blows along the way.
Below, some of the biggest names in Hollywood, business and the media share what it’s like to endure the indignity of losing a job (or three) – and how it made them stronger.
Chelsea Handler, chat show host
On being a waitress: “I got fired from every job I had. I once waited on a group of 10 people, and one guy collected the money from the check and tipped me $20 on $600. I told him in front of everyone, ‘Jews like you give Jews like me a bad name.’ That was my last waitressing job.” —W Magazine, December 2008
Nicki Minaj, musician
“The last job I had was as an office manager in a little, tiny room where I literally wanted to strangle this guy because he was so loud and obnoxious. I would go home with stress pains in my neck and my back. That’s when I went to my mother and said, ‘Look, I’m not going back to work.’ I’d been fired like 15 times because I had a horrible attitude. I worked at Red Lobster before that and I chased a customer out of the restaurant once so I could stick my middle finger up at her and demand that she give me my pen back. I swear to God I was bad.” —Billboard, November 2010
The late Nora Ephron, producer/director/screenwriter
“People actually think that there’s a good way to be fired. They get fired, and no matter what they were doing before being fired — losing an unwinnable war, running things into the ground, failing to meet the metrics, or merely holding onto a job that was destined for downsizing — they complain afterwards about the way they were fired instead of about what really bothers them, which is that they were fired at all … My favourite of these Firing Victim scenarios is the one called, ‘They fired me on my birthday.’ You can’t imagine how many people walk around complaining that they were fired on their birthdays … Here’s my point: There’s no good way to be fired and there’s no good day to be fired.” —The Huffington Post, November 2006
Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard
“I was fired in a boardroom brawl. And you know why? Because I challenged the status quo. It is what leaders must do. And when you challenge the status quo, when you lead, you make enemies. It’s why so few people lead.” —CNN, August 2015
Ellen DeGeneres, talkshow titan
“I was fired for being gay, and I know what it feels like. I lost everything, but look at me now. I could buy [the Mississippi] governor’s mansion, flip it, and make a $7 million profit.” —The Ellen DeGeneres Show, April 2016
Anna Wintour, fashion icon
“I worked for American Harper’s Bazaar … They fired me. I recommend that you all get fired. It’s a great learning experience.” —Teen Vogue’s annual Fashion University, October 2010
Paulina Porizkova, model
“When I was fired from America’s Next Top Model … two things hit me simultaneously: the heavy thud of realization that I am not wanted, not liked, not worth my salt, not loved — yes, I know this sounds a little over-the-top, but I have the tendency to run with the negatives — and the lightening of a burden lifted; I would no longer have to worry about missing my children’s recitals, date nights with my husband, and all that family life has to offer. It was a curious mixture, one I imagine akin to standing in a falling elevator, but knowing you can jump up at the last moment to prevent gravity from crushing you. And you can walk off. Not unscathed maybe, with a permanent distrust of elevators perhaps, but alive.” —The Huffington Post, August 2009
