While the Hollywood rich and famous seem to have it all, it appears that few have managed the elusive billionaire status.
Despite their lavish lifestyles and incredible annual earnings, the latest report from Forbes has only eight celebrity billionaires.
These range from musicians and film directors to a talk show host and a reality star, with each making a serious of clever businesses moves to boost their fortunes.
Coming up the ranks however, is Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, whose extraordinary wealth accumulation has astonished observers.
The actor, 46, and actress, 35, look set to become Hollywood’s next billionaire ‘power couple’.
Power couple: Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively could become Hollywood’s next billionaire couple
While his darkly comic portrayal of the flawed superhero Deadpool in the eponymous 2016 and 2018 films made him one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors, it is his off-screen ventures — not least his £2 million purchase of non-league Welsh football team Wrexham in 2021 — that have attracted increasing attention.
Earlier this month, the investment that Reynolds had made in Mint Mobile, a budget phone business, earned him £245 million when communications giant T-Mobile announced it was buying the company for more than £1 billion.
Given the couple — who have four young children — were previously estimated to be worth £147 million, this means they almost doubled their fortune overnight from a single investment.
In 2020, he made millions when Aviation American Gin, an artisanal spirits company he co-owned and for which he was the public face, was snapped up by British drinks giant Diageo in a deal that involved an upfront payment of £272 million but could ultimately be worth £495 million.
Reynolds, who was believed to have owned 20 to 25 per cent of the company, remains involved in the business.
He’s found a suitable partner in Blake, who has also shown an entrepreneurial side, launching Betty Buzz, a range of non-alcoholic sparkling drinks (Lively is teetotal).
The actress is also a ‘brand ambassador’ for luxury names including Chanel, L’Oreal and Stella McCartney.
MailOnline has taken a look at each of the members of the exclusive Hollywood billionaires club and how they accumulated their incredible wealth.
Blake and Ryan through ‘richer and richer’ times in the spotlight
Good deal: In 2020, Reynolds made millions when Aviation American Gin, an artisanal spirits company he co-owned and for which he was the public face, was snapped up by British drinks giant Diageo in a deal that involved an upfront payment of £272 million but could ultimately be worth £495 million
RIHANNA
Rihanna officially became a billionaire August 2021 – making her the richest female musician in the world and the second richest female entertainer after Oprah Winfrey.
The Umbrella songstress has racked up $1.4 billion throughout her decade-long career – the majority of which has come from her fashion brands and her skincare and cosmetics company Fenty Beauty, Forbes reported at the time.
It was claimed that the bulk of the popstar’s money comes not from her singing career, but from her 50 per cent stake in her acclaimed cosmetics line Fenty Beauty – a joint venture with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH – which is now worth $2.8 billion in total.
Between that and her $270 million stake in her wildly successful Savage X Fenty lingerie line, combined with the profit she has made from her 16-year recording career as a chart-topping singer and actress, all make up the hitmaker’s massive wealth.
Barbados-born Rihanna was discovered in 2003 in her home country by American record producer Evan Rogers, who sent her demo to Def Jam Recordings.
Amazing: Rihanna officially became a billionaire August 2021 – making her the richest female musician in the world and the second richest female entertainer after Oprah Winfrey
Incredible: Throughout her career, she has received many awards, including nine Grammys, 12 Billboard Music Awards, and 13 American Music Awards. She is pictured in 2018 (left) and 2019 (right)
It eventually fell into the hands of Def Jam’s president Jay-Z, who invited her to come in and perform and instantly fell in love with Rihanna – and the rest is history.
She went on to become one of the best-selling music artists of all time – having currently sold more than 250 million records worldwide for her hits like Pon de Replay, Umbrella, SOS, Unfaithful, Good Girl Gone Bad, and Don’t Stop the Music, to name a few
In addition to singing, she is also an actress and has graced the screen in a few big movies like Bring It On: All or Nothing in 2006, the war movie Battleship, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (alongside Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne), and the heist comedy Ocean’s 8.
She also starred in the fifth season of Bates Motel and voiced the main character in the DreamWorks animated flick Home (which also starred Jim Parsons and Jennifer Lopez).
In 2015, she signed a $25 million contract with Samsung to promote their Galaxy products. She also teamed up with Tidal in 2016, becoming a co-owner of the music streaming service.
While Rihanna’s focus was mainly on her music throughout the first part of her career, she always had a love for fashion.
Rihanna landed her first fashion venture in 2011, when she became the face of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans.
In addition to singing, she is also an actress and has graced the screen in a few big movies like Bring It On: All or Nothing in 2006 and the war movie Battleship in 2012 (pictured)
She also acted in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (alongside Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne), and the heist comedy Ocean’s 8 (pictured)
She then released a fragrance called Reb’l Fleur in 2011, which reportedly grossed $80million that year. She also dropped three more perfumes over the years.
In 2013, she teamed up with British brand River Island to release four different clothing collections, and became the creative director of the fashion sportswear Puma in 2014.
She was the face of Dior in 2015, and in November of that year, she launched her own beauty and stylist agency with Benoit Demouy called Fr8me.
It was designed to helped aspiring artists book commercials, photoshoots, red-carpet appearances, and ad campaigns.
In 2016, she collaborated with Puma again to release her own clothing line. Then, in 2017, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty under LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton with a desire to ‘make women everywhere (feel) included.’
LVMH is a French holding multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris.
In 2021, it became the most valuable company in Europe, controlling around 60 subsidiaries and 75 different brands, including Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, and Bulgari.
They also own Sephora, which helped Fenty Beauty first step into the scene, launching in Sephora stores in more than 150 countries and reportedly making $100million in sales over its first few weeks.
Fenty Beauty went on to become a leader in providing diversity in the makeup industry – with more than 40 shades for its foundation – and was named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 best inventions of 2017.
Rihanna previously said while discussing her brand, ‘Makeup is there for you to have fun with. It should never feel like pressure.
‘It should never feel like a uniform. Feel free to take chances, and take risks, and dare to do something new or different.’
By the end of its first full calendar year in 2018, LVMH said the brand took home $550million in annual revenues.
The brand turned into a billion dollar business in less than four years.
While Rihanna’s focus was mainly on her music throughout the first part of her career, she always had a love for fashion, and released her own cosmetics line called Fenty Beauty in 2017
In 2018, the fashion icon expanded with her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty as a joint venture with TechStyle Fashion Group – which also owns JustFab and Fabletics.
The underwear line which sells affordable lingerie for men and women in sizes ranging from extra small to 4XL.
Rihanna said that she hope to help people ‘feel represented’ in her Savage X Fenty stores.
The Love On The Brain hitmaker explained that she wants customers to step out of her boutiques, which just opened five locations in places like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, ‘feeling confident’ and like they ‘belong.’
She told Refinery29: ‘The whole idea of the retail space is that I wanted women and men to come in and feel represented, to walk away from the experience feeling confident and that they belong.
‘I’ve experienced being a customer and shopping in the lingerie space and have felt as if I didn’t fit the mold of the product.
‘But Savage X Fenty is very inclusive, and I want to continue to expand on that so that our consumers can feel our commitment within the retail space.’
Savage x Fenty is now worth an estimated $1billion – with Rihanna maintaining a 30 per cent stake in the business – and is anticipated to be the market’s leader by 2025.
Last year, Savage X Fenty saw revenue growth of more than 200 per cent and ‘increased its active VIP member base by more than 150 per cent.’
While LVMH wasn’t part of the initial launch of Savage X Fenty, a second round of funding for the brand back in February 2021 secured a whopping $115million for Savage X Fenty, with L Catterton, a private equity firm that fashion house LVMH has a stake in, taking a percentage of the line.
In September, Savage X Fenty held its third fashion show in New York City, featuring celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens and 1990s supermodel Cindy Crawford on the catwalk.
In 2018, the fashion icon expanded with her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty – which sells affordable lingerie in sizes ranging from extra small to 4XL. She is pictured at its launch
Current supermodels like Gigi Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski also stomped the runway alongside Erykah Badu, Jeremy Pope, Alek Wek, and others.
In 2019, she released clothes, accessories, and footwear under her fashion brand Fenty, which she also teamed up with LVMH for.
The Fenty clothing label was tailored to the high-end market, whereas Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty are said to be more affordable.
Rihanna used several stars as ‘ambassadors’ of her brand including Nicole Williams of WAGS and Kylie Jenner’s best friend Stassie Baby. Tale Of Tails actress Blanca Blanco modeled the line for Valentine’s Day.
‘I’m not the face of my brand, but I am the muse, and my DNA has to run all the way through it,’ she said upon the launch of Fenty clothing. ‘I don’t want anyone to pull up my website and think, Rihanna would never wear that.’
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rihanna announced that she was putting the brand ‘on hold’ in February 2021 to focus on her ‘cosmetics, skincare, and lingerie’ instead.
In July 2020, she launched Fenty Skin, which offers makeup-removing cleanser, pore-refining serums, and moisturizing sunscreens, and it had sales of $30million in under four months
‘On Fenty fashion, we are obviously still in a launching phase and we have to figure out exactly what is the right offer. It’s not something that is easy. We were starting entirely from scratch,’ LVMH chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony also said at the time, according to The New York Times.
‘Obviously, we have the great help from Rihanna on this, but I would say it’s still a work in progress when it comes to really defining what the offer will be.’
In July 2020, she launched Fenty Skin, which offers makeup-removing cleanser, pore-refining serums, and moisturizing sunscreens, and it had sales of $30million in under four months on its e-store, WWD reported.
In March, the superstar also filed a trademark for a line of haircare products and tools, ranging from shampoo to hair glitter, under the name of Fenty Hair.
KIM KARDASHIAN
Rich list: Kim Kardashian has been named a billionaire by Forbes, following in the footsteps of her estranged husband Kanye West
Kim is shown promoting Skims, left, which she owns a $225million stake of, and her beauty brand KKW Beauty, right, which she owns a $500million stake of
Kim’s net worth is now $1billion after growing her business empire over the last few years with her shapewear line Skims.
She has a $225million stake in Skims and in January 2021, sold 20 percent of KKW Beauty to Coty for $200million while retaining 72 percent of the company – a stake worth $500million.
The reality TV star also earned at least $10million a year through her old TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, current show The Kardashians, ad campaigns, social media posts and through her game app, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.
She also holds an impressive stock portfolio that includes shares in Amazon and Disney.
Kanye gave her the portfolio as a Christmas gift in 2017. At the time, it was worth $100,000.
Keeping Up with the Kardashians launched in 2007. At the time, Kim was known as a socialite and had appeared in a sex tape
Kim capitalized on reality TV fame to cash in through appearances, endorsement deals, magazine covers and ad campaigns. She is shown on the cover of Playboy, left, in 2007 and right, in a Carl’s Jr. campaign from 2010
