Jessica Chastain by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA)
Whether they lied to make themselves seem older to book more mature roles, to seem younger, or to get into nightclubs, there are lots of celebrities who’ve fudged the numbers on their birth years. Some actors are even so hush-hush about their real age that we’re still guessing.
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Sandra Bullock lied about her age to get the part of Diane Farrow in the 1992 film “Love Potion No. 9.” She told the truth shortly thereafter during an interview with Barbara Walters, saying, “I always said I would never lie, but one time when I didn’t, it worked against me.” The star even went on record recently and said if not for Netflix, she’d “be out in the cow pasture” now that she’s in her late 50s.
Known for her iconic role in “That 70’s Show,” Mila Kunis landed the role by lying about her age. Producers were looking for an 18-year-old. Only 14 at the time, Kunis told them she was going to be 18. Which wasn’t technically a lie — but implied she was 17.
Just like Mila Kunis, Laurence Fishburne was just 14 years old when he tried to land a role meant for an 18-year-old. Fishburne found a happy medium and said he was 16 years old to land a role in the classic movie “Apocalypse Now” alongside Sheen (his son Emilio Estevez also shot scene as an extra, but they did not make the final cut). It wasn’t just good for Fishburne — Martin Sheen has been very vocal over the years about Fishburne saving Estevez’s life during filming.
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Like many actors trying to get their start in the film industry, Whoopi Goldberg lied about her age to get several roles. The actor wanted to land more mature roles and was dealing with housing insecurity at the time, so she fudged her age by five years, saying she was 35 when she was really 30.
Rebel Wilson was in the news quite a bit several years ago for lying about her age. The actor claimed to be 29 years old when she was really in her mid-30s at the time. Unlike most celeb age stories, this one ended up in the courtroom when she sued Bauer Media for defamation after the publisher said she lied about her age and her real name.
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In 1999, Eminem told Howard Stern he was 24 years old, but he was really 27 years old. Fans are still not sure why the Detroit rapper lied about his age, but many speculate it has something to do with wanting to appeal to a younger fan base. Eminem went on to release several more albums since the 1999 interview.
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Hilary Duff has been acting since childhood, so how did she lie about her age? The former child star didn’t lie to get ahead in her career. She lied to get into clubs. Duff’s older sister said she learned the “naughty” behavior from her and that she was so well-known at that time that a fake ID wouldn’t have worked.
To get a part in 1989’s “Troop Beverly Hills,” Carla Gugino lied about her age, saying she was 14, but she was really 16 at the time. She didn’t keep the secret for long. She told Jeff Kanew, the director, her real age during the filming process, where he confirmed he wouldn’t have hired her had he known her real age.
After claiming to be born in 1986, it came out that the rapper was actually born two years earlier, in 1984. The real timeline of her life came to life came to light in 2011 after a police report proved that the rapper was 28, not 26 as she claimed.
Known as the oldest member of the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell’s real age has been speculated about for decades. She is believed to be 49 years old, but even Mel B doesn’t know her former bandmates' real age.
Gabrielle Carteris once lied about her age to get the role of Andrea Zuckerman in the original 90210 series. The show was looking for someone to play a 16-year-old, so Carteris lied and told the show she was 21 when she was really 29 years old. She went on to say that her lawyer told her she could claim any age, as long as it was 21 or older.
In the late 1990s, Riley Weston told producers she was a teenager and was hired to write and act in the TV series “Felicity.” Once the news broke that the writer/actor was 32, not 19, she was fired. Weston called it a “catch-22” that she looked like a teenager because she wasn’t getting jobs that aligned with her real age.
Model and actress Agyness Deyn said she was just 18 years old when her career began. She was actually 23, but her agent felt it was better for her career to lie. Six years later, Agyness Deyn announced that she was really 29, not 24.
Jessica Chastain is one of those elusive actors whose true age is unknown. It is believed that she is 44 years old, but in an interview in 2013, she said that she’d never admit her age because she’s an actress and wants to play a range of characters of different ages.
During her early career in the Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger claimed she was 28 when she was really nearing 30. The singer later joked that she should have claimed she was 27 instead. Her age was called into question again during her time on the competition TV show “X Factor” when Louis Walsh joked, “nobody knows what age she is, but she’s older than she says she is.”
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