Ellen DeGeneres

The comedic cutie didn't have such a funny childhood. Growing up, Ellen Degeneres was molested by her stepfather while her mom battled breast cancer. She later dropped out of college to follow her dreams into comedy. Unfortunately, it was her girlfriend Kathy Perkoff's tragic death that inspired Ellen to write her award winning monolouge "A Phone Call to God." Then in 1986, Ellen became the first female comedian invited on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. A few years later in 1994, Ellen lands her breakout role in the ABC sitcom These Friends of Mine which became the Emmy winning Ellen in season two. Ellen once again made history in 1997 when she became televisions first openly gay star, an epiphany which was also written into her sitcom. Ellen now is one of the hottest names in Hollywood, with her award winning talk show The Ellen Show, a sponsorship deal with CoverGirl, a brief stint on American Idol and her marriage to actress Portia de Rossi.