The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [86]
Actor Zac Efron: “I wore goofy hats to school and did musical theater. Most people thought I was a total weirdo.”
Singer-songwriter Ne-Yo: “I was kind of the outcast weird guy” in school.
Rapper Drake: “I was an outcast in school.”
Singer LeeAnn Rimes: “I was a bit of an outcast in school because I was a singer, and I would get picked on. I would literally cry and cry for days.”
Actress Megan Fox: “I was unpopular when I was in high school. I was a loner. You learn, at an early age, that it’s okay. It’s fine. I could go for days without talking to another human being. I know myself, and I know that there’s more to me than you know, and you don’t need to know.” She has also said, “The things I was made fun of for in school are the things that people now like about me and appreciate about me.”
Owl City singer Adam Young: “I was an outcast in high school and the people who made fun of me now want to go out to eat.”
Dixie Chicks (and Court Yard Hounds) Emily Robison and Martie Maguire were “orchdorks.”
Actress Vanessa Hudgens has said she was an outcast; “I was totally the girl who had no friends. . . . While everyone else was playing, I would sit on the lawn and stare up at the clouds.”
Actor Chad Michael Murray: “I was kind of an outcast in high school. I had no friends. I was a nerd. . . . Because I didn’t have a lot of money, while everyone else was getting into trends and fashion, I would wear Payless shoes, a pair of jeans, and a white T-shirt every day, which only kind of excluded me further.”
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar: “I’ve always been the nerdy, geekish outsider who still remembers how a lot of my classmates used to torture me. Growing up, I always felt different from other kids and they would always tease me about my work in commercials or TV as a way of putting me down.”
Actress Busy Philipps was “a freak [who would] wear bizarre costumes to school.”
Artist Andy Warhol, actor James Franco, and actresses Barbra Streisand and Mena Suvari were loners in school: “I just didn’t relate to anybody,” Suvari has said.
Journalist John Stossel has said he was a dork. Barbara Walters cried throughout high school. Al Roker was a “nerd”; he has said, “I was on the AV squad, and I made stop-action movies with Gumby puppets. I used to record TV shows on audiotape and then splice them together. So I’d splice together Superman with Batman, stuff like that. I was an odd kid.”
Amy Van Dyken, whose severe asthma and chlorine allergy made swimming difficult, was tormented by her high school swim teammates, who said she was too slow. In 1996 she was the first American woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games; at her press conference she said, “This is a victory for all the nerds out there.” In 2008, Van Dyken was named to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Actresses Nicole Kidman and Heather Locklear were teased because of their looks—Kidman for her height and Locklear for her chest.
Actor Anthony Hopkins, who was ostracized at school, has said that the way other students treated him led him to his success as a movie star.
TV and radio host Ryan Seacrest, actress Zooey Deschanel, actor Taylor Lautner, singer Christina Aguilera, and actor Dustin Hoffman have said they were teased or bullied in school. Deschanel, who had a “horrible” seventh grade experience, has said that being teased in school made her more ambitious.
Winter
Outcast Profiling and Other Dangers
Chapter 6
CHALLENGES
BLUE, HAWAII | THE GAMER
Late one night, Blue drove to Jackson’s house to retrieve his fight stick, which Jackson had borrowed but never used. Jackson had been rude to Blue lately. Blue didn’t think he even liked Jackson much anymore, but he relished the chance