Famous People Who Were Adopted, 5-8
In this segment of our list of famous people who were adopted, you will find more celebrities who didn't let their upbringing stop them from achieving success.
5. Malcolm X
The childhood of the man who would become "black power" leader Malcolm X was not a happy one. His father, Earl Little, was a Christian minister who was killed in 1931 when Malcolm was a small boy. Following his father's death, his mother had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a mental hospital. Malcolm and his siblings were put into an orphanage and later fostered by various families. Malcolm X would later convert to the Nation of Islam and emerge as one of the most influential civil rights activists of the modern era.
6. Steve Jobs
The eventual cofounder of Apple Computers and the brain behind the iPod, Steven Paul was adopted as an infant by Paul and Clara Jobs in February 1955. Jobs held an internship with Hewlett-Packard and did a stint at Atari, Inc., before he and Stephen Wozniak developed the first Apple computer. These days, the white cord of the iPod is ubiquitous, and Macintosh computers are synonymous with style and technical savvy.
7. Scott Hamilton
Dorothy and Ernest Hamilton adopted Scott in 1958 when he was just six weeks old. In 1984, Hamilton won an Olympic gold medal in men's figure skating, making him the first American male to medal in the sport since 1960. These days, Hamilton produces Stars on Ice, a professional ice show that tours cities around the world.
8. Marilyn Monroe
Born in 1926 to a single mother with a less than stable mental state, legendary screen siren Marilyn Monroe lived in many foster homes as a young girl and spent two years in an orphanage. When she was barely 16, she had the option of another orphanage or marriage. Monroe chose marriage to merchant marine James Dougherty, whom she remained married to for four years. In the years following her rocky beginnings, the blonde bombshell would nab a place in American culture unparalleled before or since.
On the next page, you will find the final five celebrities on our list of famous people who were adopted.
