From Fired To Famous
Getting fired is almost always a hideous, traumatic experience. What good can come of it? Ask these six celebrities.
When George Foreman was let go from his furniture moving job, he was so upset he couldn’t even tell his family, but it freed him from low-level employment he might have stayed with all his life. He went on to pursue a boxing career that ultimately made him heavyweight champion of the world. Still, he continues to long for the work shirt he would have earned with his first promotion.
Tony Hawk, the star skateboarder, was fired from the set of Police Academy 4. He came to see it as “a badge of honor to be fired from such a cheesy comedy.”
After he was fired voice actor Billy West went to a job with Howard Stern that launched his true career.
Sue Grafton, the mystery writer, discovered “two things about myself: One, I’m not a good team player. And two, I’m not a good sport.” So she picked the solitary occupation of novelist and thrived at it.
Stan Lee decided “I would never again let myself be an unnoticed cog in a machine,” and he went on to give the world Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.
Being fired made Bill Nye realize how much he loved the job he lost as a 15-year-old bicycle repairman. So he resolved to go to engineering school, and wound up as the Science Guy on national television.
What did they all learn? In the words of Billy West: “Getting hired doesn’t teach you anything. Getting fired does.”
They all describe their experiences in the interviews that follow.
Additional reporting by Matthew Kirdahy and David Sutton.
When George Foreman was let go from his furniture moving job, he was so upset he couldn’t even tell his family, but it freed him from low-level employment he might have stayed with all his life. He went on to pursue a boxing career that ultimately made him heavyweight champion of the world. Still, he continues to long for the work shirt he would have earned with his first promotion.
Tony Hawk, the star skateboarder, was fired from the set of Police Academy 4. He came to see it as “a badge of honor to be fired from such a cheesy comedy.”
After he was fired voice actor Billy West went to a job with Howard Stern that launched his true career.
Sue Grafton, the mystery writer, discovered “two things about myself: One, I’m not a good team player. And two, I’m not a good sport.” So she picked the solitary occupation of novelist and thrived at it.
Stan Lee decided “I would never again let myself be an unnoticed cog in a machine,” and he went on to give the world Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.
Being fired made Bill Nye realize how much he loved the job he lost as a 15-year-old bicycle repairman. So he resolved to go to engineering school, and wound up as the Science Guy on national television.
What did they all learn? In the words of Billy West: “Getting hired doesn’t teach you anything. Getting fired does.”
They all describe their experiences in the interviews that follow.
Additional reporting by Matthew Kirdahy and David Sutton.
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