They kicked you off the team yesterday and you jump 100 times a day without knowing if you’re going to be the most famous basketball player in history. You spend 2 months in a wheelchair in the hospital with people suffering from cerebral palsy for the sake of a film role or cut your fingers with guitar strings trying to create a new song even though you can buy ones that already exist.
But ordinary people usually only see the other side: million dollar contracts, trips around the world, and millions of fans. Have you ever wanted to trade places with an outstanding actor or athlete?
Bright Side decided to have a look at the other side of the coin and find out what it’s like to be a person whose life looks like a dream and what they have to sacrifice for success.
For 6 months, Daniel Day-Lewis lived in the jungle to get into character and won an Oscar for this role.
The Oscar-tipped actor always thoroughly studies his characters that he’s going to play. For example, he spent 6 months in nature for the role in The Last of the Mohicans. He learned to build canoe and make animal traps to understand his character better.
For his role in Gangs of New York, Daniel worked as a butcher and ended up with pneumonia because he refused to wear a warm coat because his character wasn’t supposed to wear these types of clothes.
Before taking part in My Left Foot, the actor spent 8 weeks in the hospital with people suffering from cerebral palsy. He spent all waking hours in a wheelchair and was even fed by the staff. Daniel even somehow broke 2 ribs.
Before starting filming for The Boxer, he was already in training but he decided to spend 18 months preparing for his role: by the end, he was skilled enough to compete as a professional.
During breaks between shootings, Daniel does “strange things.” For example, he once got a job as a shoemaker.
Aleksandra Bilgic tells us what a ballerina’s life looks like.
Aleksandra does ballet and belly dancing. The art of dance is everything for her, and Aleksandra openly talks about all the benefits and drawbacks of this job. For example, that’s what feet look like after a day of pointe dancing.
Sergei Polunin, another ballet dancer, says that the life of each dancer consists of special foot care, various exercises for muscle and joint strengthening, strict diets that influence muscles and don’t affect the body shape, daily workouts, incredible pain that occurs if you skip exercises, cocktails of painkillers before each performance, and so on.
Ed Harris slept in Jackson Pollock’s bed, built a drawing studio, and spent 10 years preparing for that role.
The actor read Jackson Pollock’s biography and started a 10-year quest to bring the life of the painter to the big screen. Ed got acquainted with all books and documentary films devoted to Pollock, visited galleries thoroughly analyzing the artist’s paintings, began smoking Pollock’s favorite cigarettes, visited his home, slept in his bed, built a studio where he learned to paint, and reproduced Pollock’s paintings which appear in Pollock.
Taylor Phinney was badly injured, recovered in a year, and returned to his career.
Taylor is a professional road racing cyclist and a world champion. Injuries, fractures, and sprains are a part of the life of every athlete. Taylor is against any doping and doesn’t even take the allowed analgesics because he considers pain an essential part of sports.
In 2014, Taylor broke the tibia and fibula in his left leg during a race but his strong will together with medical support helped Taylor recover and continue his career.
Joaquin Phoenix used to carry a sword with him, learned to play the guitar, and almost went mad for a role.
This actor thoroughly prepares for each role. While Russell Crowe was busy getting fit for Gladiator, Joaquin was paying attention to details: he learned sword fighting and took his sword everywhere to get used to its weight and adapt to an appropriate gait.
For the film called Walk the Line, he learned to sing and play the guitar. This experience had a great influence on the actor. He actually wanted to quit acting and become a hip-hop singer.
Michael Jordan was kicked off several basketball teams because he couldn’t jump well.
To develop his physical abilities, Michael Jordan spent a lot of time and effort. At school, Michael was kicked off of the team and when he just got to the NBA, his jumps weren’t up to pro-level standards. So he was shooting hundreds of shots every day to develop his skills. His former coach says that it was an incredible amount of hard work that turned Michael into a superstar.
Janessa Wright opens up about the dark side of the modeling industry.
Janessa is building a modeling career and works part-time as a hostess. She reveals details about the difficult life of a model like the fact that they’re always expected have the perfect body. This meant they have to spend hours working out, following strict diets, and even undergoing plastic surgeries.
Additionally, the modeling industry is full of irregular incomes and drugs that girls turn to in order to overcome depression. Some models also work part-time at regular jobs to pay bills and build their future.
Bethany Hamilton is one of the best surfers in the world despite losing her arm after a shark attack.
Bethany is a professional surfer from Hawaii. From her childhood, she was set to become a great athlete, but at the age of 13 she was attacked by a shark that bit off her left arm. This horrible incident didn’t stop Bethany: in just 26 days, she got back on the surfboard.
Today Bethany is on the list of the 50 best surfers, she wins contests, and inspires people around the world. There’s even a film called Soul Surfer that’s based on her story.
George Hincapie had to start his career all over again after recovering from fractures and infections.
George is the only American road bicycle racer who has taken part in 5 Olympic games and is an 8-time member of teams that won the Tour de France. But he also had to overcome serious injuries like a complicated respiratory infection, broken collar and wrist bones, and varicosity. In 2012, George confessed that at the beginning of his career he used prohibited substances to compete with professionals.
Linda Hamilton had to train really hard to get her body prepared to play Sarah Connor. 28 years later, she’s back in the same role.
To get prepared for the role, Linda’s coach put her through hell. 13 weeks before filming, the actress who weighed 110 lbs started to train: cardio, weight lifting, shooting, judo, and a diet without any fat. Her coach even wanted her to swim in the ocean with weights. By the way, those intense few months began only a couple of months after she gave birth to her son.
Today Linda is in great shape and she’s ready to take part in a new movie about the Terminator.
Mikel John Obi managed to play 90 minutes while his kidnapped father was tortured by criminals.
During the World Cup 2018, the father of the Nigerian captain was kidnapped. Mikel John Obi was preparing for the match with Argentina when strangers called him and ordered him to pay a ransom or they would kill his father. Obi only told his close friends about this. His teammates and coach didn’t know anything. Mikel John played 90 minutes and said that he couldn’t let 190 million Nigerian fans down.
In a week, the police rescued his father, and now he’s in the hospital recovering from injuries. Nigeria lost that game to Argentina with the score 1-2.
Arnold Schwarzenegger swam in dirty water, suffered from diarrhea in the jungle, and took tango lessons for 6 months.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a really devoted actor. For example, he spent 6 months learning to tango with Jamie Lee Curtis for True Lies. This skill was also really helpful in the film called Junior. By the way, he started to develop his ballet skills in 1967.
Schwarzenegger faced the most challenging of his difficulties during Predator filming. The actor lost about 25 lbs because of diarrhea and dirty drinking water. Filming began at 3 AM, Arnold had to crawl in cold, dirty water that was full of leeches, and Kevin Hall kept hitting him accidentally because he had very limited vision through his mask. Once, filming was stopped for a while because Schwarzenegger had to take some time off to get married; his honeymoon lasted only 3 days. Then back to the jungle he went.
Ashley Smith shows the real life of a flight attendant: strict company policies, lack of sleep, and problems with diet.
In her videos, Ashley tells us how difficult it is to be a flight attendant. You have to get used to constant time zone changes, strict rules, and rude passengers on board. Sometimes the whole crew, consisting of 10 people, has to stay in one hotel room, and because of delays, they often don’t even have time to eat a snack. They have to work during holidays and weekends, and deal with drunk passengers. Despite these troubles, a flight attendant always has to smile, be patient, and be polite.
Tall basketball players like Darrell Armstrong suffer from pain in their feet because of their big size.
Judging from pictures of their feet, LeBron James, Evan Turner, and Shaquille O’Neal suffer a lot. Their feet resemble feet from the photos we’ve seen of the Chinese practice of foot-binding. As a result, feet get deformed, arches flatten, toes grow incorrectly or get stuck in a bent position, and they are a constant source of pain. Unfortunately, that’s what basketball is about: basketball players experience horrendous leg tension, the likes of which we usually see in ballerinas.
Montel Williams fights against a disease that’s killing him.
In 1999, this TV host was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that contributes to nerve fiber damage. In 2009, Montel said that he had to overcome pain every single day. Stress is one of the factors that affects the development of this disease. But who could imagine a life in show business without constant stress.
Today, Montel follows a strict diet, does exercise, and contributes to the development of drugs that contain medical cannabis because they help people with MS.
Lady Gaga suffers from fibromyalgia and injures her fingers with guitar strings when creating new songs.
This singer’s life is full of bright events, but sometimes she has to pause between concerts and cancel shows because of her fibromyalgia, a chronic disease characterized by widespread pain, fatigue, insomnia, and concentration problems. Lady Gaga says that saunas and ultraviolet radiation help her get back to work faster.
When it comes to work, the singer doesn’t indulge in self-pity. She even injures her fingers while writing a new song or gets a fracture during a performance, but she keeps going because she loves her fans.
Ilya Kutepov had to play 100 minutes during the World Cup 2018 with an injured foot.
That’s what Ilya’s foot looked like during the game against Croatia in the World Cup 2018. He battled through the match until the end that included extra-time.
His colleague Yuri Zhirkov said that he took a lot of painkillers during the match with Egypt.
Bonus: Dan Manchina lost his eyesight but didn’t quit skateboarding despite doctors’ warnings.
As 13-year-old boy, Dan knew that he was losing his eyesight because of a degenerative disease and any physical activity could speed up the process. Today, he’s blind in his left eye and his right eye is able to distinguish a couple of colors, and despite this he still keeps skateboarding.
He trains every day and before performing a trick, he feels out the surface. He isn’t afraid of getting injured, and thanks to his will, he has become the face of Red Bull.
That’s what one of his tricks looks like.
Would you still put yourself in anyone’s shoes? Share you opinion with us in the comments.
Preview photo credit taylorphinney / twitter, Gladiator (2000) / DreamWorks
