8 Inspiring Celebrity Career Comebacks

In the fickle entertainment industry, as quickly as someone can rise to the top and become a beloved figure, they can fall off even faster, be subjected to scrutiny and exiled from the public’s embrace. But everyone loves a good comeback story.

Before he arguably became the biggest movie star in the world earning around $20 million per film, Will Smith was one half of the hip hop duo, The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff, who won the first Grammy for best rap duo in 1989. Though he was earning million of dollars (and underpaying his income taxes), at age 19 his splurging days came to an abrupt halt when the Internal Revenue Service assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against him. Nearly bankrupt, Smith got a break when Benny Medina and Jeff Pollack approached him with an opportunity to star in his own television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Though the show was successful, for the first three years, the IRS was taking 70 percent of Smith’s paychecks to repay his debt. Once he was cleared, Smith’s acting career propelled to new heights and has since made him more money than his rap career ever did.