The worst advice celebrities were given (and, thankfully, didn’t take)

Part of being successful is knowing when to take advice and when to skip it at all costs, We’ve all been dished out some well-meaning, but not-so-helpful suggestions before. Know this: It’s OK to question the advice you’re given, even when it’s coming from people who think they have your best interests at heart. Sometimes, you’ve got to just take other people’s ideas on what’s best for you and chuck them out the window. It takes a little bravery to go with your gut, but in the long run it might be for the better. Just consider what would have happened if these super-famous people listened to every piece of advice they were given. Yeah, that wouldn’t have been good.

Mindy Kaling — on losing weight for Hollywood standards

“My first agent told me that I should go on a juice cleanse. This was like 2004, when juice cleanses were like still like, very dicey. Now. . . 90 percent of the people here are on a juice cleanse, so it’s not weird now. . .She’s not my agent anymore.”

Blake Shelton —  on getting started in the business

“I had a producer tell me one time when I was younger to start smoking in order to develop more of the rasp.”

Jennifer Love Hewitt  —  on her body

“[I was told] to not eat at all if you want to lose weight.”

JK Rowling — on writing Harry Potter

“Four or five publishers turned it down, I think, and the consistent criticism was, ‘It’s far too long for children.’”

Amy Adams — on why she wasn’t being cast in leading roles

“I [was told I] listen too much.”

Winona Ryder — on becoming an actress

“I was in the middle of auditioning, and I was mid-sentence when the casting director said, ‘Listen kid, you shouldn’t be an actress. You are not pretty enough. You should go back to wherever you came from and you should go to school. You don’t have it..”

Kerry Washington—on her career choice

“When I said that this is what I wanted to do, my mother literally cried. She didn’t want me to experience all that rejection. They both would have preferred me to have been a lawyer.”

Lea Michele — on changing her face

“[This manager was] like ‘How old are you?’ [I said] 13, they said ‘Great, as soon as you turn 15, it’s time for a nose job,’ We were like ‘Okay, we are out of here!’ Obviously I didn’t get it done. Wherever she is, I mean she can go f*** herself, so.”

Jennifer Aniston  — on taking the part of Rachel Green on Friends instead of being a cast member on SNL

“[People] were like, ‘You’re so stupid. You’re so stupid’… I had this show Friends coming up. . .They thought I was making a huge mistake.”

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