Glitterati

School was a big nightmare

Back to school — three words guaranteed to strike terror into the hearts of children everywhere, not to mention those big kids in Hollywood. The end of the summer holidays and the impending first day back at school isn’t just a scary time for children, it seems. We’ve found a whole class of stars who still shudder at the thought of school even though they’ve long left their desks behind for a career as a superstar. So, come the beginning of the new term, don’t be surprised if among the kids waiting for the bus in their new uniforms, there are one or two stars joining in the chorus of “WE HATE SCHOOL!”

Tom Cruise

Tom’s dyslexia made his school days a misery due to his cruel classmates. “I was extremely lonely,” he says. “I didn’t have many friends. I was dyslexic and a lot of kids made fun of me. That experience made me tough inside because you learn to quietly accept abuse and ridicule.”

Jennifer Lopez

J-Lo fell well short of being top of the class when it came to being popular at school. The Latin stunner was a high school bully and once got in a knife fight with her own sister! Stephanie Herlory, Jennifer’s best friend from New York’s Preston High School, says: “She was very straightforward, and if you were getting on her bad side, she’d let you know it. She was tough.Nobody wanted to be her enemy.” And pals say some of her biggest brawls were with her older sister Leslie, whom she once chased with a knife. “She was always getting into huge fights with Leslie,” adds Stephanie. “It would start out with just screaming, then when their tempers really flared, it would turn into a wild catfight. Jennifer and I both spent some time in after-school detention.” And the recently married (again) diva admits she didn’t enjoy her schooling. “I wasn’t the most popular girl in class,” she says. “I had my friends, but I was comfortable with myself. There’s always those most popular girls and I wasn’t one of those.”