Celebrities With Hobbies You Didn’t Expect

Everyone should have at least one hobby. Even the rich and famous, who we often see only for their public image or contributions to their field, have ways to switch off after a day’s work. And to say these interests can be quite odd is something of an understatement.

Celebrities tend to have more money than most people. A lot more money. Many are eccentric and artistic characters. This combination can lead to some fascinating, outrageous and over the top hobbies that might not even cross the mind of most folk. Angelina Jolie with a drawer full of dangerous knives? No, I’m not sure either…

Johnny Depp’s Passion For Barbies

Johnny Depp is about as eccentric as they come. He’s a man who is known for dancing to his own beat and living life differently. But did you know he has the bizarre habit of collecting Barbie dolls? He has loads of them, and has no shame telling people about his passion.

When speaking to the press he has said that they help him to bond with the youngsters in his family, but he also uses them to get into his acting roles. And he just likes them. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Well, maybe, but without Depp’s personality tittering on the edge of madness we wouldn’t have such genius portrayals as Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhand and Sweeney Todd. Depp has special collectible Barbie Dolls like Beyonce and Audrey Hepburn, as well as dolls of the characters from his own movies.

Rod Stewart’s Train Sets

Rod Stewart is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. In his career he has shifted over 100 million records and achieved nine number one albums and 31 top ten singles. He also really, really likes train sets.

Rock ‘n’ Roll is usually associated with heavy all night parties, and Rod may have had a few of those in his time. But he sometimes likes to retreat into his hobby. He has been known to demand a second hotel room while on tour so that he can set up a workshop and play with his trains.

At home, his train set takes up an area the size of a tennis court. When asked about it, Rod simply replies, “Every man needs a hobby”. He’s right.

Teddy Sheringham Wins At Poker

Teddy Sheringham had a long and successful career as a professional footballer. He scored over 289 goals during his time at Nottingham Forest, Spurs and Manchester United. Not only that but he also played 51 games for England.

Since retiring, Sheringham turned his love of poker into a hobby-come-career that made him a nice amount of money. Results included WSOP cashes worth £40,000 and $28,000, and an EPT final table win that bagged him over $100,000. In total, Teddy has made $329,000 in live poker earnings.

He is not the only celebrity to embrace the card game. There are loads of celebrities who play poker, some more successfully than others. Michael Phelps, Stephen Hendry and Boris Becker have all been known to grace the felt, among others.

Angelina Jolie Collects Knives

One of the most celebrated actresses of all time, Angelina Jolie is an Academy and Golden Globe award winner. She comes across a bit wild, and often portrays characters that can handle themselves whilst looking pretty. It seems her hobbies reflect that just a little bit.

Angelina Jolie collects knives. Not knives for chopping vegetables, but ancient daggers that could chop off fingers. She also has an African spear and a warrior’s axe in her collection of dangerous weapons. And given that she was Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, she probably knows how to use them.

Despite the dangerous (and as has been noted elsewhere, occasionally kinky) hobby, collecting knives is in the family. Jolie’s mother introduced her to the hobby, and Angelina hopes to pass it on to her son. Although she assures us, he is only given blunt knives to play with.

Richard Branson Kitesurfs On His Island

Virgin founder Richard Branson likes to kitesurf. He says that when he takes to the water for half an hour he can go back to work completely refreshed. To most people, that half an hour break consists of a quick cup of coffee, but Richard prefers the adrenaline of the sport to wake him up.

Branson learned to kitesurf on Necker Island, which he owns. The main danger is avoiding the coral reef when he loses control and is plunged underwater. It’s not a problem that most people would encounter on their mid-morning coffee break, is it?

Mila Kunis Plays WoW

Photo by Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 2.0

Mila Kunis has been an actress from a young age. She is the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy, and has recently appeared in films like Max Payne, Black Swan, TED and Bad Moms. Kunis is also an avid gamer, and has recently become obsessed with World of Warcraft.

She has spoken out about her love of all day sessions, quests, clans and raids. Yes, Kunis would give any geek a run for their money. And she’s not alone. There have been a number of high profile celebrities who love to geek out in their spare time, including Christina Aguilera and the late Robin Williams.

Shailene Woodley Forages Wild Food

Shailene Woodley is a TV and film actress known for her recent roles in ‘The Divergent Series’ and ‘ Big Little Lies’. She has been nominated for several Golden Globe awards, and regularly walks the red carpet. But one thing you may not know is that Shailene is a bit of hippy at heart.

She is against GMOs, and instead forages her own wild foods and makes her own herbal medicines. She loves to identify plants, and considers herself the hunter-gatherer type. Not what you’d expect from someone who can afford to dine in the finest restaurants in the world.

From collecting knives to booking hotel rooms for train sets, these celebrities sure do know how to geek out in the weirdest ways possible. Barbies and Depp just doesn’t make sense though does it? What next? The Rock and stamp collecting?