The world of celebrity gossip is one us normal people love to scrutinize. To have the proof that the rich, famous and gorgeous are mere mortals like us is a hopeful reminder that anybody can stumble into the world of show-biz. It's often difficult to remember the people featured in our magazines, heard on our stereos and seen on our television screens have pasts, too, and in some extremely interesting circumstances, some celebs originated from unbelievable upbringings. While most celebrities just happened to be blessed with a tremendous amount of luck, it's the entertaining stories found in the celebs that happened upon fame as a final option when life threw ridiculous curve balls.

The following list is dedicated to those beloved celebrities and the astonishingly bizarre lives they once led.

4. Liam Neeson was a teacher until he punched a student.

Known for his particular set of skills, Hollywood tough guy Liam Neeson has become a go-to choice for elderly men capable of punching things so hard, imaginary friends get hurt. Your girlfriend knows him as the father of that lovable scamp in "Love Actually," but ask any Alaskan wolf or European sex trafficker who Liam Neeson is and the answer you'll receive is one dangerous monster that uses pepper spray to spice up his steak.

But there was a time long ago when Neeson wasn't the cause of nightmares for bad guys everywhere. In fact, there was a time long ago when he was nothing more than a common working citizen simply trying to make a living in a highly revered profession--teaching. Just knowing the guy that "released the Kraken" was a school teacher is enough to win a battle of escalating fun facts, but his story doesn't end there. His desire to teach could not outrun his destiny of causing carnage when he punched a student square in the face.

You see, Neeson was training to become a teacher and had already spent two years in an undisclosed teacher education program. While his teaching had been fairly normal up until this point, it was one unruly class that threatened his patience. The class had gotten out of hand and Neeson was failing to maintain order. After a struggle to get them to listen, a 15-year-old student, whom Neeson described as “a big guy,” wouldn’t calm down no matter what Neeson tried. Absolutely exhausted, Neeson demanded the student leave the room and stand outside in a "time-out" kind of scenario.

The 15-year-old responded by pulling a knife on Neeson, resulting in his quick reaction to punch the student in the face. It had become the world's first recorded case of Neeson's Fists-itis and it led to Neeson's immediate termination. He later admitted,

“My reaction was to punch him, which I shouldn’t have done but I felt threatened.”

Afterward, Neeson gave up on his teaching dreams and became the plane-saving, wolf-punching, sex-having unstoppable Angel of Death we've all come to know and love. Liam Neeson says that acting is significantly easier than teaching a class full of kids, which he calls “the most difficult job I’ve ever tried to master.” Someone pitch and later greenlight Liam Neeson as a no-nonsense teacher. Please.

3. Bob Ross was the army's scariest Master Sergeant.

Few things are as soothing as Bob Ross and the happy little clouds he painted. Resembling something plucked right from a "Tim & Eric" sketch, Bob Ross hosted a public-access show titled "The Joy of Painting" in which the man painted and indeed took immense joy from it. Resurrected somewhat recently by a devoted following comprised of stoners and those obsessed with ironic comedy, "The Joy of Painting" offers a wholesome look into a wholesome man's wholesome passion. But in a revelation guaranteed to usher in the death of all innocence, Bob Ross used to be a brutal master sergeant in the US Air Force.

During his 20 years in the Air Force, Ross screamed at people with a force that'd make any natural disaster nervous. He was a strict, angry man--and not just because it was his job. When it came to yelling at people, Ross went above and beyond even earning the nickname “Bust ‘Em Up Bobby.” Yes, the warmhearted man hiding under that silly afro was originally responsible for the tears of countless army men. According to Ross,

"I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work. The job requires you to be a mean, tough person.”

After completing his time in the Air Force, Ross felt incomplete and lacking a purpose. Disgusted by his brutal persona he devoted two full decades of establishing, Ross vowed to change, venturing so far as to vow never to scream again. With the desire to undergo a complete 180 degree change, he became the exact opposite of who he was. He invested into public-broadcasting, grew the shaggiest beard imaginable, probably took a ton of sedatives and spread his love of painting for the entire planet to enjoy. It's a shame he died in 1995. Perhaps someone could have convinced him to start "The Joy of Dropping Down And Giving Me Fifty, You Embarrassing Piece of Shit."

2. Johnny Cash was the first American to report the death of Stalin.

Long ago, some law must have passed requiring all college dorms to have the "Scarface" poster pinned to the wall as well as the iconic Johnny Cash photo pictured above. Taken from his gig at San Quentin prison, this famous picture had a large hand in immortalizing the Man In Black in pop culture iconography. Throw in a catalog of music like "I Walk the Line," "Ring of Fire," and his cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and Cash was solidified as one of the greatest performers in music history. But his involvement in the Air Force resulted in arguably a much stronger impact on history than his music persona ever did: He dropped the bombshell announcement that Joseph Stalin had died.

When he was 18 years old, Johnny Cash enlisted in the US Air Force and found himself in West Germany, serving on the 12th Radio Squadron. Cash, apparently, had a natural gift for deciphering Russian Morse code, and he ended up one of the Air Force’s leading code readers. He traced Soviet jet bombers, cracked coded messages and basically became a wunderkind in the cutthroat world of WW II Morse Code deciphering. His ultimate success, however, came on March 5, 1953, when Cash had picked up a message reporting that Joseph Stalin had been killed by a massive stroke.

He was the first American to hear it, and when he reported it to his superiors, he became the man who broke the news to the United States. Unfortunately, the highly classified nature of his work meant Cash could never tell a soul of his discovery. He would be an anonymous tip the world would never know of.... until 1997, when he donned the role of whistle-blower to talk about it in his autobiography. But by that point, he was Johnny Cash and nobody was going to stop him from doing anything.

1. Samuel L. Jackson was wanted by the FBI after holding Martin Luther King Sr. hostage.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, it affected the country a great deal. One of its citizens, young Samuel L. Jackson, was among one of the most affected. Infuriated over the lack of rights, respect, and decent treatment of black Americans, Samuel L. Jackson sought out to right the terrible wrong. He wanted to make Dr. King’s dream of a better world a reality and no amount of legal consequence was going to stand in his way. So, inspired by all these mother fucking dreams on this mother fucking nation, Samuel L. Jackson did what he thought Martin Luther King would have wanted: He held his father hostage.

At the time, Jackson attended Morehouse College, a school that had Martin Luther King Sr. on its board of trustees. Morehouse nearly exclusively enrolled black students, but was almost exclusively staffed, operated, and run by white people. Realizing the gross racial injustice Morehouse may have intentionally or unintentionally performed, Jackson had felt that enough was enough. With the assistance of other rage filled students, Jackson organized a protest of sorts. Armed to the teeth, he and his friends held the college board, including King, hostage until they agreed to hire more black staff. In an interview with Parade, Jackson recalled,

“I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different – not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence."

Jackson's threats succeeded as Morehouse gave in and fearfully started the hiring process of any qualified black teachers and staff. While a happy ending for Jackson's cause, he quickly realized that pointing a gun in important faces with a sociopolitical goal in mind does not go by unnoticed. Jackson was expelled from the school and charged with unlawful confinement, even becoming a person of interest to the FBI.

"My mom showed up and put me on a plane to L.A. She said, ‘Do not come back to Atlanta.’ The FBI had been to the house and told her that if I didn’t get out of Atlanta, there was a good possibility I’d be dead within a year. She freaked out.’”

With an immediate urgency to start anew in L.A., Jackson boarded a plane, unsure of a return was ever in the cards. Fortunately, his return would only be two years later when he reapplied to Morehouse in January of 1971 as a drama major.

“I decided that theater would now be my politics. It could engage people and affect the way they think. It might even change some minds.”

Nick Fury detained the father of a Civil Rights activist against his will. Here's looking at you, Marvel fan-boys.