10 Celebs Who Grew Up In Really Strict Households

Read on to find out more about these celebrities’ strict upbringings…

Patrick Schwarzenegger admits that his famous parents, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, were very strict when he was growing up. During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Patrick’s mom Maria sent in a “Fast Five” question, asking if there was anything he “got away with as a kid” that she didn’t know about. Patrick responded that he didn’t do anything bad — because he thought his parents “were frightening.”

“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t want to do anything against Maria and Arnold,” Patrick said. “Oh man. We just had a lot of rules. They were very strict parents. I’m worried I’m gonna get grounded if I say something now.”

Arnold in particular was quite strict and once admitted that he threw Patrick’s mattress in the pool when he found out that his nanny was making his bed for him instead of doing it himself.

Growing up as a child star, Amanda Bynes says her parents did what they could to keep her safe and ended up being incredibly strict. Amanda’s father once shared that he felt it was important to always keep his daughter close to home because he felt that family was so important. Looking back in 2007, Amanda agreed that her parents were strict but said she thought it was a good thing.

“My parents actually were very strict, in a good way, though. I was never allowed to go to the mall alone or with friends. I had to go with my parents. … I think it was because shady things happen in malls,” she said in a Tonight Show interview with Jay Leno.

Paris Hilton’s parents, Richard and Kathy Hilton, were incredibly strict while she was growing up but it didn’t work out so well. Despite setting rules and boundaries, Paris admits she constantly snuck out and got into trouble. Instead of Paris wanting to abide by the rules, she decided to rebel.

“It was so easy to sneak out and go to clubs and parties,” she said in her documentary This Is Paris. “My parents were so strict that it made me want to rebel. They’d [punish me] by taking away my cell phone, taking away my credit card, but it didn’t work. I would still go out on my own.”

Dan Levy grew up in a famous family, with parents Eugene Levy and Deborah Divine, and he says his dad ran a tight ship. Looking back, Dan admits he got into a lot of trouble and “hilarious antics” as a kid despite his relatively “normal” upbringing in Toronto. He says his dad forced him to do his homework and he regularly got grounded.

“It was a standard relationship,” Eugene told People. “Yes, I would ground him. The thing was for us, if you crossed the line, there was going to be some sort of punishment. It’s the way I was brought up, and it’s the way I brought up my kids…It worked! Because honestly we’ve never had a problem with our kids.”

Dan added, “I don’t think I even did anything that bad! I just remember as a teenager I’d be like, ‘But some of these kids are going to rehab! I just didn’t do my homework!’”

Nicole Richie may be known for her wild child years as a young adult but she says that her parents, Lionel Richie and Brenda Harvey-Richie, were “really, really strict.” And while she says she had a stern upbringing, she says she’s grateful for her “amazing parents” who have always been “great people to turn to if I ever need advice.”

Katy Perry grew up with evangelical minister parents who kept a strict household and were serious about religion. Katy says that she and her siblings were not allowed to read any other books aside from the Bible or to listen to secular music. They weren’t even allowed to say “deviled eggs” or “Dirt Devil.”

“I didn’t have a childhood,” Katy shared with Vanity Fair in 2011. “I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up. Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don’t try to change them anymore, and I don’t think they try to change me. We agree to disagree.”

Hasan Minhaj was raised by his father in America while his mother worked in medicine in India while taking care of his younger sister. Looking back, Hasan says his father was very strict — although he promised that life would get much more fun if he could graduate from college and go on to med school.

“His rules with me growing up were very simple: no fun, no friends, no girlfriends. You can have fun in med school, which is, like, a huge lie,” Hasan said on NPR’s Fresh Air.

He continued, “All my Indian friends and Asian-American friends that are in medicine or pharmacy, they will tell you: It doesn’t get poppin’ in dental school. It doesn’t all of a sudden get fun where you go to a club and see a bunch of dudes going crazy, like, ‘What’s going on fellas?’ ‘What’s going on? Residency! I’m having the time of my life.’ It doesn’t work like that!”

Mayim Bialik may have been a child star but that didn’t mean there weren’t rules in her household. When she began acting, her parents viewed it as just a hobby and expected her to contribute to the household like the rest of the family.

“I grew up very modest, in an immigrant sort of family. College was really emphasized. And even when I started acting, it was a hobby,” she told ABC News. “There was a strong emphasis in me doing chores and expected to be part of the family in normal ways. My parents are kind of crazy in a lovable way. I grew up strict and that seemed to have worked to me.”

Cardi B says that her mother Clara was very serious while she was growing up and was often strict with her and her sister. Although Cardi tried to rebel against her mother’s rules, she understands that she was just trying to protect her from growing up too fast.

“I always wanted to be what my mom didn’t let me be. I wanted to wear small shirts and have my belly out and wear little kitty heels,” Cardi told Interview magazine. “I think she didn’t want me to grow up so fast, because the kids around my neighborhood grew up fast. That’s why my mom was always scared. There was teen pregnancy all around us. She was just being a mom.”

When Ben Barnes was a kid, he says his parents were strict about what he could watch. They kept tabs on his television and movie viewings — and he admits he missed out on a lot of films his classmates were watching.

“My parents were always really strict about what I could watch when I was a kid, so when I was thirteen and everybody else was watching The Godfather, I wasn’t allowed to,” he told Bello magazine.