Ugly Ducklings? A Look At 18 Sexy Celebs Who Were Not-So-Hot Back In The Day

Forget Throwback Thursday and Flashback Friday: RadarOnline.com's going way back, and taking a look at celebs who didn’t necessarily look their best when they first gained fame.

When Jennifer Lopez first came to our TV screens as a Fly Girl in the Fox comedy sketch show In Living Color she looked more like “Jenny From the Block” than the J.Lo that we know today. She had curly, dark hair, thick eyebrows and a (relatively) fuller figure.

He may be a silver fox now, but when George Clooney appeared in ‘80s sitcoms like The Facts of Life, The Golden Girls and Roseanne he had a rather unattractive, albeit timely, mullet.

Remember when Nicole Richie first appeared in the reality show The Simple Life with her former best pal Paris Hilton? Today she looks completely different from the chubby girl with the bad extensions who first graced our TV screens back in 2003.

When she first got a name for herself hosting a daytime then-local chat show in Chicago in 1984 Oprah Winfrey did not look like the glamorous media mogul that she is today. She had a very round face that was painted with lots of ‘80s-style makeup. Oh, and when it came to fashion, shoulder pads ruled supreme.

Has Kim Kardashian had plastic surgery? That is the perennial question, because the girl who first gained fame as Paris Hilton’s second banana had a facial profile much different than the one she has today. At the very least, her sense of style has evolved over the years and these days she looks a lot more sophisticated than the girl who used to date Ray J and Nick Cannon.

Like a fine wine, Ellen DeGeneres’ looks have improved with age. As the face of her self-titled sitcom in the 1990s, she had bad haircut after bad haircut and masculine clothes that often swamped her frame. She was anything but the TV host that we know and love now who dons a series of short choppy hairstyles and fun, well-cut suits.

Sarah Jessica Parker always had a lot of curly blonde hair. But back in the ‘80s (when she was dating Robert Downey Jr.) and the early ‘90s (when she co-starred in films like L.A. Story with Steve Martin) it was almost like a Jersey-girl blonde perm.

Blame it on her experimental teenage years, but when Kelly Osbourne first came to national attention on the reality TV show The Osbournes, she was a grumpy teen, often draped in black and very Goth-like.

Speaking of the Osbournes, Jack Osbourne looked nothing like he does today. Kelly’s younger brother was a teen with a chubby face surrounded by a mass of chin-length curls.

Today, Nicole Kidman looks far-removed from the Aussie actress who Tom Cruise fell in love with soon after seeing her in 1989’s Dead Calm. Back then her ginger hair was a swarm of ringlets that had the potential to frizz effortlessly.

Let’s face it, Halle Berry has always been gorgeous. But as the wide-eyed Miss World contestant in 1986 surrounded by big hair she hadn’t adopted the chic short (and eventually pixie) haircut that transformed her face and style.

Do you remember Kerry Washington in the 2001 film Save The Last Dance? You’ll be forgiven if you don’t. With her short, sculpted curls she looks nothing like the svelte and stylish Olivia Pope that has bewitched us in the hit series Scandal.

Just one look at the video for Lady Gaga’s 2008 breakout hit, “Just Dance” proves that the eccentric singer looked like your average, young pop star. Fast forward to 2014 and with her jaw-dropping, often bizarre style choices (think the meat dress or her over-sized Cher-circa-1990 curly wig) and you’ll see how far she has come.

When Prince Charles first started dating Lady Diana Spencer back in the early 1980s, she looked nothing like the Princess Diana that we grew to love before her tragic death in 1997. The chubby-faced nursery school teacher with the (almost) bowl haircut looked nothing like the Versace-wearing style queen who perished in a tragic car crash.

Every now and then, an old photo of Zooey Deschanel as a young starlet at a red-carpet Hollywood event will surface. She hadn’t adopted her chic signature look of dark-hair long hair with heavy bangs yet. In contrast, the mousey actress often faded into the background.

With her dirty blonde hair, belly-skimming tops, ra ra skirts and thick eyebrows, Madonna was a fashion-forward diamond in the rough when she first burst onto the pop scene. Her style quickly evolved though and she went from chubby to athletic and settled on a look that predominantly-featured long blonde hair.

“You had me at hello.” The young, girl-next-door, quirky beauty who said that in the 1996 hit Jerry Maguire looks nothing like the Renee Zellweger of today. Set aside the allegations that she has had plastic surgery, and it's clear that the actress has settled upon a blonder, sleeker, more sophisticated look.

When Rihanna first, gained success in the pop charts in 2005, the singer looked almost like a mini Beyonce; with her auburn and sometimes honey-blonde extensions. Today the vixen looks anything but, sporting a variety of colorful hairstyles and outfits that see her turning up at events braless in see-through outfits.