10 Celebrities reveal the advice they would give their younger selves

I remember when I was a teen, I believed that if I could talk to my future self I would tell him to be less harsh on younger people. Now, as a jaded adult, I am no longer 'with it' and would happily chastise my teen self for all the dumb stunts I pulled. I wasn't a reckless kid really, but there were plenty of mistakes made that I'd happily change in retrospect.

Everyone wants to give their younger self some advice from now and then, if we were able to do so. Even for the most rich, famous and successful people in the world, there are bound to be things they would change about their pasts. For instance, I'm sure Jake Gyllenhaal would tell his younger self to not star in Prince of Persia.

But what do celebrities really wish they could tell their younger selves?

1. Jennifer Lawrence

After the Sony hack revealed that she was paid far less than her male co-star for American Hustle, Lawrence said at the Toronto International Film Festival: "Make sure you know how much everyone else is getting paid."

2. Michelle Obama

The former first lady wrote a special letter to her younger self for PEOPLE, saying:

"Stop being so afraid! That’s really what strikes me when I look back – the sheer amount of time I spent tangled up in fears and doubts that were entirely of my own creation. I was afraid of not knowing the answer in class and looking stupid, or worried about what some boy thought of me, or wondering whether the other girls liked my clothes or my hair, or angsting about some offhand comment someone made to me in the lunchroom."

3. Blake Lively

"I’d encourage myself to love myself and fight for myself, as hard as I fought for other people", the actress also told PEOPLE.

4. Britney Spears

"Never get married is number one," Spears (half) joked in an interview on BBC Radio One, "that's probably the best advice I could give myself".

5. Gabrielle Union

In an interview with Ebony Magazine, the actress said:

“One day you’ll appreciate how much your brown skin shines in the moonlight, glistens in the sun and ages ever so slowly. Don’t let that pesky low self-esteem creep in and fool you into believing that you don’t have value. Don’t allow it to crush your will or dampen your spirit.”

6. Jennifer Lopez

"I’d tell myself to love myself because when we love ourselves we make good choices", J-Lo told MindFood. "When we don’t, we are not focused and we make bad choices," she added. "I learned that lesson the hard way.”

7. Tracee Ellis Ross

In an interview with Teen Vogue, she advised:

"There will be parts of your body that you are not fond of. That’s OK. You can love those parts of you even if you don’t like them. And you do that by being kind to them. And speaking gently and lovingly to those parts of yourself."

8. Reese Witherspoon

When asked this question by MindFood, Reese replied that "no one is coming to save you and you will have to save yourself. And also that no relationship, no child, mother or father are going to fix your problems".

9. Demi Lovato

During an InStyle interview, the pop star answered:

"I would say, you’re beautiful the way that you are, and to not focus on anything but your mental and physical health, before work. Put it before everything. Because that’s the most important, is taking care of yourself.”

10. Jada Pinkett-Smith

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Pinkett-Smith said:

"I wish I had known then that pain is just a part of your journey and it’s not because you’ve done something wrong or because you’re cursed or you’re a bad person, we’re all going through it. We all have pain, we all have a story. And, so, all we need to do is support each other through it and I wish I had known that, ‘Jada, it’s just a part of it, baby. It’s going to be okay.’” 

If you ever have any self-doubt, take some of these words to heart and remember that in all likelihood, your future self would likely tell you to love and believe in yourself a little bit more.