Being superstitious can be a lot of work. Don’t walk under a ladder. Avoid black cats who like to cross streets. Throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. There are many different superstitions, and let’s be real, myriad interpretations of those superstitions. Some people even consider defying cliché superstitions (think stepping on every sidewalk crack) to be a separate and yet equally lucky subset of superstition. There has to be an easier way to lock in good fortune, right?
If you ask the following super-fortunate celebrities, the answer is yes — it’s simply a matter of carrying your own personal talisman around with you. It’s a valid theory. You can’t run out of good luck if you’re the one who brings it. Typically, one thinks of things like a four-leaf clover or rabbit-foot, but the beauty of lucky charms is that they can be whatever you want as long as you believe in them.
Just ask these superstitious stars, whose lucky charms range from sweet to downright bizarre.
Cate Blanchett
You’ve likely heard of a lucky rabbit-foot… but how about a lucky elf-ear? When it comes to being lucky in love, the key for Cate Blanchett happens to be the elven ears she wore for her role in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.
According to Blanchett, her screenwriter husband, Andrew Upton, was so taken by them that he kept them. “I’m afraid that is true,” she told the Daily Telegraph. “They’re not full ears either — they’re little prosthetic tips that fit on the top of your ears to make the point. But they’re cute, and a bit weird.”
Colin Farrell
The Irish don’t mess around when it comes to luck, and the $25,000 reward Colin Farrell offered for his is proof. The lucky charm in question was a belt gifted to Farrell by his dad Eamon. When it went missing (and was presumed stolen), Farrell pulled out all the stops to locate the treasured accessory.
A source close to The Sun wasn’t surprised that the actor would offer such a generous reward for such a humble item, saying, “Colin has had this lucky leather belt for so long he just can’t bear to get rid of it. The thing is literally coming apart at the seams.”
In fact, it’s rumored that Farrell had spent thousands of dollars repairing the belt and keeping it intact prior to its disappearance. (The belt was reportedly never found, which, ironically, was pretty unlucky.)
Helen Mirren
Most of us have a lucky charm when it comes to our looks — that one secret thing that helps us hold our head a little higher and feel more confident. For Helen Mirren, that lucky charm might just surprise you. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, she revealed the one thing she rarely hits red carpets without.
“Four-inch platforms give you great height and make your legs look unbelievably long,” she said, divulging, “I used only to be able to get them in stripper shops, but now you can buy them everywhere — although, unfortunately, that means everyone else has discovered the trick too.”
Tiger Woods
With Tiger Woods making what many are hailing as his big comeback, loyal fans are looking forward to more appearances from the pro golfer’s trademark lucky charm: a red shirt during final rounds. But why does Woods don this particular hue on specific tournament days? Simple — because his mama said so.
According to ThoughtCo, Woods explained the superstition in the Dear Tiger section of his website. Here, he allows fans to ask him questions, and he responds accordingly. So when someone asked about the reason he was stuck on red shirts during final rounds, Woods said, “I wear red on Sundays because my mom thinks that that’s my power color, and you know you should always listen to your mom.” Hear! Hear!
Serena Williams
As unhygienic as it may sound, Serena Williams stands by her sporting superstition — she reportedly puts on the same pair of socks throughout any tennis tournament she plays in. As in, she doesn’t wash said socks, presumably for fear doing so might wash away her good fortune.
While having such a superstition is normal among athletes, it doesn’t make it any less, you know, stinky. For context, Grand Slam tournaments can stretch out for a solid two weeks. That two weeks might (and often does in Williams’ case) result in a win, but hopefully, she tosses the socks and chalks it up as a loss when all is said and done.
Heidi Klum
And the award for strangest good-luck charm goes to… Heidi Klum! She may have flawless taste in pretty much everything else, but her choice of good-luck charm is admittedly kinda creepy.
When asked by Entertainment Weekly to confirm the rumor she carries around a bag of her baby teeth, the supermodel/entrepreneur replied, “Well, I don’t, like, advertise it. No, I did show somebody once and it fell under the seat and the flight attendant came over and he’s like, ‘Can I help you?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m just looking for my teeth.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh.’ I had to find it — it’s not good luck if I leave a tooth on a plane.”
Kit Harington
When you think of Kit Harington, you undoubtedly think of Game of Thrones. As such, it’s easy to imagine his lucky charm might be something in keeping with his daring character. But in an interview with Conde Nast Traveler, Harington said, “I’ve got a lucky pen — it’s one I’ve had since I was a kid, and I carry it everywhere. And I haven’t lost it yet, I’ve lost everything else.” Huh, it looks like the pen really is mightier than the sword IRL.
Justin Bieber
The right question to ask when it comes to Justin Bieber’s lucky charm isn’t what but who. Speaking of his on-again, off-again love, Selena Gomez, an insider told HollywoodLife, “She’s his lucky charm — that’s what Justin has always told her.”
If you think about it, this theory holds up. After all, in the years that Bieber and Gomez were split up and openly seeing other people, the Biebs ran into some pretty bad luck.
Natalie Portman
Prepare to say, “Aww!” Natalie Portman doesn’t just carry her good-luck charms around… she made them. Chatting with Entertainment Tonight, the Oscar-winning actor gave a nod to her two children with husband Benjamin Millepied. “I think they’re good luck charms in life,” she said. “They’re the best things. The main miracles.”
While she explained she doesn’t “necessarily connect it [to winning an Oscar],” Portman insists that being a mother “is certainly a joy.”
Shay Mitchell
For someone who’s on the go as much as Pretty Little Liars’ Shay Mitchell, it’s no surprise she likes to pick up talismans during her travels. Judging by her wanderlust-inspiring Instagram feed, Mitchell probably has plenty to protect her good fortune.
In 2012, she shared one she considered special. “My new good luck charm — four leaf clover pendant,” she captioned a photo of herself wearing a dainty necklace, wrapping with, “#ireland.” The necklace has added meaning for Mitchell, whose father is of Scottish and Irish descent.
Taylor Swift
Most people consider the number 13 to be unlucky, but not country-pop superstar Taylor Swift. She has a long history with the digits. Throughout her meteoric rise to the top, Swift has been spotted with the number drawn on her hand (and fans have taken to doing the same). So, what gives?
“The significance of the number 13 on my hand… I paint this on my hand before every show because 13 is my lucky number for a lot of reasons. It’s really weird,” she told MTV in 2009, elaborating, “I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first #1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter.”
Steven Tyler
A Q&A session with fans for Parade revealed an unlikely talisman. Asked by one Lisa Joyce from Bassett, Virginia, to explain the four teeth he’s often seen wearing on a string around his neck, the rocker made a surprising admission.
“I wear it for good luck,” the Aerosmith frontman said, explaining that the chompers are actually the front teeth of a raccoon he caught as a boy. Oh, um… cool, we guess? Although, admittedly, this scenario doesn’t sound quite so lucky for the raccoon.
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