The Richest LGBTQ2S+ Celebs in 2022

Award-winning journalist and news anchor Anderson Cooper was born into untold riches: his mother was jeans-queen Gloria Vanderbilt and his great-great-grandfather was Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest people in history. Cooper has even quipped that as a kid, he thought everyone’s grandparents turned into statues when they died. Still, Cooper didn’t use his illustrious family name to get ahead but carved a career as a journalist through sheer tenacity. He came out as gay in 2012 and in 2016 he was the first openly LGBTQ2S+ person to moderate a presidential debate. He also helped Apple CEO Tim Cook with advice on coming out. In 2022, Celebrity Net Worth says that Cooper’s estimated net worth is around $50 million.

When Kristen Stewart was 12, she played Jodie Foster’s daughter in Panic Room, earning a nomination for a Young Artist Award. Several more movie roles followed before she landed the part of Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She and co-star Robert Pattinson became an item in real life too. Later, she and Pattinson split, reconciled and then split for good in 2013. Soon after, Stewart openly started dating women. She has appeared in numerous movies since Twilight, including 2020’s LGBTQ2S+ holiday rom-com Happiest Season. Wealthy Gorilla places her net worth at around $70 million.

Jodie Foster was three when she appeared in what would become a famous commercial for Coppertone. When she was 12, she appeared in Taxi Driver: one of her most notorious movie roles. In 1980, she took a break from acting to study full-time at Yale, using her summer vacations to make movies like The Hotel New Hampshire, filmed in at the iconic Hotel Tadoussac in Quebec. After her return to acting, she went on to win two Best Actress Oscars and has since embarked on a career as director, too. Even though she had her first serious relationship with a woman from 1993 to 2008, she didn’t acknowledge it publicly until 2007. She married her current wife in 2014. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Foster has an estimated fortune of $100 million. She also has an asteroid named after her.

Barry Manilow started his music career in the '60s with off-Broadway productions and jingles. In 1971, he became Bette Midler’s pianist as she performed in New York’s Continental Baths. He went on to produce her first two albums. In 1975 he had his first number one with “Mandy” and since then, he has become one of the world’s best-selling artists, also creating numerous hits for others, including Donna Summer and Dionne Warwick. Manilow’s first marriage, to his high-school sweetheart, ended in divorce within a year as he pursued a career in music. In 1978, he began a relationship with the man he would marry in 2014. He officially came out in 2017. Celebrity Net Worth says that Manilow has an estimated net worth of $100 million.

Caitlyn Jenner first became famous in the 1970s, as decathlete Bruce Jenner, who won gold and broke the world record at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Numerous TV and film appearances followed, as well as a short stint as a racing car driver. Then, in 2007, came Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which made the members of the Jenner/Kardashian family household names. In 2014, Kris Kardashian filed for what would become one of the nastiest celebrity divorces of all time and the next year, Jenner came out as transgender. Her transition was very public and while she received lots of backlash, she also became the most famous transgender person in the world, highlighting transgender issues in the process. Wealthy Gorilla estimates her net worth at $100 million.

Ricky Martin was 12 when he joined all-boy Latin pop group Menudo. At 17, he left the group to finish his high school education and at 18, he moved to New York. He soon landed roles in plays and Mexican telenovelas and started releasing Spanish-language solo albums. He had a relationship with a man, came out to his mother and then, when his relationship ended, went back into the closet. In 1999, he won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album and soon after, he broke into the English-language market with a string of hits and the image of a Latin heartthrob. In 2008, he had twin boys with the help of a surrogate and two years later he came out as gay, becoming the first mainstream Latin musician to do so. He announced his marriage in 2018. According to Wealthy Gorilla, Martin has a net worth of $120 million.

Even though she started her career as a comedian, Rosie O’Donnell became a household name through talk shows. First there was The Rosie O’Donnell Show, then The View, The Rosie Show and another stint on The View. She’s also been a radio host, magazine publisher, author and co-owner of a travel company offering travel packages for LGBTQ2S+ families. O’Donnell is outspoken and sometimes controversial but a passionate advocate for causes like same-sex family adoptions. She came out as lesbian in 2002 and has since been married and divorced twice. Celebrity Net Worth estimates her fortune at $120 million.

The daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus is one of those celebrity kids more famous than their parents. It started for her at 11, when she auditioned for Hannah Montana. When she was 14, she told her mother that she was pansexual. At 15, she courted controversy with an Annie Leibowitz photo shoot for Vanity Fair. She started changing her image to a more mature one, got embroiled in scandal after scandal, released hit after hit, became the youngest coach on The Voice, did some more acting and started the Happy Hippie Foundation, which focuses on issues like homeless and LGBTQ2S+ youth. According to Wealthy Gorilla, Cyrus has a net worth of $160 million.

In 2018, Forbes called Jim Parsons the highest-paid TV actor in the world, and he was well on his way to becoming one of the richest sitcom actors in pop culture history. However, the star of The Big Bang Theory turned down a contract worth $50 million for two more seasons of the hit series, which had been running since 2007. Instead, he became the narrator of the spin-off series Young Sheldon. He has also starred in the miniseries Hollywood, playing Rock Hudson’s closeted gay agent, as well as the Broadway production and movie The Boys in the Band, with a cast of exclusively openly gay actors. Parsons was outed by The New York Times in 2012 and married his husband in 2017. According to Wealthy Gorilla, he has an estimated net worth of $160 million in 2.

As the daughter of one of the richest people in the world, Megan Ellison had no problem financing movies. Her first real critical and commercial success was True Grit, the Coen brothers movie she also executive produced. In 2011, she founded her own movie company, backed by her father Larry Ellison, and became the first woman to be nominated for two different Best Picture Oscars in the same year. Ellison is openly lesbian and Celebrity Net Worth estimates her fortune at $200 million.

The Wachowskis made their debut as directors with 1996’s Bound, which was groundbreaking at the time for featuring a same-sex relationship not central to the plot. Their big break came with their next movie, The Matrix, which led to two sequels. At the time, they were credited as the Wachowski Brothers. In 2012, when Lana (L) made her first public appearance after transitioning, she was the first big-name Hollywood director to come out as transgender. Lilly (R) came out as transgender in 2016 and took a break from the show the sisters were creating at the time, Sense8, which featured a transgender character. Celebrity Net Worth says that the Wachowski sisters have a combined net worth of $250 million.

In 2008, Lady Gaga burst onto the scene with “Poker Face,” and some of the most outrageous outfits ever seen on the red carpet. Who can forget that meat dress? Even more noticeable than her outfits, though, was her sheer talent, the hits and the unforgettable live performances just kept coming. In 2015, she made her acting dreams come true with a role in American Horror Story, which earned her a Golden Globe. She was nominated for several awards, including an Oscar, for her acting in A Star is Born too and won an Oscar for Best Original Song. Now a style icon, the “Born This Way” singer has also become an LGBTQ2S+ icon. Lady Gaga is openly bisexual and according to Wealthy Gorilla, she has a net worth of $320 million.

Ellen DeGeneres is the perfect example of celebrities who mastered the pivot. The star of the highly successful sitcom Ellen, she came out as lesbian during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show: a very risky thing to do at the time. The episode in which her character came out too – to her therapist, played by none other than Oprah – was one of the show’s highest rated. However, soon after, Ellen tanked in the ratings and was cancelled. Her next sitcom was short-lived too and the fact that her relationship with Anne Heche became tabloid fodder didn’t help. Then, in 2003, she launched The Ellen DeGeneres Show, started a relationship with Portia De Rossi – now her wife – a year later and the rest is history. While some estimates are higher, Forbes places her net worth at $370 million.

Tom Ford first made a name for himself as creative director of Gucci before launching his own label in 2006. At first he focused on menswear, cosmetics, eyewear and accessories, but he has since dressed some of the most famous women in the world as well. He has also branched into movies, making his debut as director with the award-winning A Single Man, about a gay college professor grieving the death of his partner. Ford himself is gay and has been married since 2014. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ford has a fortune of an estimated $500 million.

Seeing him now, a happy family man, it’s almost easy to forget how much Elton John struggled with his sexuality when he was younger. In the '60s, he was engaged to be married to a woman, but broke off the relationship two weeks before the wedding. In 1970, he started his first relationship with a man: it lasted five years. He came out as bisexual in 1976 and in the '80s he married a woman but knew during the honeymoon already that he had made a mistake. In 1992, he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation and came out as gay. A year later, he started a relationship with Canadian filmmaker David Furnish, now his husband. Throughout all of this, John released hit after hit, becoming one of the world’s richest rock stars and Sir Elton. Wealthy Gorilla estimates his net worth at $500 million.

Fashion designer and former Project Runway judge Michael Kors started following his passion early in life. When his mother got remarried when he was five years old, he redesigned her wedding dress. He has since dressed many a celebrity and has created some gorgeous numbers worn on the red carpet. Kors is gay and has been married to his husband since 2011. Celebrity Net Worth estimates his net worth at $600 million.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has doubled the company’s revenue since he took over the reins in 2011. A philanthropist who has also increased Apple’s charitable donations, he has long supported LGBTQ2S+ causes. Then, in June 2014, he took a delegation of Apple staff to attend San Francisco Pride. Four months later, he publicly came out as gay, becoming the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company to do so. His CEO job has really paid off financially, with Celebrity Net Worth estimating his net worth at an estimated of $1.5 billion.

Jennifer Pritzker is probably not technically a celebrity, although she hit the headlines in 2020 when she donated $100,000 to the Lincoln Project. She is a member of one of the richest families in the world: The Pritzkers of Hyatt hotels and Royal Caribbean cruise ships fame. Pritzker came out as transgender in 2013, three days after her 63rd birthday, and is the only openly transgender billionaire in the world. According to Forbes, this former army colonel has an estimated net worth of $2 billion as of 2022.

The 87-year-old fashion designer Giorgio Armani has publicly identified as bisexual and had a long relationship with Sergio Galeotti, who was also his business partner. While Armani is most famous for fashion and cosmetics, his empire also includes hotels and music. Armani was not only the first fashion designer to broadcast a collection live on the internet but was also the first to get rid of impossible beauty standards when he banned models with a BMI of less than 18. Forbes estimates Armani’s net worth at $6.7 billion in 2022.

You may not recognize his face when you see him, but you will most probably know his work: David Geffen is one of the founders of the DreamWorks movie studio, but has made a name for himself long before, back in the 1970s, with record companies like Asylum Records and Geffen Records and a film company that produced movies like the early Tom Cruise hit Risky Business as well as Beetlejuice. In fact, Joni Mitchell’s song “Free Man in Paris” is about him. He came out as gay in 1992 and — according to Forbes — he has an estimated net worth of $9.2 billion in 2022.