This document discusses bullying and provides stories of celebrities who were bullied as children or teenagers. It encourages readers to stand up for others who are being bullied and to make someone's day better instead of putting others down. The stories describe how stars like David Beckham, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Tom Cruise, Madonna, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Winona Ryder, Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Mila Kunis, Lady Gaga, and Jessica Alba were all teased or bullied for being different as kids but went on to successful careers.

1. Teasing
and
Name-calling

2. Have you heard anyone saying
something mean to someone else
at school in the last month?

3. You don’t know what’s going on in
people’s lives.
My grandad is
My parents have
dying of cancer.
just split up.
My mum gets
drunk and yells
at me.
My uncle abused
My dad got me. I’m too
arrested for scared to tell.
hitting my
I’m hungry. I
mum.
haven’t had
breakfast or
lunch.

4. What seems little to you,
could be big for someone else.
It was just
a joke.

5. Instead of going out of your way to make people’s day
worse, it’s easier to make someone’s day better.
What have you done today to make
someone’s day better?

6. My name is Damen. I am 12. I
can’t sit down and
concentrate on my work for
long so I get myself in
trouble, and sometimes I
have trouble controlling my
emotions. I hate it when
people call me retarded -
they don’t know that I’m
actually smart at lots of
things and I can pick up stuff
that other people can’t.

7. My name is Adam and I live with
my mum. I don’t know my dad
because he left when I was a
baby. My mum doesn’t cope and
she’s on the sickness benefit. I
don’t have cool clothes or
toys, and we can’t pay for trips
and stuff at school. What really
hurts is when kids make jokes
about my mum, and about why
my dad must have left her. I just
wish I had a normal family.

8. My name is Minh and my family
used all their money to come to New
Zealand for a better life and an
education. I am working really hard
to learn to speak English and to do
well at school so I can make friends
and help my family when I am
older, but it’s hard. Some people say
I should go back to my own country.
That really hurts because I love it
here and I want to be a kiwi.

9. My name is Aidan and I am in Year
7. I am not very good at making
friends because of the way I
talk, and I don’t always know
when I am annoying people.
Sometimes the noise and the
people in the classroom get too
much for me and I spin out. Some
kids purposely tease me to see
how quickly I will lose my temper.
People think I am being
naughty, but I really can’t help it.

10. My name is Raina and I am 11
years old. I know I am smart at
lots of things, but I have
problems with reading and
writing because I can’t make
sense of words and
letters, and people tease me
for being dumb. One boy
always teases me and gets
other kids to laugh at me. I
just wish they would leave me
alone because I really am
trying my best.

11. Some famous people who have been
bullied, teased or called names:
David Beckham
Bill Gates
Albert Einstein
Tom Cruise

12. Madonna
"In high school I wasn't a hippie or a stoner, so I ended up being the weirdo. I was
interested in classical ballet and music, so the kids were quite mean if you were
different. I was one of those people that people were mean to."

13. Robert Pattinson
"I got beaten up by a lot of people when I was younger," Pattinson said. What
made him a target, was the same thing that made him a famous: acting. "I liked
to behave like an actor, or how I thought an actor was supposed to be, and that
apparently provoked a lot of people into hitting me."

14. Taylor Lautner
"I was never extremely confident," Lautner said. "Because I was an actor, when I was
in school there was a little bullying going on. Not physical bullying but people making
fun of what I do ... I just had to tell myself I can't let this get to me. This is what I love
to do. And I'm going to continue to do it."

15. Winona Ryder
As a kid, Winona’s unique style made her a social outcast. "I was wearing an old
Salvation Army shop boy's suit. I heard people saying, 'Hey, f----t.' They slammed my
head into a locker. I fell to the ground..."
"Years later, I went to a coffee shop and I ran into one of the girls who'd kicked
me, and she said, 'Winona, Winona, can I have your autograph?' And I said, 'Do you
remember me? Remember in seventh grade you beat up that kid?' And she
said, 'Kind of'. And I said, 'That was me. Go f*** yourself.'"

16. Eminem
As a scrawny 9-year-old, Marshall Mathers was so viciously bullied, his mum sued
the school system. One boy in primary school split his lip and knocked him out.
Another time he came home beaten and bruised, after an encounter with his bully
in a bathroom. The result was the song "Brain Damage" on his chart-topping
album, which publicly called out his childhood nemesis.

17. Christine Aguilera
As an aspiring teen pop star, Christina was the object of ridicule among her
classmates. A few tormenters would slash her tires to prevent her from getting
to gigs on time and mess with her microphone to embarrass her on the stage.
"There was a lot of resentment and I think there was a bit of jealousy
involved," Aguilera revealed. "There were threats that were made on me and
my mum.

18. Mila Kunis
"I was always the smallest in my class," Kunis said. "I grew into my face. I had a
very funny looking face when I was little. I had like big eyes, big lips, big ears. But
when I was little I was constantly being made fun of for having big eyes and that
was awful.

19. Lady Gaga
Gaga remembers her high school days not-so-fondly, as the era she was "teased
for being ugly, having a big nose, being annoying." Her classmates also made fun
of the way she dressed and wore makeup, because they totally knew better when
it came to fashion. Yeah, right.

20. Jessica Alba
Jessica’s family didn’t have as much money as others in her class, she had a
Texan accent, and buck teeth. She was uncool, and was often attacked for being
different. She spent her lunches in the nurses’ office to keep safe, and her dad
had to walk her to school so that she wouldn’t be provoked. Lessons at drama
school “changed everything” and sparked a lifelong love of acting.

21. Have you heard anyone saying
something mean to someone else at
school in the last month?
What did you do?
You have a choice.

22. Speak
out
Stand up
for others
Make
someone’s
day better.