As the weeks pass, it’s becoming abundantly clear that celebrities love NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens.
While the internet remains divided on the trendy cryptographic assets, celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Brie Larson, Snoop Dog, and Paris Hilton have been purchasing them and sharing their go-to distributors on their social media accounts.
NFTs are digital properties that can be transferred among owners. Recently, they’ve been popping up as artwork, specifically through the use of customized icons on online profiles.
Many NFTs start at reasonable rates, with some being less than $10, however, as the trend grows, so does the price. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet, reading “just setting up my twttr” was sold at $2,915,835.47.
Twitter has even introduced a special feature, allowing users to get a special profile picture icon if they change their image to an NFT. The pop-up on the website and app reads, “NFTs (short for Non-Fungible Tokens) are digital items that you own. Proof of ownership is stored on a blockchain, a digital database that is publicly accessible.” Once the NFT is verified, Twitter will show the profile picture in a hexagon shape, rather than the traditional circle.
Despite the bad reputation that follows NFT ownership, such as the underpaying of artists and the replicability of the token once shared, there are many celebrities who have been shamelessly promoting their purchases. Here is a list of ten celebrities who own NFTs.
1. Gwyneth Paltrow
Actor Gwyneth Paltrow has owned up to buying an NFT. She shared one with her 2.7 million Twitter followers, writing, “#NewNFTProfilePic NFT by FlowerGirls.”
According to OpenSea, FlowerGirls donates 20% of their profits to an unidentified group of children’s charities and they use 5% of their profits to collect NFT Art from children. Paltrow’s NFT shows a blonde woman with a red flower crown, set to a pale pink background.
2. Paris Hilton
Reality star Paris Hilton chatted with Jimmy Fallon about her NFTs. The two both have an NFT by Bored Ape Yacht Club which notably sells customized artwork that features apes. During her time on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, she and Fallon showed off her purchases, as well as rewarded audience members with NFTs.
The NFT she showed off on the show is a red ape with a black hat and matching sunglasses. She explained that she picked her ape because it reminded her of herself. Hilton added that she had an animated version drawn up where it takes off its cap and reveals its blonde hair. Fallon went on to show his matching NFT which is an ape with a striped shirt, a sailor hat, and red heart-shaped sunglasses.
Hilton has also been praised for supporting women NFT artists. She recently retweeted a post by the women-led NFT distributor that read, “The amazing @ParisHilton follows us. Paris is a huge supporter of #WomenInNFTs and I love to see her advocating and onboarding more women in to the #NFT space!”
3. Brie Larson
Captain Marvel actor Brie Larson’s NFT purchase surprised her followers, to the degree that it was heavily “ratioed” — a term that means people are adding their own commentary to the tweet, rather than retweeting what was initially said. It often points towards the vast majority disagreeing with the original post that was made.
4. Snoop Dogg
Rapper Snoop Dogg has taken things one step farther. Rather than just buying NFTs, he has started his own NFT avatars called The Doggies. On Opensea, the brand specifies that it owns “10,000 metaverse-ready Avatars,” that are able to be used in the mobile game, The Sandbox.
The description goes on to read, “Each Doggy has been generated from over 150+ traits, curated by Snoop Dogg himself. Owning a Doggy provides access to a playable The Sandbox avatar, as well as access to future features inside the metaverse.”
5. Justin Bieber
Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber has also jumped on the NFT craze. The Love Yourself singer has shared his NFT purchase, which is a neon blue gummy bear, with his 114.3 million Twitter followers.
The NFT is designed by inBetweeners, a brand created by Bieber and cartoonist Gianpiero D’Alessandro. On Opensea, the inBetweeners is described as “a global community” that’s limited to 10,777 buyers. The brand is said to be “focused on spreading love and positivity.”
Bieber’s NFT and current profile picture is shown to be an expressionless blue gummy bear, set to a dark purple backdrop. The backdrop also shows images of smaller gummy bears, in the colors of pink, blue, green, and yellow.
6. Serena Williams
Tennis player Serena Williams has a tight relationship with the NFT community as well. In January, she shared her Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT which is a tearful pink ape.
Additionally, she joined the popular fantasy football game, Sorare, as a board advisor. Much like the other NFTs, Sorare uses Opensea as the marketplace to sell its tokens. However, unlike the other examples, Sorare sells tokens of popular football players to be played or traded during fantasy football games.
7. Emily Ratajkowski
Model Emily Ratajkowski hopped on the NFT trend before many of the other celebrities on this list. She posted about it back in April 2021, advertising the sale of a self-portrait.
She wrote, “The digital terrain should be a place where women can share their likeness as they choose, controlling the usage of their image and receiving whatever potential capital attached. Instead, the internet has more frequently served as a space where others exploit and distribute images of women’s bodies without their consent and for another’s profit.”
The model continued, “Art has historically functioned similarly: works of unnamed muses sell for millions of dollars and build careers of traditionally male artists, while the subjects of these works receive nothing. I have become all too familiar with this narrative, as chronicled in my 2020 essay for New York Magazine, Buying Myself Back. NFTs carry the potential to allow women ongoing control over their image and the ability to receive rightful compensation for its usage and distribution.”
It has been reported that the NFT, a digital copy of the portrait, sold for $140,000.
8. Reese Witherspoon
Actor Reese Witherspoon has been very vocal about her support of NFTs, joining the number of celebrities who support philanthropic endeavors through the purchase of their items. Like Larson and Paltrow, Witherspoon purchased one from Flower Girls.
Hers is a royal woman with blue skin and short black hair. It is donning a white millstone collar, circular gold earrings, and an elaborate headpiece that’s drawing the attention of a butterfly. The background of her NFT is a rosy pink. The Legally Blonde actor has also spoken in defense of the purchases at a webinar sponsored by Coinbase and on the podcast NFT Now.
Witherspoon even shared a short clip of a digital museum gallery featuring a variety of NFTs. In the clip, an avatar of her and her dog is shown walking around the gallery before exiting and heading into a building labeled Reese’s Book Club. She wrote, “This is not a drill… Minnie is in the Metaverse! Thank you @some_place for creating this beautiful space and bringing my gallery to life!”
9. Heidi Klum
Victoria’s Secret model and Project Runway host Heidi Klum took to Twitter to gush about her NFT on February 9. She shared an image of a pixelated digital drawing called a Cryptopunk.
Her NFT is a drawing of a tan person with blonde hair. It is set on a brown backdrop. “Do you think my new Cryptopunk looks like me?” captioned the model. The graphic is currently Klum’s Twitter profile picture.
10. Shonda Rhimes
Shondaland producer Shonda Rhimes, responsible for the series How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal, Bridgerton, and most recently, Inventing Anna, has also boarded the NFT train.
Her NFT is by World of Women, an organization that she hashtagged as a reply to her original tweet. The graphic features a dark-skin avatar with Harley Quinn-styled blonde hair. The avatar is rocking dark shades and gold jewelry while blowing a pink bubble out of gum. The background is multiple shades of blue.
World of Women prides itself on being an inclusive community. Their website reads, “We love welcoming people into the NFT space and creating a supportive environment for everyone – from new community members and collectors to emerging artists and NFT enthusiasts.”
With NFTs being a growing trend, who knows how many more celebrities will follow in the footsteps of these 10.
Shondaland producer Shonda Rhimes, responsible for the series How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal, Bridgerton, and most recently, Inventing Anna, has also boarded the NFT train.