While Nicole Scherzinger was harboring dreams of becoming the next Whitney Houston, she ended up taking a strange path to Hollywood. That was due to Scherzinger's mother, who made up her mind that she seize a different opportunity. "She saw a commercial on TV saying they were looking for the next new girl group, and insisted I audition," she revealed to the Independent. "I said no, that I was in this great acoustic goth band, and I was also studying theatre and music at college." She added that her ultimate dream was to be a Broadway star, which didn't exactly jive with that path.

Scherzinger had no choice but to heed her mother's instructions. "She just kind of pushed me out the door anyway," she continued. Plus, since Scherzinger wasn't exactly rolling in dough, this was a feasible way for her to make it to Los Angeles, where the real work could begin.

That's how Scherzinger wound up on the 2001 show Popstars, winning a spot in the girl group Eden's Crush, according to E! News.