NEW E! SPECIAL REVEALS HOW UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTERS TURNED ORDINARY PEOPLE INTO HOLLYWOOD'S MOST FASCINATING STARS WHEN "SCOUTED TO STARDOM" PREMIERES JANUARY 9TH AT 9:30 PM ET/PT

Exclusive Interviews, Rare Footage, And Never Before Seen Photos Take Viewers On The Road To Discovery For Jewel, Audrina Patridge, Selita Ebanks, Chrissy Teigen, Lucas Grabeel And More

"I went from being homeless to buying a really nice house. I remember my lawyer showed up to a show backstage and handed me a check for a million dollars, it was pretty amazing." - Jewel to E!

Los Angeles, January 4, 2012 - With obsessed fans around the world, larger-than-life careers and booming bank accounts, it's hard to imagine that some of Hollywood's biggest names - such as Justin Bieber, Will Smith and Cameron Diaz - were at one point complete unknowns. In the all-new thirty-minute special "Scouted to Stardom," E! explains how these mega-stars happened to be at the right place at the right time and were thrust onto the rollercoaster of celebrity life. In exclusive sit-down interviews, buzz-worthy names including Audrina Patridge, Chrissy Teigen, Selita Ebanks, Jewel and Lucas Grabeel, share their stories of discovery. Find out how grabbing a drink at a bar, taking a trip to the smoothie shop and laying by the pool led to fame and fortune for these stars when "Scouted to Stardom" premieres January 9th at 9:30 PM ET/PT on E!

Tinseltown playboy Ashton Kutcher was not looking for celebrity and fortune when fame found him - find out how he went from obscurity to magazine covers and red carpets in E!'s new special. Additionally, E! cameras go back to where some famous faces were first scouted. "High School Musical's" Lucas Grabeel returns to the shopping center where he was spotted, Victoria Secret angel Selita Ebanks stops by a New Jersey theme park for the first time since she was scouted there as a teen and model Chrissy Teigen relives her experience of being scouted while working at a surf store.

However, as this special reveals, even for these stars who fell into celebrity - the ultimate Hollywood fairytale - the road to fame and success is not easy. "The Hills" sexy star Audrina Patridge, who was scouted while tanning poolside at her apartment complex, shares exclusively with E! the juicy details behind her mega-hit television series that launched her into superstardom. "Lauren wasn't that friendly" the stylish stunner reveals to E! about her forced friendship with Lauren Conrad when the show first began filming, "I was like, 'Wow, this girl does not like me. She's not nice really.' Maybe 'cause she doesn't know me." In addition to feeling like an outsider with her new onscreen friends, Audrina explains that fortune wasn't part of the package either, "The first season that we filmed, I wasn't really getting paid at all. I would call the producers and tell them, 'Listen, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Like I can't even pay my rent." While Audrina's road to fame was bumpy, four-time Grammy nominee Jewel was already at a low point in her life when she was discovered by a local radio DJ while singing in a coffee shop. Jewel was homeless and living out of her car unaware that she would eventually have a string of top forty hits.

"Scouted to Stardom" premieres January 9 at 9:30 PM ET/PT on E! And don't miss a new episode of E!'s "Scouted" immediately following at 10pm ET/PT with a special guest appearance by Josie Maran.

Select exclusive quotes from "Scouted to Stardom" include:

"I never set out to be famous. I was rewarded on a massive scale for being myself. That's a gift. That's a gift that people gave to me." - Jewel

"It's just crazy how laying out by the pool one random day and meeting a producer changed my whole life drastically." - Audrina Patridge

"I felt like such a nobody. I came from nothing. I came from nowhere." - Chrissy Teigen

"If I learned anything from dreaming as a child and then having those dreams come true, is that you must dream bigger and, I'm trying to do that everyday." - Lucas Grabeel

"My first time walking in on a Victoria Secret fashion show was, I was just kind of the girl in headlights." - Selita Ebanks

"I remember going to Denny's and washing my hair in the sink. Some woman was going into the bathroom and she said, 'She looked nice enough. I wonder how she got that way,' and I felt really bad about myself." - Jewel

About E! Entertainment

E! is television's top destination for all things entertainment and celebrity. E! is currently available to 98 million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S. and the E! Everywhere initiative underscores the company's dedication to making E! content available on all new media platforms any time and anywhere from online to broadband video to wireless to VOD. Popular programming includes E! core franchises, "E! News," "The Soup," "Chelsea Lately," "Fashion Police" and "True Hollywood Story," as well as the network's hit series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," "Khloé & Lamar," "Kourtney and Kim Take New York," "Ice Loves Coco" and "Kendra." Additionally, E!'s "Live from the Red Carpet" signature events keep fans connected to their favorite stars on Hollywood's biggest nights. E! is a network of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.