John Legend, Sandra Bullock & More – The Stars Deliver Commencement Speeches

Not every commencement ceremony is a snoozefest!

Some lucky college grads have recently been blessed with commencement speeches from some of Hollywood’s most familiar faces.

On Monday, Grammy winner John Legend spoke at his alma mater, University of Pennsylvania, delivering an inspirational love-themed talk to the graduating class.

In his speech, the “All of Me” singer opened up about losing his grandmother at an early age and how her death caused his mother to fall into deep depression (which eventually led to the demise of his parents’ marriage).

“After the initial shock of my family breaking apart, my outward response wasn’t very emotional. I coped by being stoic and seemingly unaffected,” he said in his speech. “I thought if I didn’t expose myself to any more pain and vulnerability, I could never get hurt. If I didn’t fall in love, no one could ever betray me like that again.”

The singer went on to share how his passion for music opened him up to love again and spoke of his relationship with wife Chrissy Teigen.

He also encouraged the group to challenge themselves to approach all “7 billion strangers” in the world with love, instead of fear of our differences.

Sandra Bullock surprised the graduating class at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, delivering a slighter lighter message. The actress told the class to stop worrying, raise the bar, turn on music and dance every day before you leave the house, eat something green with every meal, and don’t pick your nose in public.

Charlie Day delivered the keynote address at the Merrimack College in Massachusetts, where the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” told the class to take risks.

“I don’t give a s**t,” he said. “You cannot let a fear of failure, or the fear or comparison, or the fear of judgment stop you from doing what’s going to make you great.”

Jen Arnold, star of TLC’s “The Little Couple,” gave the commencement speech West Coast University in Irvine, Calif., on Sunday, where the neonatologist cautioned the graduates against adopting a sense of entitlement, such as the doctors shown on as characters on primetime TV.

“Think about House M.D., who knows it all, or Dr. ‘McDreamy,’ the sexy take-charge surgeon in the OR. We are surrounded by those personifications in healthcare,” she said. “However, patients not only come to you looking for answers, treatment, expertise and sometimes miracles, but what they need the most is humility and compassion.”

“You each have the opportunity to change people’s lives,” she added. “It’s okay to not know it all, to not be perfect.”

Erin O’Sullivan

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