Thanks to social media, there's never been a better time for musicians, actors, and reality stars to promote themselves, giving the world insights into everything from their newest release to their latest family holiday.
However, in the realms of the super-rich – and whether they're creative, criminal or simply famous for being famous – there are some people who prefer to stay tight-lipped about their private lives, including their real identities.
Read on to find out why these super-rich stars don't want you to know who they are. All dollar amounts in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
Canadian-based country singer Orville Peck is a relative newcomer to the music scene, having released his debut album Pony in 2019 to much critical acclaim. His second studio album, Bronco, followed in 2022.
The LGBT musician, famed for his "queer cowboy" aesthetic, wears a fringed mask on stage and has never revealed his face or true identity to the public.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about who the country crooner could be...
Fans are convinced that Orville Peck is actually Daniel Pitout, drummer of Canadian punk band Nü Sensae – and there’s a lot of evidence to suggest they're right.
For starters, both Pitout and Peck were born in South Africa, and Peck revealed in an interview that he used to be in a punk band. What’s more, Pitout starred in the West End play Peter Pan Goes Wrong in 2016, which lines up with the revelation that Peck performed in a play while living in London.
Still not convinced? Well, eagle-eyed fans spotted that Peck and Pitout boast identical tattoos, so it looks like the case might be closed on this one. Peck's net worth is estimated at between $1 million (£836.1k) and $5 million (£4.2m).
Former rock duo the White Stripes have always radiated an air of mystique. Remember the early noughties media circus that ensued when it was revealed band members Jack and Meg White (pictured), who had long claimed to be siblings, were actually a divorced couple? It certainly explains the smouldering glances the pair exchanged on stage!
After more than a decade of performing together, six studio albums and four Grammy wins, the White Stripes officially disbanded in 2011. And while former frontman Jack White continues to make music as a soloist, his former bandmate has completely disappeared from the public eye.
Even while in the White Stripes, drummer Meg was notoriously shy and private, preferring to let the more outgoing Jack do the talking in interviews. The band also had to cancel several tours in 2007 as Meg suffers from acute anxiety.
Today, however, it seems like the reclusive rocker has gone completely off the grid. Meg has no social media presence, never gives interviews, and Jack White told Rolling Stone in 2014: "I don’t think anyone talks to Meg. She’s always been a hermit."
The last time anyone heard from Meg was when the White Stripes released a joint statement in 2016 regarding the use of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a Donald Trump campaign. They said: "The White Stripes would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video. They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song."
With an estimated fortune of $5 million (£4.2m), there’s no doubt that enigmatic Meg can afford to live however she pleases…
Bestselling author Elena Ferrante's official biography says that she was born in Naples, Italy. However, whether that's true or not is anyone's guess, as rumour has it that Elena Ferrante isn't actually the writer's real name.
The My Brilliant Friend author, whose fortune is said to be around $19 million (£15.9m), has never carried out any publicity tours or in-person interviews (unless you count the Paris Review interview that her publisher conducted with her in 2015).
That hasn't deterred her legions of fans though, and her popular Neapolitan series has sold more than 10 million copies across 40 countries.
Two of Ferrante's novels were turned into films: Troubling Love (which hit the big screen in 1995 with the title Nasty Love) and The Days of Abandonment. Despite her undeniable success, the reclusive writer continues to shun the limelight, saying that "books, once they are written, have no need of their authors."
In 2016, Italian journalist Claudio Gatti claimed that Rome-based translator Anita Raja was the "real" Elena Ferrante. While the rumours haven't been confirmed, her fans are happy to let the identity of their idol remain a secret – for now, at least.
Nicknamed "the Banksy of Fashion," Martin Margiela's masks are arguably more famous than the fashion designer himself – rapper Kanye West is a fan and has worn them during his concerts.
You would probably struggle to recognise their creator though, as the secretive Belgian-born Margiela prefers to keep himself firmly out of the limelight. In 2002, he sold his brand to Diesel in a bid to get away from the constant scrutiny of the fashion world. And with an estimated fortune of around $20 million (£16.7m), Margiela can probably afford to do as he chooses.
Margiela graduated from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1979 and went on to work for Jean Paul Gaultier during the mid-80s before leaving to design his own collection in 1989. Margiela was appointed creative director at Hermès in 1997.
Throughout his career, Margiela opted to stay behind the scenes, and there are very few images of him in the public domain. When asked during an interview why he never appears on camera, he said that he prefers to be anonymous.
He let his guard down in 2008, appearing in a rare photo for The New York Times. He was also the subject of a 2020 documentary titled Martin Margiela: In His Own Words, where he revealed the drawings and notes that inspired his designs, and reflected on his contribution to the world of fashion.
Beyond that, he's more than happy to let his stylish legacy do the talking.
Australian singer-songwriter Sia is known for covering her face with over-the-top wigs and headpieces during performances and red-carpet appearances.
The musician, born Sia Furler, is said to be worth around $30 million (£25.1m) and initially started her career in an acid jazz band.
However, she found success after moving to the US and going solo. She had her first major hit in 2005 with Breathe Me, which was played during the finale of HBO's Six Feet Under and since 2011 has worked with artists like David Guetta, Beyoncé, and Flo Rida.
Uncomfortable with the visibility that fame brought her, Sia decided to take a career hiatus due to the stress of touring and a lack of privacy.
She started to hide her face during performances as a way of preserving her anonymity, saying that she wanted to maintain an element of mystery in her performances.
Ever wondered who came up with the concept of Bitcoin? The cryptocurrency's inventor is known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Despite nobody knowing for sure who Nakamoto actually is, there is a statue dedicated to them next to the Danube River in Budapest.
For the sake of adding further fuel to the ID fire, the gender-free bronze bust wears a hoodie with the Bitcoin logo on it.
Nakamoto is said to be worth around a million Bitcoin (BTC) as of 2021, which equates to $48 million (£40.1m).
The origins of the currency have been shrouded in mystery, with various people, including Australian Craig Wright, claiming to be the elusive creator who published the first framework for a digital currency in October 2008.
Whether they're an individual or a group that adopted the name, it doesn't seem like Bitcoin's inventor will be stepping forward any time soon. Nakamoto means "at the centre of" in Japanese and has always been thought to be an alias.
Some people believe that the real Nakamoto is a cryptographer called Adam Back, who is also the CEO of Blockstream. Back firmly denies the suggestion.
In November 2021, the family of the late David Kleiman sued Craig Wright for half his stash of Bitcoin, claiming that Kleiman and Wright had created the currency together. A judge awarded Kleiman's estate $143 million (£119.6m) in December after finding that Wright had accessed source code that belonged to the partnership. The Kleiman estate is appealing the decision on the grounds that the jury rejected a claim to contested Bitcoin holdings worth billions of dollars.
While everyone knows Banksy's art, it's fair to say that most people have absolutely no idea who he actually is.
With a net worth of around $50 million (£41.8m), the secretive artist is frequently celebrated for his distinctive style. His work includes installation pieces as well as graffiti, paintings, and drawings, and he even created a temporary "bemusement park" called Dismaland in 2015.
Art aside, he's also a film director and his documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, was nominated that year for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Yet almost as great as his incredible talent is the ongoing mystery behind his identity...
It's said that when Banksy first appeared on the Bristol art scene, he kept his identity secret because graffiti was illegal. However, with his global fame, popularity, and reputation as an artist now preceding him, it's hard to see how that could still be the case.
Another theory behind his anonymity is that keeping his identity a secret means he can share political messages with his followers without judgement. Over the years, various people have attempted to "out" him. In 2003, a Guardian reporter interviewed him and described him as "a 28-year-old white male with a silver tooth and a silver earring." But even that didn't really narrow things down.
One popular theory is that Banksy's real name is Robin Gunningham. Geographic profiling has revealed that the locations of some of Banksy's most famous art appears to tally up with where Gunningham was known to be at the time it appeared.
Drum 'n' bass DJ Goldie referred to the artist as "Rob" in a 2020 interview, which adds weight to the idea. However, Massive Attack co-founder Robert Del Naja has also long been rumoured to be the elusive artist, so the mystery continues.
When Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill was featured in the latest season of Stranger Things this summer, it exposed the singer-songwriter to a whole new generation of fans. The song skyrocketed to number one, marking the first time in 37 years that a Bush track had topped the charts.
Self-confessed Stranger Things fan Bush shared with the radio show Woman’s Hour that she was "moved" by the "extraordinary" response to her heartfelt song. The rare interview was the first time she’d spoken publicly since her 2014 concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo.
The musician released her first single, the haunting Wuthering Heights, in 1978 when she was just 19 years old. Yet despite her decade-spanning career, very little is known about Bush’s personal life.
Bush, reportedly worth £47 million ($56m), lives in a mansion in a quiet Oxfordshire neighbourhood with her longtime partner, musician Dan McIntosh. The couple have one son, Bertie, born in 1998.
The public only learned that the secretive star had a child – Albert McIntosh – years after his birth, and even then it wasn’t Bush who spilled the beans. It was Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel who accidentally let it slip during an interview.
One person who disputes the notion that she’s reclusive is none other than Kate Bush herself. She told Radio France in 2005: "I'm not reclusive, but just try to live a normal life. And I try to just try to be... a normal person rather than live the life of someone in the industry."
Electronic music act Daft Punk was formed by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in Paris in the early 1990s.
The duo began to release music in the mid-90s, recording Da Funk in 1995, which became their first successful single. They signed with Virgin Records the following year, toured the world, and then released their first album Homework in 1997.
In 2021, the pair – who have a collective fortune of around $180 million (£150.6m) – announced that they were calling it quits.
Even though they achieved massive success with their music, both men have done their best to avoid being seen as celebrities. They steered clear of the media and, when interviewed, rarely mention their private lives.
The band have worked with artists like Pharrell Williams, Charlotte Gainsbourg and The Weeknd, and have always been incredibly selective about who they choose to collaborate with.
While Daft Punk never kept their names secret, they were always careful not to appear on camera. They turned up to nearly all of their public appearances dressed as robots, and it wasn't until the band's 2014 Grammy success with Get Lucky that there was a concerted effort to unmask them.
Now put a name to the face of the most generous celebrities.