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Everyone makes mistakes — but when celebrities blunder badly, it can be a media brouhaha or even a career killer. While some offenses are relatively minor (but get an outsized public response), some are truly criminal. Here are just a few of the most memorable missteps public figures have made, some of which you might remember. Tell us about others you remember in the comments.
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The former “Glee” star who played bad boy Puck on the show was known for dating co-star Naya Rivera for three years — a fact that was overshadowed when he was arrested for possessing over 25,000 images and 600 videos depicting child pornography in 2015. After pleading guilty, he died before he could serve time.
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Gibson managed to get exiled from Hollywood, at least for a while, thanks to an anti-Semitic rant during a DUI arret, stating “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” His image was further tarnished when in 2010 his now ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva released audio of an expletive-heavy phone call with the actor in which he told her she deserved it when he allegedly broke her teeth.
The South African sprinter whose prosthetic legs were a hot topic when he competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics later became a convicted murderer after he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013. Currently jailed in South Africa, he will be eligible for parole in 2023.
In 2020, former “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson was charged with raping three women between 2001 and 2003. The actor could face up to 45 years to a life sentence in state prison if convicted. While the trial was set to begin this August, Masterson is hoping to delay it until next year, as his lawyers are busy with the high-profile sexual assault case against another client, Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer.
In 2012, CeeLo Green was accused of sexually assaulting a woman, and though the Los Angeles district attorney didn’t pursue rape charges due to lack of evidence, Green was charged with furnishing a controlled substance. The musician pleaded no contest to the drug charge, and the scandal might have been lost in the ever-churning media cycle — but Green decided to take to Twitter to rant about what constitutes rape and consent, with one tweet stating, “If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously! so WITH Implies [sic] consent.” When activists demanded TBS ax the star’s upcoming reality TV show, the network complied.
While the goth rocker had built his career as a scary monster on stage and in his music, but when his ex-fiancee, “Westworld” star Evan Rachel Wood exposed him as a monster in real life, many weren’t so enraptured by his persona. Wood, who had a relationship with Manson when she was 18 and he was 36, said, “I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.” Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, was later dropped by Loma Vista Recordings label, talent firm Creative Artists Agency, and his manager Tony Ciulla. Four women ultimately filed charges against him for abuse.
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While “The Cosby Show” star was allegedly drugging then sexually assaulting women as far back as the 1960s, his reputation for malfeasance didn’t become a topic of public discourse until Hannibal Buress mentioned it in his stand-up act in 2014. Cosby was sentenced to 10 years in prison following his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. His conviction was overturned and he was released in 2021, but reruns of Cosby’s shows "I Spy," "The Bill Cosby Show," and "The Cosby Show" were yanked from several networks, and a stand-up special was pulled from Netflix’s schedule in 2014. A long list of universities also rescinded honorary degrees bestowed on the actor.
While rumors about the R&B singer’s interest in underage girls reached a fever pitch following his short lived marriage to star Aaliyah when she was 15 (it was quickly annulled), the 2018 documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” got even more attention. In 2019 he was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering and sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York, then was found guilty of additional charges, including making child pornography, in Chicago.
The comedian had an Emmy-winning hit TV show, “Louie” and sold out Madison Square Garden eight times, but that didn’t stop him from being creepy. In 2017 The New York Times revealed he also had a reported reputation for exposing himself to women and pleasuring himself. C.K. himself released a statement admitting the stories were true and he took responsibility: “The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.” But his apology did nothing to stop his show from being canceled or his new movie “I Love You, Daddy” from being shelved. But, after laying low for years, he is back on tour and even won a Grammy for his comeback album, “Sincerely Louis C.K.,” much to the anger of many Twitter commenters.
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The son of “Apocalypse Now” star Martin Sheen, Charlie seemed like an even greater success, becoming the highest paid actor on television (in 2012 he earned $1.8 million per episode for his role on “Two and a Half Men”). But, despite a contentious divorce from actress Denise Richards and later Brooke Mueller, rants about having “tiger’s blood," and his drug use, it was finally his rants about show creator Chuck Lorre — ridiculing Lorre as a clown and a charlatan in a radio interview — that finally caused Warner Bros. TV to terminate his contract.
For the “Transformers” star, a cavalcade of mishaps derailed his career: While he had been repeatedly arrested for misconduct and public intoxication, writing the autobiographical script for and playing his own father in 2019’s “Honey Boy” and starring in “Peanut Butter Falcon” suggested a career revival — until he was allegedly fired from Olivia Wilde’s second directing effort, “Don’t Worry Darling,” in September 2020, and two months later, singer (and LaBeouf’s ex-girlfriend) FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit against him for emotional abuse and sexual battery.
Following “Manhattan” and “Annie Hall,” it seemed Allen could do no wrong. Even after his break with Mia Farrow in 1992, and his eyebrow-raising marriage to her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn (they have a 35 year age difference), he not only continued working but attracted A-list talent to his projects. Even the year when his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow wrote a scathing op-ed for The New York Times accusing him of sexual molestation, he won an Oscar for writing “Midnight in Paris” and was nominated for “Blue Jasmine” two years later. But in 2020 his memoir, “Apropos of Nothing,” was dropped by Hachette Publishing after protests by employees, and a 2021 HBO documentary, “Allen vs. Farrow,” was, according to the Independent, “the death knell for Woody Allen’s career." While he’s still working, many stars have publicly denounced him, with Timothy Chalamet donating his fee for appearing in “A Rainy Day in New York.” His last film, 2020’s “Rifkin’s Festival” made only $2.3 million and had poor reviews, with some calling the film his worst.
The “Rock ’n Roll Pt. 2” glam rocker was a ’70s and ’80s hitmaker, but it wasn’t until he was arrested for possessing child pornography in 1997 and was later charged with eight offenses involving teen girls that his dark side was revealed. After serving time for having sex with underage girls in Vietnam, he was deported to his native U.K., where he is a registered sex offender for life.
A reality TV star thanks to “19 Kids and Counting,” Joshua Duggar, 33, allegedly downloaded child pornography from the internet, some of which depicts the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and is expected to serve 10½, with his release slated for 2032.
