Have you noticed that famous people are often placed high on their pedestals and extended forgiveness and forgetness on things that you and I could never get away with? Call it stardom, or acknowledge it’s money. Nevertheless, some celebrities have done terrible things that people have completely forgotten or don’t know about. An online discussion named these public figures. Are you aware?
1. Jackie Chan
Did you know that Jackie Chan disowned and abandoned his daughter for being a lesbian? One user states, “He was originally in mind to star in Everything Everywhere All at Once, but as the film has a pro LGBTQIA+ plot, he was quickly written off.”
In 2018, Etta Ng, 18, and her girlfriend, Andi Autumn, shared a video explaining that her parents are homophobic, so they were homeless and sleeping under a bridge. Sad to see parents who do not love their children without conditions.
2. Madonna
In her book, Madonna wrote in detail about adult relations with a teenage boy. In 2016, she sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl on stage on her Rebel Heart Tour. Finally, one notes, “She is currently being investigated for sex trafficking her own children, whom she adopted from Africa.
3. Liam Neeson
Taken star Liam Neeson admitted in a 2019 interview that he once roamed the streets with a cosh (blunt weapon), hoping to be approached by a Black man so that he could kill him. He had learned from a friend that her attacker was Black, and he walked the streets for days hoping to exact revenge. He acknowledges how awful that is but still did it nonetheless.
4. Mark Wahlberg
Are you aware (I wasn’t) that when Mark Wahlberg was sixteen, he was involved in a hate crime with two Asian males? Wahlberg was convicted and jailed for an anti-Asian hate crime against two Vietnamese-American men in 1988. While he was sentenced to two years, he only served 45 days for beating the men, blinding one of them, and calling them racial slurs.
5. Tom Cruise
One alleges Tom Cruise helped the Church of Scientology when they caused the wrongful death of member Lisa McPherson. The church was being indicted for the abuse committed against Lisa, and they used Cruise to “woo” politicians in Florida.
Another user claims he uses the forced labor population within the church ($50 a week) to do things for him, like work on his motorcycles. Despite being well aware of their “employment conditions.” He voluntarily joins in and exploits them.
Finally, a third shares that Leah Remini discusses him in her memoir, stating that all her encounters with Tom Cruise were scary. “He legit threw tantrums at everyone.”
6. Cee Lo Green
Cee Lo Green stands accused of slipping an ecstasy pill into an unnamed 33-year-old woman’s drink and assaulting her while unconscious. She woke up without memory of the night prior.
Eventually, they reduced his charges to a felony of supplying ecstasy. However, afterward, he tweeted, “It’s Not [R-word] If the Person Is Passed Out,” before deleting his Twitter account.
7. Don Henley
Don Henley from The Eagles was brought up in the forum when one user asked if anyone remembers when a sixteen-year-old girl overdosed in his house without any clothes on.
He pled guilty to misdemeanor charges and then wrote a song, “Nobody’s Business,” about how mean the media was to him. Another adds, “Don Henley also repeatedly battered his wife, so I’m not shocked.”
8. Chris Brown
OK. No one has forgotten the physical abuse that Chris Brown inflicted on Rihanna. But let’s keep it that way. Chris Brown’s assault included knocking her head into the passenger-side window, repeatedly punching and strangling her to near unconsciousness before a resident in the neighborhood heard her plea for help.
However, he’s done so much more and continues to get away with abusing women. For example, he shoved a woman to the ground causing torn ligaments. He punched a woman in the face in Las Vegas in 2016; his former ex Karrueche Tran won a five-year restraining order in 2017, threatened a woman with a gun in 2018, and was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2022.
Still, he has women throwing themselves at him. One asks, “How is this guy still getting work and recognition? In this age of cancel culture, he is way overdue.” Others note he has a top-ten single on the radio right now.
9. Jack Nicholson
Did you know that Jack Nicholson beat the daylights out of a sex worker resulting in damages that are now killing her? Per The Guardian, “About a year after she received the original payment, her injuries and the damage to her brain stem got worse than originally thought,” Sheehan’s lawyer, Ira Chester, said in a statement. “The original settlement isn’t enough.”
10. Steven Tyler
Did you know that Steven Tyler had a relationship with a 16-year-old girl when he was twenty-five? One user shares that he convinced the teen’s parents to sign over legal guardianship. Then, he took her on tour across state lines without chance of being arrested. Finally, according to Rolling Stone, Tyler pressured her into aborting his son when she was only seventeen.
11. Travis Scott
Travis Scott essentially left his loyal ex-manager Shane Morris for dead in the studio. He suffered from seizures and had one while Travis was with him. Travis abandoned him in the midst of one happening and went home. Shane Morris told The Brag Media he’d been working with and guiding him for two years before he left him seizing on the floor.
Morris further alleges that he was subject to “ableist discrimination” after Scott learned he had epilepsy. “So the next day, I called Travis Scott while I was driving to see my friend, Jenn,” Morris said.
“He explained to me that he didn’t want a manager that would be having seizures, and he didn’t want to bring T.I. around anything like that. ‘How do I know you’re not just gonna be shaking on the ground and s-word?'”
12. John Lennon
Did you know that John Lennon, the “revered icon of peace and love,” was a wife batterer and child abuser? His first wife, Cynthia, and his second, Yoko Ono, were both victims of Lennon’s abuse.
The song “Hey Jude” was initially titled “Hey Jules,” addressing his son Julian Lennon who suffered emotional abuse. According to ListVerse, “Once, Julian giggled, and Lennon shouted back, “I hate the way you [F-word] laugh!” Julian was not even a teenager yet. Cynthia and Julian have spoken out about his abuse.
13. Don King
Did you know Don King stomped an employee to death after pistol-whipping him? The dispute broke out over $600 that King claimed the victim owed him in the form of a gambling debt. A user suggests, “Then, probably with no small amount of lobbying on his part, the Cleveland City Council considered renaming the same street where it happened after him.
No, not after the victim, Sam Garrett, but after the man who, again, stomped him to death. Who was convicted, although he unfortunately only served just shy of four years in prison.”
14. John Travolta
Do you remember in 2012 when four men accused John Travolta of sexual abuse? The outrage appeared for some to be more about him being gay than sexually assaulting men, and nothing ever became of the allegations. Many speculate the Church of Scientology had a hand in that. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the only time they protected a predator. See Danny Masterson.
15. Michael Irvin
Did you ever hear about when NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin stabbed a teammate (Everett McIver) in the neck with scissors at a barber shop? He wanted his hair cut done first. I hadn’t, and countless others agree to never hearing about it. One NFL fan confesses, “I love the NFL and hadn’t heard about it until this past year. He never faced any jail time.”
16. Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. The details are disturbing. Eventually, Polanski entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge. However, as one notes, he still gets awards. Nonetheless, he can’t go to the shows because he still has an arrest warrant in California.
Nonetheless, many movie circles revere him, ignoring his terrible past. Worse, celebrities defend him. For example, when Polanski won an Oscar for The Pianist, he couldn’t accept it without being arrested on site. So Harrison Ford accepted it on his behalf and personally flew to France to give it to him. Also, Cate Blanchett named her son after Polanksi.
17. Vince Neil
Vince Neil, lead vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, killed someone while driving drunk (.17) in December 1984 at Redondo Beach, California. However, Neil was only sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years probation. Finally, unbelievably, he only served half of the 30-day sentence!
“Not only killed somebody, but he also severely injured two other motorists and pretty much killed the career momentum of Hanoi Rocks dead in its tracks.”
18. Ronald Reagan
Even as I type this, I can hear my deceased father becoming outraged at the thought that his favorite president of all time is being badmouthed and accused of scandal. And by his baby girl, of all people. But he’s on this list, and Google says it’s true. Sorry, dad.
A fired-up user claims, “Ronald Reagan sold weapons to Iranian terrorists and gave the money to a bunch of coke dealers in Central America to ‘fight communism.’ So Reagan essentially is the reason crack become so popular in the 80s despite being one of the toughest presidents on drugs.”
The Iran–Contra affair is a political scandal occurring during the second term of the Reagan administration between 1981 and 1986. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. According to Wiki, “The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, a right-wing rebel group, in Nicaragua.”
19. Jared Leto
Jared Leto is facing serious allegations of sexual impropriety, and many people act like he’s done nothing wrong. Not even any deals or movie drops (James Gunn dropped as the Joker). Nevertheless, he’s still consistently hired all around.
20. Mike Tyson
OK. We all remember that Mike Tyson took a bite out of Evander Holyfield’s ear, but do you remember him going to prison? He was convicted of raping beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington on Feb. 10, 1992, and sent to prison for three years. However, Tyson was released halfway through his sentence and returned to the boxing ring in 1996.
What do you think? Did you know about all of these, or do you have any more to add to this list?
This thread inspired this post.
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This article was published and syndicated by Sober Healing.
Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.