Hollywood regularly churns out stars so big and so beloved, they seem untouchable. Stars who are worshipped like modern gods by fans who cannot imagine them doing any wrong.
Some explode onto the scene in a blaze of glory while others climb the ranks quietly, their fame building slowly until they are everywhere, untouchable, and beyond reproach—or so it seems.
And then it happens: one misstep, one scandal, one moment of hubris, and everything comes crashing down.
Here is a list of 13 celebrities who courted reputational ruin—some who rose again, and others who buried their careers permanently.
#1 Logan Paul
Logan Paul, a comedic YouTube personality with more than 15 million followers, claimed his infamy in 2018 when he decided to explore an allegedly haunted forest in Japan.
While filming their jaunt, they came across a single instance of what was purported to be the reason for Aokigahara Forest’s ominous aura.
In the now-deleted video, Paul discovered the hanging body of someone who had taken their own life and filmed it while asking his guide if they should call the police.
The answer was “no,” and they decided to double down on what they went there to do—focus on the “haunted aspect” of the area.
His fans blasted him and he later posted a video claiming that the offending footage was not intended to mock s*icide but rather raise awareness for it. “I’m sorry,” he told his audience.
Australia’s ABC News at the time reported that viewers were unforgiving and the video drew a wave of backlash from netizens on X, including Breaking Bad alum, Aaron Paul, when he wrote:
“You are pure trash. Plain and simple. S*icide is not a joke.”
YouTube also reacted by placing projects with Paul on hold while removing him from their preferred program, per a 2018 BBC report.
Image credits: Logan Paul
#2 Terrance Howard
Terrence Howard has his mouth to blame, not so much for getting him into trouble per se, but rather because it has drawn him more than just a few sidelong glances.
His most notable infraction in the public eye was a seemingly homophobic stance on kissing a man, albeit only for a televised role.
Speaking on the Club Random podcast in April this year, he told Bill Maher that he refused to take on the character of Marvin Gaye in a potential film because he (Gaye) was homos*xual.
He summed up his thoughts on the gay community by saying. “If I kissed a man, I would cut my lips off.”
However, evidence of Howard’s mindboggling logic predates the statement by nearly a decade.
In 2015, entertainment platform Hollywood.com had already documented a list of utterances that made fans question his sanity, including that the piano keys A, C, and G “were best friends” and they would “talk to each other.”
He has also applied his thinking to basic math and determined that 1 x 1 does not equal 1, but rather 2.
Anyway, at least he has Joe Rogan’s approval.
Image credits: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
#3 Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey was truly at the top of his game when the career grenade rolled in and painted him not only as the villain-protagonist of the American adaptation of House of Cards, but in real life, too.
He was playing the role of Frank Underwood in the 2017 series when several allegations of s*xual misconduct from no less than ten accusers surfaced—including that of Anthony Rapp, who claimed the A-lister made a pass at him when he (Rapp) was just 14 years old.
Despite his dominating role, producers had no issue writing Spacey out of the sixth season and leaving his stage wife Claire (Robin Wright) as the central character.
Additionally, the production company, MRC, via the ruling of a judge, demanded $31 million from the actor for violating a contract clause of s*xual harassment but later settled for $1 million.
NPR in 2022 quoted Spacey as saying that he learned one thing from the furore: “Never apologize for something you didn't do.”
Image credits: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
#4 Ellen Degeneres
Everybody’s favorite benevolent talk show host took a step out of the public favor when she denied getting an invite to Dakota Johnson's thirtieth birthday party on October 5, 2019.
Johnson called her out for it on live TV.
Compounding matters, Ellen DeGeneres, a lesbian, was spotted sitting next to former president George Bush–known for his anti-LGBTQ stance–at a Dallas Cowboys match on October 6–the very next day.
The real odium would strike in April, 2020, during COVID, when her workforce of about 30 employees found themselves unable to work due to the lockdowns.
They were shocked to learn via social media that The Degeneres Show continued to film from their boss’s home with non-unionized staff, according to a 2020 exclusive published by Variety.
Also, while they had been informed they would be receiving a severe pay cut, the exact percentage remained opaque for an extended period.
She survived this with an apology but was not yet through the woods because two months later, a former employer blew the whistle on her, saying that she was oblivious of the conditions they were forced to work in.
Buzzfeed dropped another bombshell in the same month when they unearthed accusations of s*xual misconduct among the staff.
Eventually, in 2022, the show that had been running for 19 years crumpled under the weight of bad ratings.
She resurfaced for a 2024 tour named Ellen’s Last Stand… Up where she admitted: “It’s been such a toll on my ego and my self-esteem.”
It was the second time she had been cancelled.
Image credits: Steve Granitz/Getty Images
#5 Will Smith
Fresh in the public’s memory, is the once bulletproof Will Smith.
It was not the rumors that plagued him and his wife Jada’s marriage, nor was it the Augustus Alsina fling, which Jada claimed did not constitute cheating but rather “entanglement.”
It was not even the scandalous suggestion that the two were swingers back in 2017, per Cosmopolitan, that broke the proverbial camel’s back.
But it was that fateful 94th Academy Awards of March 27, 2022, when the smiling funny man, Chris Rock, decided to take a stab at Jada over her (lack of) hair as she sat next to her husband near the stage.
What resulted was “The Slap Heard Around the World.”
During one of his shows a year later, Rock would tell his audience that yes, it hurt, and still does.
The I am Legend star was consequently banned from the Academy Awards for a decade and lost an estimated $1 billion in economic opportunity.
He admitted as much when he told Complex’s Speedy Morman in March 2024: “This is the downsizing phase of my life.
Image credits: Myung Chun/Getty Images
#6 Mel Gibson
Mad Max actor, Mel Gibson, succumbed to bouts of madness off screen as early as 2006.
His infraction was a drunken anti-Semitic rant that ousted him to the periphery of Hollywood.
According to Courthouse News, leading up to the rant, he was arrested on a DUI and asked the arresting officer: “Are you a Jew?”
“The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world,” he ranted. The statement which was caught on film drew blowback from key figures in the industry including calls from “super agent” Ari Emanuel, for Gibson to be cancelled all round.
The call was heeded, and the Brave Heart star was subjected to insignificant roles until 2010 when he got the lead role for Edge of Darkness.
But his run of misfortune was not over. In the same year, the media got wind of a falling out with his then girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, ABC reported.
Reports indicate that the actor went into meltdown mode again, and this time added racism and s*xism to his tirade.
When his agency, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, heard of the infraction, they dropped him.
However, despite his faux pas, Gibson has shown an uncanny propensity to bounce back.
Image credits: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images
#7 Woody Allen
This Film Director lost the love of his audiences when he, according to allegations, showed a proclivity for the darkest of tendencies: cradle snatching.
It became darker still when his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, published a 2014 open letter renewing her claims that he had ab*sed her when she was seven.
The claim followed shortly after the then in-demand filmmaker celebrated his Golden Globe lifetime achievement award on January 14 of the same year, per United Press International.
Allen denied the allegation even though it was seconded by his son Ronan.
But more telling was his flagrant courting and marriage to his ex-wife’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, whom he started having an affair with when she turned 21.
The scandal spread to everyone around him, and actors like Colin Firth vowed never to work with him again.
Stars Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez, and Rebecca Hall, who acted in the 2020 film, A Rainy Day in New York, have since donated their entire salary from the production to charity.
Image credits: Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images
#8 Michael Richards
This TV personality, who starred as Cosmo Kramer in Seinfeld, the American sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1889, signed his careers d*ath certificate at a standup comedy show in 2006.
He was performing at a Los Angeles comedy club, Laugh Factory, when he lashed out at a group of black audience members for talking during his act.
“Shut up,” he yelled. “Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a f**king fork up your *ss,” he said, and demanded that the staff “throw his *ss out,” before shouting repeatedly, “he’s a n**ger.”
To make matters worse, his outburst was captured on video and disseminated by outlets like TMZ.
Three days later, Richards appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and told his host that he was not a racist but simply lost his temper.
He used the opportunity to apologize, but he was on the wrong side of public opinion, which led to him retiring from comedy.
Close to 20 years later, he told People that he was immediately sorry after his outburst but would not attempt a comeback.
Image credits: Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images
#9 Steven Seagal
Action figure Steven Seagal’s departure from the spotlight was gradual. He was popular during the 1980s and 1990s, but just as illustrious were accusations and rumours of s*xual harassment often implicating under age individuals.
The allegations reached their peak in 2017 and 2018, and this was after Vladimir Putin gave the actor a Russian passport, prompting Ukraine to ban him from their country over security concerns.
This act did not occur in a vacuum. Seagal was known for his support of the autocracy when they annexed Crimea.
Also in 2018, the Kremlin appointed him as their special envoy to the U.S.
In 2023, his new home country gave him an Order of Friendship award for what it called “humanitarian work.”
Back in the United States, his movies appear to have passed their sell-by date as did his fighting moves.
The podcast Imagination & Junk examined Seagal’s fighting skills and noted that he claimed to have a 7th-degree black belt.
It also reported that according to his ex-wife, this is a fallacy. She said that the defector possesses a 1st degree at the most, which was obtained only because the person who graded him fell asleep.
As can be seen on the subreddit, r/Movies, the public is, for most parts, pitted against him offering an array of reasons for their dislike of him
One user on Quora did not mince their words when they wrote: “Steven Seagal destroyed his own stardom by being an insufferable pr*ck.”
Image credits: Contributor/Getty Images
#10 Winona Ryder
In December 2001, Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting clothing to the value of $5,500 from a Saks outlet in Beverly Hills.
One year later, Ryder was found guilty of grand theft and shoplifting. She was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 and the stolen goods were to be destroyed.
Meanwhile, a thread on Reddit published a picture of her wearing a dress with a striking resemblance to one produced by designer Marc Jacobs, to her trial—the very brand she stole in Beverly Hills.
“During her 6 day trial she wore one of the pieces she stole, a midi dress with a retro-looking collar from Marc Jacobs RTW 2001 Fall collection,” the captions reads.
In addition to the fine, she was slapped with three years probation and 480 hours of community service. In an interview close to a decade later, Ryder, now 52, admitted that the infraction had “a giant effect,” on her career.
“There was a period when I was not in season,” she told Esquire in August of 2024.
“It was like 10, 12, 15 years, and it did coincide with everything that happened but also, if you look at the period from 2000 to 2010: wow! It was the most degrading time.”
Image credits: Mel Bouzad/Getty Images
#11 Gina Carano
Like many who came before her, Gina Carano ran aground in the treacherous waters of social media. In 2021 she posted on something that was perhaps not in her line of expertise.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by N*zi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children,” she wrote.
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where N*zi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?” her rhetoric continued.
Like Barr, she came around to her error and deleted the post, but not before it triggered the #FireGinaCarano hashtag.
And fire her, they did. The movie house Lucasfilm, released the news that they found her opinions “abhorrent and unacceptable” before sacking her.
She is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against her former employer and its benefactor Walt Disney with tech mogul Elon Musk backing her, per IMDb.
Image credits: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
#12 Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Jones, thanks to his appearances in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Beetlejuice, was famous in the 1980s and 1990s. But this would change to infamy at the turn of the century.
His downfall was paying a minor to pose nude in 1999 and 2000.
He dodged a three-year Jail term and was slapped with five years of probation, 250 hours of community service (per TMZ), ordered to attend a year of psychological counseling, and another two to treat his substance abuse problems.
He was also required to register as a lifelong s*x offender—a stain that he tried to outrun.
In 2004 and 2010, he was arrested for not registering his new addresses after relocating, as required of offenders of his ilk, and slapped with another three-year probation after the second infraction.
Image credits: Nick Ut-Pool/Getty Images
#13 Roseanne Barr
This personality fell from grace overnight—quite literally.
At 2:45 am (EST) on May 29, 2018, Roseanne Barr tweeted:
“Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” referring to former President Barack Obama’s longest-serving advisor, Valerie Jarrett.
Likely having slept on it and realizing that she had erred grievously, she tried to correct her faux pas, and at 10:33 am the same day tweeted “I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me – my joke was in bad taste.”
But once again, the die had been cast and the chips were falling fast. Less than two hours later, at 12:04 pm the same day, her show Roseanne’s producer, Wanda Sykes quit.
By 1:21 pm, her co-star made clear her stance on the matter by condemning Barr.
Twenty six minutes later ABC, for whom she worked weighed in with their rebuke calling her “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.” They mentioned in the same update that they had cancelled the show.
Twenty three minutes after that Disney’s head honcho, Bob Iger, put his weight behind ABC’s decision saying that her cancellation was “the right thing to do.”
According to Axios, Barr’s agent dropped her before the hour was through.
Image credits: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images
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