BEHAVING BADLY
From just plain stupid, to sexual misconduct claims: the year in celebrity scandals, great and small,
There has never been a shortage of celebrities who go from fame to infamy, but 2014 has been a banner year for scandals great and small. Here are some of the year’s most notable ones, listed in order from most serious to the seriously risible.
The old saying, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” may well apply to Bill Cosby, an entertainment icon for decades as star of the top-rated Cosby Show in the 1980s, the first African-American actor to co-star in a dramatic series ( I Spy) and as creator of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, as well as for his comedy albums and standup performances.
In recent months, more than 20 women — many of them aspiring actresses — have alleged Cosby sexually assaulted them, often after plying them with alcohol or prescription drugs. No charges have been laid, but the fallout has been profound: NBC cancelled an upcoming series in which Cosby was to star, he recently resigned from the board of trustees of his alma mater, Temple University, a professorship in his name has been suspended and his appointment as honorary chief petty officer of the U.S. navy was recently revoked.
With his support dwindling among former supporters and the general public, Cosby is fast becoming America’s most famous pariah.
Radio host Jian Ghomeshi has similarly watched his world crumble since October when the CBC fired him after the network received damaging information — some of it from Ghomeshi himself — about his alleged predilection for assaulting and choking women under the guise of sexual encounters (none of the allegations have been proven in court). While Ghomeshi initially attempted to persuade the public he merely had an unconventional sexual appetite and was being targeted by a “jilted ex-girlfriend,” the trickle of allegations soon became a torrent, with a dozen victims stepping forward, including actress Lucy DeCoutere. Last month, Toronto police laid five criminal charges against him. He has been released on $100,000 bail and must reside at his mother’s home. His next court appearance is set for Jan. 8.
Former Disney star Miley Cyrus continues to take a wrecking ball to her previous image as a kid-friendly celebrity
Actor Stephen Collins may have played a man of God in the TV series Seventh Heaven (1996-2007) but he was clearly no angel, recently confessing to inappropriate contact, including exposing himself and molesting three underage females in incidents dating back 40 years. Collins reportedly wrote a confession to his wife in 2012 and she secretly recorded a statement from Collins about the events during a subsequent therapy session.
In February, NFL running back Ray Rice had a violent altercation with his then-fiancée in the elevator of a Las Vegas casino, which led to an initial two-game suspension by the league. But when video of the incident surfaced months later showing Rice punching Janay Rice (they married a month after the incident) then dragging her out of the elevator, unconscious, he was suspended indefinitely and dropped by the Baltimore Ravens. A judge recently reversed that suspension, making Rice eligible to return to the NFL in 2015.
Another incident further tarnished the league when Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was charged with assaulting his 4-yearold son with a stick and suspended for the rest of the season.
Following a year in which his latest musical release, Journals, was critically panned, his latest concert film, Believe, bombed commercially and Katy Perry topped him on Twitter, pop princeling Justin Bieber decided that the only way to stay in the headlines in 2014 was to behave badly. So in early January, Bieber and his posse egged a neighbour’s house in Calabasas, Calif., which cost him $80,900 in fines along with a requirement to take an anger-management course and community service. Later that month, Bieber was charged in Miami Beach with DUI, driving with an expired licence and resisting arrest following a drag racing incident. That case was subsequently resolved with a plea bargain that required a $50,000 contribution to a children’s charity. On Sept. 1, Bieber was charged with assault and dangerous driving following an incident in his hometown of Stratford when his allterrain vehicle was involved in a collision with a minivan. This was a few days before an assault charge against the star was dropped (that one was related to an alleged attack on a limo driver in Toronto). Then last month, authorities in Argentina gave Bieber 60 days to answer charges that he allegedly assaulted a photographer there a year earlier.
In October, TLC cancelled the reality series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo after it learned the show’s matriarch, June Shannon, was dating Mark McDaniel, a convicted sex offender who had been recently been released after serving10 years in prison for aggravated sexual molestation.
Adding further shock to the story, Shannon’s daughter, Anna, later revealed she was the victim of the assault when she was 8 years old.
The famous-for-being-rich-and-famous Kim Kardashian bared her prominent posterior in November for the cover of the winter issue of the New York-based Paper Magazine. The magazine’s self-described goal to “break the internet” didn’t actually happen but the photo did generate a seemingly endless stream of controversy and thoughtful discussion — i.e. is it real or is it Photoshopped? — to feed the ego of the middle sister of the triple-K brood. Ironically, the photos inside of a fully naked Kim barely raised an eyebrow. With the K-butt controversy losing steam, Kim decided recently to up the ante. In a new episode of the Kardashian clan’s reality series, Khloe & Kourtney Take the Hamptons, Kim opined that older sister Khloe should shed a few kilos from her keister and that she herself would soon be sporting a reduced rear end.
Miley Cyrus, the former Hannah Montana, continues to take a wrecking ball to her previous image as a kid-friendly Disney star by dressing outrageously (including as a taco) and parading her nearly naked form on stage or via regular appearances on Instagram. Her recent romantic liaison with Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of movie star and former California governor Arnold, guarantees the attention-seeking pop star will continue to be a primary target for the paparazzi and regular fodder for gossip shows, magazines and websites.
Former child star Lindsay Lohan, whose troubles with drugs and alcohol and regular visits to rehab have continued to hobble her acting career, hit a new low when her eightepisode reality series, Lindsay, drew a collective ho-hum from critics and audiences of OWN TV.
Her decision to leave Los Angeles (and never move back) in favour of London earlier this year may well be a case of going from the frying pan into the fire, since the British public and media’s appetite for lurid stories of tragic celebrity is even greater than in the U.S.
In a floury dust-up between duelling domestic goddesses, a recipe can sometimes provide the last laugh.
In September, Martha Stewart told the New York Post that actress Gwyneth Paltrow should “shut up,” stick to acting and stop trying to be like, well, Martha Stewart.
A month later, Stewart took another shot at Paltrow in Martha Stewart Living magazine with a series of dessert recipes under the title, “Conscious Coupling,” a reference to Paltrow’s announcement in March that she and husband Chris Martin of Coldplay fame were “consciously uncoupling” after a decade of marriage.
Paltrow, who fancies herself a lifestyle maven, used her online magazine GOOP to fire back at Stewart with a recipe for “Jailbird Cake,” a reference to Stewart’s five-month stretch in prison in 2004 for lying to federal authorities during an insider trading investigation.
It was the year of acting strangely for Shia LaBeouf, most notably in June when, as an audience member, he disrupted a New York performance of Cabaret by smoking and yelling and even slapping fellow actor Alan Cumming’s butt while Cumming, in the role of the emcee, was touring through the audience.
In February, LaBoeuf walked out of a press conference during the Berlin Film Festival where he was promoting his role in the film Nymphomaniac. That night, he arrived on the red carpet wearing a paper bag that said “I am not famous anymore.”
Later that month, he lived in a Los Angeles gallery for six days and participated in an art installation entitled #IAMSORRY (after allegations of plagiarism surfaced in 2013). During the show, members of the public were invited to interact with LaBoeuf one at a time as he sat quietly wearing a tuxedo with a paper bag over his head that said “I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE.” Last month, LaBoeuf announced he had been raped by a woman in an incident on Valentine’s Day.
Earlier this month, Joaquin Phoenix — who, in 2008, bizarrely announced and then unannounced his retirement from acting — told David Letterman that he was engaged to marry his 20-year-old yoga instructor after discussing in detail a yoga position called Harnessing the Hog.
Aday later, he admitted the engagement was a joke. Dear Joaquin: Jokes are supposed to make people laugh, not cringe.
Juan Pablo Galavis was supposed to be a groundbreaker, the first ethnic minority to be chosen to star as The Bachelor on the reality TV series after17 seasons. It didn’t take long for him to get into hot water, saying the idea of a gay bachelor wouldn’t be a good example for young viewers, while using the word “pervert.” The former soccer player eventually picked Nikki Ferrell during the season finale but the ever-after romance was short-lived and the two parted company over his refusal to say the “L” word and a wandering eye.
Former Major League Baseball pitcher John Rocker, known for past statements in which he disparaged foreigners of all stripes and people with AIDS, admitted steroid use and suggested Jews could have prevented the Holocaust if only they’d had the right to bear arms, was supposed to be a major player on season 29 of reality show Survivor.
Instead, he quickly became the object of intense dislike by castmates and was soon outmanoeuvred, being the third player voted out despite having a hidden immunity idol.