Fans love shipping their favorite stars, but it's hard not to look away when an A-Lister's
dirty laundry comes to light.
Let's take a look back at the carnage 2020 has wreaked on some superstars whose careers
appear to be completely done.
Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute were the queen bees on Vanderpump Rules until June
2020.
Page Six reported that Schroeder lost brand deals with Ritual and Billie after former
castmate Faith Stowers recalled a 2018 incident where Schroeder and Doute accused her of a
crime she didn't commit.
"I guess this woman was like, robbing people and stealing like, gold bars."
"And they called the cops and said it was me."
Schroeder actually bragged about the in-depth investigation of Stowers she and Doute undertook
in a now-deleted interview on the Bitch Bible.
Schroeder apologized on Instagram, but it wasn't enough, as more of her past incidents
of racial insensitivity resurfaced, including describing herself as, quote, "Nazi chic"
in a 2018 Instagram Story, and complaining about Black people wanting representation
in film during a 2017 podcast.
After Variety revealed that Schroeder and Doute got fired from Vanderpump Rules, they
both publicly apologized.
Stowers told People, however, that while Doute did DM her, Schroeder never reached out privately.
Us Weekly confirmed Schroeder's podcast was removed from all platforms and her wine line
with Doute was pulled from stores.
Doute seemingly didn't have as much to lose as Schroeder, but her publisher did stop promoting
her book after just one week of sales.
According to Deadline, Schroeder and Doute began working with a crisis management team
in the wake of the scandal.
After years of telling fans to "be kind," talk show staffers accused Ellen DeGeneres
of creating a, quote, "toxic work culture" in a June 2020 BuzzFeed News exposé.
"So former employees who worked on The Ellen Show told me that they experienced a range
of sexual harassment, misconduct, and witnessed a range of it."
Even fellow celebs started dog-piling onto DeGeneres, but DeGeneres herself kept quiet
until The Ellen DeGeneres Show returned in September 2020.
She said:
"I learned that things happened here that never should have happened.
I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected."
The show continued, but it wasn't business as usual.
According to BuzzFeed News, the Ellen Show Instagram account dropped sponsored brands
posts from eight to two different brands.
Those numbers could be attributed to many factors, including the pandemic, but publicists
also told BuzzFeed News that they don't want to book clients as guests to be a part of,
quote, "her comeback tour."
As one put it:
"You don't want to put your client in any line of fire sympathizing with someone that
any community or anyone would feel bad about.
We're not going to align anyone with Ellen."
BuzzFeed also noted that in October 2020, DeGeneres' ratings declined about 37% from
last season, which is nearly double the average for other syndicated talk shows.
Yes, DeGeneres is clearly still a major fixture on daytime TV, but is her brand permanently
tainted or is this just a momentary hiccup?
In June 2020, Lea Michele was called out by fellow Glee alum Samantha Ware after posting
a tweet promoting Black Lives Matter.
In a since-deleted response tweet, Ware accused Michele of making her, quote, "first television
gig a living hell," saying:
"I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would 's— in my wig!'
amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood."
Ware told Variety Michele changed after Ware's first performance, recalling:
"That's when it started – the silent treatment, the stare-downs, the looks, the comments under
her breath, the weird passive aggressiveness."
"Let's get started."
After Ware's claims, other celebs shared their unflattering allegations about Michele's on-set
behavior.
Glee alum Heather Morris slammed Michele for, quote, "treat[ing] others with the disrespect
that she did," but would not go so far as to call Michele racist.
Michele lost a HelloFresh sponsorship, while a spokesperson for Zola, a company that worked
with Michele to plan her 2019 wedding, told Newsweek they were, quote, "deeply disappointed
by the news concerning her conduct."
Their partnership, however, had already ended with the wedding.
"I have made the very hard and difficult decision to not be a part of The Real Housewives of
Atlanta Season 13."
Although NeNe Leakes maintained that she made the decision to leave the hit Bravo series,
her own remarks contradict that.
When a fan tweeted the star asking about spin-off, she replied:
"They don't think I deserve to work at all in any [capacity]."
When she was asked if Bravo had forced her out, Leakes responded with, quote, "They definitely
did."
"I had an offer on the table.
I did not think the offer was a fair offer."
When Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen had Leakes' frenemy Wendy Williams on
Watch What Happens Live!, Leakes tweeted up a storm, calling Cohen a, quote, "ole racist"
and declaring:
"No one knew you until YOU knew me.
Remember I'm ICON.
Don't forget."
She slammed Cohen for low ratings in addition to writing:
"Keep trying me sir and imma let the world know who you really are."
In October, Leakes told Tamron Hall she wanted to meet with Bravo to demand, quote, "fair
treatment."
Since she's no longer on the network, however, the possibility of that meeting seems very
unlikely.
Kelly Dodd's unfiltered personality provides entertainment on The Real Housewives of Orange
County, but it's not a façade she puts on for the cameras.
She doesn't hold back whether she's on TV or not.
Page Six reported that Dodd called coronavirus, quote, "God's way of thinning the herd" in
an April 2020 Instagram Story.
A month later, she compared coronavirus to the flu, remarking:
"Well, people are going to die!
I'm sorry to tell ya."
In yet another IG story a few weeks later, she said:
"No one is wearing masks here in Orange County.
Yup, because no one is dying here of the virus."
In September 2020, Dodd declared via Instagram that coronavirus is, quote, "not a pandemic
anymore," to which her boss, Andy Cohen, finally said:
"Her posts show how woefully uninformed we all are."
Dodd's cringeworthy statements aren't limited to global pandemics.
In a resurfaced 2016 TMZ video, she says:
"I don't like black guys.
I don't even know any black guys."
Dodd, who is Mexican-American, quickly apologized amid backlash and even claimed that she's
also been a victim of racism.
"In hindsight, it was the stupidest thing I've ever said."
In October 2020, VICE reported on the social media drama and the growing number of Real
Housewives viewers who've publicly boycotted both Dodd and the show.
That month, Showbiz CheatSheet confirmed that the Season 15 premiere generated lower ratings
than previous seasons.
The decrease can't be solely attributed to the Dodd backlash, but it doesn't bode well
for her reality TV future.
Once a season of The Bachelor ends, most cast members become social media influencers.
But, what happens when an influencer deletes their social media?
In November 2020, Us Weekly reported that Colton Underwood deleted his Instagram photos.
Every.
Single.
One.
That's certainly an unexpected move for someone with 2 million followers, who's spent years
building a brand contingent on social media promotion.
Yes, Underwood has other streams of revenue, including sales from his book The First Time:
Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV.
But, he's missing out on that Instagram ad money by halting his posting.
Only Underwood can verify why he blanked out his IG page, but his post-TV life has no shortage
of drama.
In September 2020, TMZ obtained legal documents that Underwood's ex Cassie Randolph filed
for a restraining order against him.
She claimed that he put a tracking device on her car, harassed her via text message,
and showed up uninvited to her apartment and to her parents' home.
Additionally, she alleged that he, quote, "sent anonymous text messages to her and to
himself pretending to also be a victim of the anonymous stalker."
"I was almost pushing her away by trying to bring her closer."
In October 2020, Underwood told Us Weekly that Cassie had, quote, "asked the court to
dismiss the temporary restraining order against me," claiming that they resolved their issues
privately.
TMZ later confirmed that Randolph dropped the restraining order, and sought to end a
police investigation into Underwood.
That appeared to be the end of their public drama, but what about Underwood's Instagram
career?
Chris D'Elia found fame as a comedian and an actor in TV shows including Whitney and
You.
That success came crashing down in June 2020 when five women spoke to the Los Angeles Times,
accusing D'Elia of exposing himself and other sexual improprieties.
Two of those women claim they were under 18 when they had encounters with D'Elia, one
of whom allegedly began corresponding with him when she was 17 and he was 36.
"What do you want me to say, what, I'm a sicko?
Okay fine, I'm bad."
In September 2020, CNN shared accusations from two additional women who had similar
experiences, including traumatic, unwanted advances in which D'Elia exposed himself.
D'Elia's lawyer shared a statement with Variety, declaring:
"D'Elia denies these allegations and emphatically states that he has never engaged in any sexual
conduct with any woman without her consent."
Even so, his career will probably never be the same.
Deadline reported that he was dropped by his talent agency and management company.
Netflix ditched plans for an "unscripted prank show" that he was supposed to partake in.
He also got replaced in the upcoming movie Army of the Dead.
D'Elia has bigger worries than missing the opportunity to prank randoms on a Netflix
show, but the lost jobs and lack of industry support will undoubtedly have a lasting impact
on his career.
Good lawyers don't come cheap.
A breakup can be tough on its own, but Johnny Depp's split from Amber Heard took things
to another level, damaging his reputation and career.
The drama kicked into high gear when Amber wrote an op-ed about domestic violence for
The Washington Post in December 2018.
Although he wasn't mentioned in the piece, Depp's lawyers slapped Heard with a $50 million
defamation lawsuit the following March 2019.
Depp said that Heard's accusations, quote, "cost him the role of Jack Sparrow" in Disney's
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
That wasn't the only job he lost though.
In December 2020, Warner Brothers told Deadline that Depp would be leaving the Fantastic Beasts
franchise.
"But I think what Johnny Depp has said is that he can't get a job, you know?"
Depp admitted on Instagram that he was, quote, "asked to resign" by the studio from the film
he'd already begun to shoot.
While his tenure with the franchise is over, Depp didn't lose a paycheck, thanks to a clause
in his contract that stipulated he would be paid regardless of whether or not he actually
appears in the movie.
Depp lost his libel case against United Kingdom publication The Sun in November 2020.
The judge concluded that the outlet's, quote, "use of the phrase 'wife beater'" was justified,
as Heard's allegations against Depp were, quote, "substantially true."
Despite the loss, Depp will pursue another defamation lawsuit in the United States starting
in May 2021, which could have even more detrimental effects on his career.
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 or TTY 1−800−787−3224.
You can also find more information, resources, and support at www.thehotline.org.