Some lies are worse than others.
But when it comes to celebs, it's always a big story if they get caught fibbing.
Whether it's an exaggeration about a relationship, or a cheating scheme that defrauded an entire
sport for decades, these are the stars who got caught telling huge lies.
Steve Rannazzisi
Steve Rannazzisi old multiple interviewers that his entertainment career was inspired
by a near lethal experience on September 11, 2001.
The comedian and cast member on The League spun a tall tale, saying he was working in
a Merrill Lynch office in the World Trade Center on the day of the attack.
He obviously claimed to have escaped, but through the years, details about his 9/11
survival story changed.
"I tweeted him saying, "Hey, I heard you got into comedy because of 9/11.
I think that's really cool."
And then he tweeted me back, 'Something like that.'"
A New York Times piece outed him as a liar who gradually downplayed his story over the
years.
He went from claiming he was quote, "jostled all over the place" while working in the south
tower when the first plane hit the north tower, to telling The Don Geronimo Show,
"I was outside, really.
I was working downtown at that time."
"What were you doing in New York, were you a financial guy?"
"No, I was just I was bouncing around."
After the damning revelation, Rannazzisi apologized in a statement, and also tweeted:
"For many years, more than anything, I have wished that, with silence, I could somehow
erase a story told by an immature young man.
It only made me more ashamed."
A few weeks later, Rannazzisi further owned up to Howard Stern, chalking the lies up to
it being his way of seeking acceptance from more famous comedians when he first moved
to L.A.
"Now I have to be the guy who's very strange and weird and just said I lied about 9/11."
Brian Williams
NBC News anchor Brian Williams told more than one doozy, often placing himself in the center
of high-profile action.
"I said things that weren't true.”
According to the outlet, Williams stated that he was at Brandenburg Gate when the Berlin
Wall came down, but later investigations revealed that he didn't arrive until the next day.
"Our colleague Brian Williams is back in Kuwait City tonight after a close call in the skies
over Iraq.”
Williams also claimed a chopper he was riding in during the Iraq invasion was hit by an
RPG.
He amended his story to say his vehicle was behind the one that was hit, but sources suggested
his chopper wasn't anywhere near the incident.
He also claimed to have traveled into Baghdad with SEAL Team 6, which famously did away
with Osama bin Laden.
A spokesperson blew holes in that story, noting that journalists aren't embedded in counter-terrorism
ops. Williams apologized for the chopper lie on NBC's Nightly News, saying,
"I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago."
Nevertheless, he was suspended in February 2015 for six months without pay, before finally
being demoted to a position as a breaking-news anchor at MSNBC, per The Washington Post.
Rebel Wilson
Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson was exposed for lying about her age and her real name.
In 2015, she was believed to be 29 - but that year, when she filed papers with the Australian
Securities and Investment Commission, according to People, it was revealed that the funny
gal was born in 1980 and was therefore actually 35 at the time.
"Who is she?"
"I am a legend...
Rebelle."
The Australian press also claimed she lied about her real name.
Although she's claimed her parents legally named her "Rebel", she was actually born Melanie
Elizabeth Bownds.
She's also claimed to have a relatively rough upbringing - claims which the Australian magazine
Woman's Day have called into question.
"You are Australian.
You're from Australia.
Sydney?
Yeah.
Sydney.
The western side which is the more gangsta side."
After being called out, Wilson shot back at the press on Twitter with,
"OMG I'm actually a 100 year old mermaid formerly known as 'CC Chalice' […] Thanks shady Australian
press for your tall poppy syndrome."
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Wilson sued Bauer Media for defamation in 2017.
"They maliciously took me down in May 2015 with a series of grubby and completely false
articles."
Her mother appeared in court, claiming that although her daughter had not been a private
school-attending rich kid, the family had indeed lived in your average middle class
suburb.
Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner's lips were one of the hottest topics of 2015.
"I'm not ever gonna confirm or deny anything.
It's too much."
The youngest member of the Kardashian clan's inflated pout was much-discussed in the media
- and she claimed she had achieved the look with just liner and lipstick.
"I'm just not ready to talk to reporters about my lips yet because everyone always picks
us apart."
She finally came clean on a May 2015 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians when sister
Khloe encouraged her to.
In November 2016, Kylie explained to Complex why she was hesitant to tell the truth, saying,
"I wasn't even 17 yet.
What if I came out and said, 'Oh, yeah, I got my lips done'?
[…] I didn't want to be a bad influence.
I didn't want people to think you had to get your lips done to feel good about yourself.
[…] I wish I had just been honest and upfront."
Lance Armstrong
"I'd probably do it again.”
Cyclist Lance Armstrong was an international hero until a lie tarnished his legacy forever.
His myth was perfect.
He beat cancer - inspiring millions of people who also battled the disease - and his Livestrong
culture let fans know that they, too, could defeat the odds.
But an investigation revealed that the long-held rumor that Armstrong used performance-enhancing
drugs to help win seven Tour de France titles was true.
Armstrong vehemently denied the allegations for years, and even made a Nike commercial
blasting the doping rumors, all while doping in real life.
"I can emphatically say I'm not on drugs."
Despite initial denials, he eventually admitted to doping in an interview with Oprah.
"Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?"
"Yes."
He was subsequently stripped of his titles, and hit with a lifetime ban from competitive
cycling in 2012.
Victoria Beckham
Former Spice Girl and beloved fashion designer Victoria Beckham's bust seemingly grew overnight,
and to some, seemed too big to be natural for her very petite frame.
"This haunts me like you wouldn't believe."
For a long time, Beckham denied she underwent breast enhancement surgery, telling Piers
Morgan in 2003,
"I'm completely natural, except for my fingernails, and I have a bit of help with my hair and
a bit of a St. Tropez [fake tan] going on."
However, during a 2014 interview with Allure, while looking at older photos of herself with
larger cleavage, Beckham said,
"I don't have them anymore […] I think I may have purchased them."
In 2017, she penned a letter to her 18-year-old self, for Vogue, writing,
"Don't mess with your boobs.
All those years I denied it - stupid.
A sign of insecurity.
Just celebrate what you've got."
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's relationship was born on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
The thing was, Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston while filming the movie.
"So what do we do?"
Brad and Angie maintained that their romance began after Brad and Jen had split.
However, a year after the movie's release, Jolie eventually admitted to Vogue that she
and Pitt indeed fell in love on set.
"It took until, really, the end of [shooting Mr. & Mrs. Smith] for us, I think, to realize
that it might mean something more than we'd earlier allowed ourselves to believe.
And both knowing that the reality of that was a big thing, something that was going
to take a lot of serious consideration."
Aniston reacted in her own Vogue cover story, calling Jolie's statement, quote, "uncool"
and "inappropriate," since Aniston was completely unaware of the budding romance between her
husband and his leading lady.
It also seemed like an admission on Jolie's part that things had indeed started up while
Pitt was still married to Aniston.
Jack & Meg White
When The White Stripes rose to fame in 2002, their charming brand of Detroit garage rock
took over the airwaves.
The band consisted of singer and guitarist Jack White and drummer Meg White, who were
presented as being brother and sister.
Except, they weren't.
In reality, they were exes-— formerly married in 1996, and divorced by 2000.
Jack explained their reasoning for the ruse to Rolling Stone in 2005, saying,
"When you see a band that is two pieces, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, you think.
'Oh, I see […].' When they're brother and sister, you go, 'Oh, that's interesting.'
You care more about the music, not the relationship - whether they're trying to save their relationship
by being in a band.
You don't think about that with a brother and sister.
They're mated for life.
That's what family is like."
Jussie Smollett
"Oh, it's not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth.
You don't even want to see the truth."
Empire star Jussie Smollett claimed he was brutally attacked by two white men wearing
ski masks in Chicago around 2 a.m. on January 29, 2019.
According to TMZ, one of the men shouted racist and anti-gay slurs before the two assailants
fractured Smollett's rib, tied a rope around his neck, and poured a liquid on him that
was possibly bleach.
In an interview with Chicago police, Smollett claimed the attackers yelled, quote, "This
is MAGA country," a reference to President Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again."
The Chicago P.D. said it was investigating the assault as a possible hate crime.
But shortly after, reports that Smollett had staged the attack began to surface.
A little more than two weeks after the alleged incident, Smollett was arrested and charged
with filing a false police report.
After the arrest, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson condemned Smollett's alleged
behavior in a blistering press conference, asking, quote, "Why would anyone, especially
an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?"
"How can an individual who's been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap
everyone in this city in the face by making these false claims?"
In an even more bizarre twist, prosecutors later dropped all of the charges after a secret
deal was struck with Smollett.
The Chicago Tribune then reported:
"The entire court file has been sealed at the defense’s request.
[…] The unanswered questions surrounding the development left many wondering what might
have happened behind the scenes."
Miley Cyrus
In a January 2013 interview with Cosmo, former Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus referred to
Liam Hemsworth as her quote, "hubby" and said,
"I’m happy I don’t have to date anyone.
[…] I was like, ‘I’m so happy I’m married, because you guys are cruel!'"
That led many fans to believe that the pair had secretly wed.
Hemsworth's rep quickly denied the news to People magazine.
Since then, the couple has had their up and downs, including a brief split in 2013 after
Hemsworth was spotted with actress Eiza Gonzalez and Cyrus was caught getting cozy with Arnold
Schwarzenegger's son, Patrick.
The pair eventually reconciled in 2015 and officially tied the knot in a secret ceremony
in 2018.
In their first appearance as husband and wife, Hemsworth explained how they kept the news
of their wedding so quiet, admitting to Extra,
"No It wasn't hard"
"It was mainly immediate family, a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing.
I am very happy to be where I am."
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