For many, a celebrity encounter is an exciting and memorable experience.
For others, however, a chance run-in with a star can lead to a great deal of pain and
suffering.
From racist outbursts to car crash disasters, here are some celebs who ruined the lives
of innocent people.
When the West Hollywood condo of Twilight actress Ashley Greene caught on fire in 2013,
most tabloid headlines focused on the death of her dog, Marlo.
And while that certainly was tragic, the less reported angle of the story was the effect
the fire had on Greene's neighbors.
The building's doorman, Adrian Mayorga, along with several other tenants, sued Greene for
property damage and health problems associated with the fire, which was caused by an unattended
candle in her home.
It seems the neighborhood's beef with the actress began before the blaze, too.
According to TMZ, residents claimed Greene was a disruptive nuisance who frequently threw
loud parties.
On top of all of that, some tenants griped that Greene failed to reach out to them to
apologize or take responsibility for the fire, though her landlord said she was welcome back
at the property.
In 2016, TMZ reported that Greene had reached a settlement with Mayorga for an undisclosed
amount.
In 1987, a car that Matthew Broderick was driving in Ireland crashed head-on with another
car, killing two people: Anna Gallagher, 30; and her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63.
Broderick spent about a month in the hospital for various injuries, but ultimately walked
away from the accident with a $175 fine.
The initial charge of reckless driving was reduced to careless driving.
At the time, the husband of Gallagher referred to the verdict as a travesty of justice.
Fifteen years after the crash, the New York Post reported that Broderick was open to meeting
with the family members of the accident victims, who seemed ready to forgive and move on.
Martin Doherty told the Post:
"He didn't kill my mother and sister deliberately.
There were strong feelings at the time, but I have since forgiven him and feel no anger
toward him."
A spokesperson for Broderick added:
"Matthew is willing to meet up with them.
There is no ill will, not any sort of anger.
The family is seeking some sort of closure."
Unfortunately, it's unclear if the meeting ever took place, considering Doherty told
The Impartial Reporter in 2012 that he had never ever had any contact [with Broderick]
over the years.
Still, Doherty reiterated at the time that he had forgiven what Broderick had done, insisting
that he recognized that what happened was an accident.
2007 was the year that Britney Spears' off-beat behavior stopped being a laughing matter.
The Disney star-turned-pop princess went through a very public breakdown, ditching rehab and
shaving her head in front of the paparazzi.
Spears, whose image was said to be meticulously controlled by her record label, seemed to
have finally snapped.
It became abundantly clear that she was dealing with some serious mental health issues, the
early signs of which had been showing for a few years.
In 2004, Spears shocked the world when she married high school friend Jason Alexander
in Las Vegas.
She flew Alexander out in a private jet and they decided to hit a local chapel on a whim,
sending the singer's team into panic mode.
Her manager, Larry Rudolph, arranged for a top Vegas lawyer to draw up annulment papers,
which, according to Rolling Stone, stated,
"[Spears] lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing
to the marriage."
Alexander, however, disagreed.
According to him, Spears' team only flipped out because the two hadn't signed a prenup,
but he also claimed he wasn't in it for the money.
In fact, Alexander told ABC News he was in love with Spears and believed she felt the
same.
He said:
"That was probably the hardest part about it.
I had obviously got my feelings involved."
The marriage lasted just 55 hours, and Alexander had to fly back to Louisiana in coach.
2007 wasn't a good year for Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea, not least because the former wrestler's
son was responsible for a horrendous car crash that caused permanent brain damage to his
friend.
Nick Bollea crashed his Toyota Supra straight into a palm tree while allegedly driving under
the influence, leaving his passenger, Iraq war veteran John Graziano in a minimally conscious
state.
Graziano now needs around-the-clock care from relatives.
"Do you ever see him?"
"Um, I've reached out and tried but at this point I'm not allowed to visit John."
Eyewitnesses say that Bollea was racing against a Dodge Viper when he lost control of his
vehicle.
The celebrity pleaded no contest to reckless driving with serious bodily injury and spent
around six months behind bars.
He was granted early probation release in 2012, which came as a double blow to Graziano's
mother, as she had just lost another kid in a car accident.
In a statement, Graziano's lawyer said:
"It is typical of the Bollea family to plan something like this around one of the worst
tragedies of Debra Graziano's life, the death of her son Mike."
Bollea didn't do himself any favors when he started talking about how much money he could
make from a reality show during jail phone calls with his dad, which were later released
to the public.
Bollea insisted that he deeply regretted those words when he appeared on Good Morning America
to discuss the accident, though Graziano's lawyer claimed that Bollea had shown no real
remorse for his actions.
Though O.J. Simpson was acquitted in criminal court of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson
and Ronald Goldman, Simpson lost a civil suit brought by the Goldman family, which resulted
in Simpson owing them $33.5 million dollars.
Speaking to CNBC 20 years after the criminal trial, Goldman's sister, Kim, said the civil
suit was a victory in that a jury had finally found O.J. liable for the murders.
But she also said the family had endured a decades-long battle to get Simpson to pay
it.
With interest, that award totaled more than $40 million by 2014.
Kim said:
"We've collected less than one percent of that."
The Goldmans did receive a relatively small portion of their award after a bankruptcy
judge gave them the rights to a ghost-authored book about the murders, which was titled,
If I Did It.
Though O.J. claims he was not involved in the writing of the book, he was paid for it
and even conducted a promotional interview in which he recounted a hypothetical narrative
of the murder.
Simpson was later convicted of another crime: an armed robbery, and he was sentenced to
33 years in prison.
He served nine before being released on parole in 2017, whereupon the Goldman family expressed
their disappointment with his release.
Calling Simpson's nine years behind bars a "reprieve" for the family, both Kim Goldman
and her father vowed to continue pursuing the civil settlement against Simpson in order
to get some satisfaction of justice.
What's it like to live next door to Justin Bieber?
Well, if you answered "horrible, terrifying and life-ruining," you'd be pretty much on
the money.
At least, that's what two former neighbors claimed in a 2015 lawsuit.
Jeffrey and Suzanne Schwartz alleged the "Sorry" singer and his bodyguards had:
"...repeatedly harassed them and their family, vandalized their house with eggs and threatened
them with anti-Semitic remarks."
Equally awful were allegations that Bieber spat in Jeffrey's face after Jeffrey told
the pop prince he was driving his Ferrari too fast through the streets of their gated
community in Calabasas, California.
As you'd probably guess from the suit itself, the Schwartzes have a pretty rough history
with Bieber.
In 2014, Bieber pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor vandalism charge stemming from an incident
in which he allegedly threw a dozen eggs at the Schwartz's mansion.
He was ordered to pay $80,900 restitution and stay 100 yards away from the family, and
was also sentenced to two years' probation.
The lawsuit alleged that the Schwartz family was subjected to constant harassment by Bieber's
entourage, fans, and the media after the story broke.
Laura Bush was still trying to come to terms with the fatal car crash that had been haunting
her for years when her husband decided to run for president.
Speculation about the mysterious accident was rife during George W. Bush's first campaign,
and the subject remained taboo during his two terms as president, with members of the
press reportedly discouraged from asking about it.
In 2010, the year after her husband left office, Laura Bush released a book that went into
detail about the collision that claimed the life of her school-mate.
In November 1963, a 17-year-old Bush ran a stop sign in her father's Chevy Impala.
She and a friend were in a hurry to get to a drive-in theater, and the future First Lady
didn't see the approaching Corvair sedan, driven by Michael Dutton Douglas, the local
high school's star athlete and, according to some sources, a former flame of Bush.
At the time, Bush was traveling at 50 miles per hour, and the impact was devastating.
Douglas' smaller, lighter car ended up some 50 feet from the road, and his neck was broken
in the accident.
In her book, Bush revealed:
"I lost my faith that November, lost it for many, many years.
It was the first time that I had prayed to God for something...The only answer was the
sound of Mrs. Douglas' sobs on the other side of that thin emergency room curtain."
"And I learned the hard way that there are those kind of tragedies that you can't do
anything about ever, that you can't change no matter how much you might want to."
One of the most influential figures in entertainment history, Phil Spector became famous in the
1960s for creating the so-called Wall of Sound and producing legendary pop music acts such
as the Ronettes, the Crystals, the Righteous Brothers, and the Beatles, including John
Lennon and George Harrison as solo artists.
His influence, music experts have said, carries well beyond those collaborations.
After spending many decades away from public scrutiny, Spector became infamous for the
death of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
Authorities found Clarkson dead at Spector's mansion in Alhambra, California.
She was slumped in a chair in the foyer having sustained a fatal gunshot wound through the
roof of her mouth.
At the time of her death, Clarkson was 40 years old.
After a mistrial, Spector was sentenced to the maximum 19 years-to-life for Clarkson's
murder in 2009.
He is eligible for parole in 2028, when he will be 88 years old.
During the trial, the prosecutor called Spector:
"A very dangerous man who has a history of playing Russian roulette with women, six women.
Lana just happened to be the sixth."
In a statement issued on behalf of her family, Clarkson's mother said:
"All of our plans together are destroyed.
Now, I can only visit her at the cemetery."
As lead singer of metal legends Motley Crue, Vince Neil was already getting a whole heap
of national attention when disaster struck in 1984.
In December of that year, Neil caused an automobile accident that claimed the life of his friend
Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley of the band Hanoi Rocks, and severely injured two others in
the second car involved.
Neil, who was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DUI, served only a portion of the 30-day
sentence given in 1985.
He also paid a total of $3 million to the victims, saying later:
"I bought my way out of jail."
With Dingley in the passenger seat, Neil was driving home from a liquor store in Redondo
Beach, California when he collided head-on with a Volkswagen.
Driver Daniel Smithers, 20, and passenger Lisa Hogan, 18, sustained severe head injuries.
Investigators said Neil, who sustained only minor injuries, had a blood-alcohol count
of point-one-seven, while point-one-zero was the legal limit.
Neil's reputation recovered, however, Motley Crue's popularity skyrocketed, and the band
made it a point to come out publicly against driving while drunk.
Still, Neil has had other brushes with the law since, including additional arrests for
DUI.
John Landis is the director responsible for films such as Blues Brothers, Animal House,
Trading Places and Coming to America.
And in 1982, his career nearly ended at its height when star Vic Morrow and two child
actors were killed in an accident while filming the Twilight Zone movie.
A helicopter careened out of control after a special-effects mishap, crushing one actor
and decapitating another.
"It was all over.
We just started spinning, went around in circles about one and a half times or something, and
then river bed."
A jury found Landis and other filmmakers not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 1987,
though Landis admitted on the stand that he violated labor laws when he illegally hired
the two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Lee and 6-year-old Renee Chen.
Furthermore, a book about the trial alleged Landis to be reckless and dangerous on the
set, and insisted that prosecutors messed up by not charging Landis and others with
violating those child labor laws in the first place.
Landis also paid $2 million to each of the children's families to settle civil actions.
Morrow's children had agreed to an earlier settlement shortly after the accident.
Mike Anderson worked for years as Lance Armstrong's personal assistant, bike mechanic, and general
gopher, allegedly under a single agreement: that, after Armstrong was finished competing,
he and Anderson would partner to open a bike shop.
But Anderson's dream became a waking nightmare after Armstrong allegedly fired him for questioning
a no-questions-asked policy regarding the champion cyclist's controversial performance
tactics.
Telling his story in a piece for Outside Magazine, Anderson claimed Armstrong backed out of the
bike shop agreement after he refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
That agreement supposedly would have made Anderson financially responsible for a large
sum if he mentioned ever having worked for Armstrong.
Anderson claims the cycling icon went on the offensive, allegedly launching a media and
legal blitz against Anderson in a supposed attempt to ruin his reputation.
Things got so vicious, Anderson said he had to flee to New Zealand to start his life over.
It's obviously easy to see the harm he's done to himself over the years, but what about
all of the others that actor Charlie Sheen has put in harm's way because of his own reckless
actions?
Sheen did a noble thing in November 2015 when he revealed that he was HIV positive on NBC's
Today Show.
Sheen said he had been living with an HIV diagnosis for about four years, and had paid
upward of $10 million in hush money to various alleged blackmailers in order to keep it a
secret from the public.
"Are you still paying some of these people?"
"Um, not after today I'm not."
However, he also kept the secret from many of his sexual partners, and while Sheen has
maintained that precautions were taken, for him to keep partners in the dark about his
own status was dangerous to them and damning to Sheen's character.
Radar Online reported that a woman who claimed to be Sheen's madam said he could have put
as many as 20 sex workers at risk because of his behavior.
The madam said she had been in contact with several panic-stricken workers uncertain about
their health status thanks to Sheen, and that he lied about disclosing he had HIV to his
partners.
The anonymous madam explained:
"He could have privately called and told the partners that he had HIV or he could have
told me at some point and given me the opportunity to make an educated decision from a point
of full disclosure as to whether or not I wanted to do business with him!"
On February 7th 2015, just a few short months before her monumental coming out, Caitlyn
Jenner was involved in a fatal accident on the Pacific Coast Highway that left a woman
dead.
According to reports, 70-year-old Kimberly Howe was driving her Lexus sedan when a Prius
driven by Jessica Steindorff suddenly stopped.
Howe hit her brakes, only to be rear-ended by Jenner's car.
Howe's Lexus was pushed into oncoming traffic, and she was killed on impact when her vehicle
was struck by a Hummer.
Jenner did not face charges for the accident.
In court documents, the Los Angeles district attorney said there was not enough evidence
to prove that her "conduct was unreasonable" behind the wheel, but the former Olympic gold
medalist was still slapped with three separate lawsuits.
Jenner settled with Steindorff in December 2015, and a month later, she settled with
the step-children of the deceased Howe.
A third lawsuit, from the family who was driving the Hummer, resulted in Jenner eventually
agreeing to pay an $800,000 settlement in 2018.
Jenner has since expressed her "heartfelt and deepest sympathies" to the victim's family.
The reality star blamed the paparazzi for distracting her in the moments leading up
to the fatal crash and filed a lawsuit claiming she was being stalked at the time of the crash.
Before he rose to fame, Mark Wahlberg was a notable delinquent on the streets of Boston.
In 1986, the future Funky Bunch rapper was slapped with a civil rights injunction after
two separate incidents in which he hurled both rocks and racist terms at an African-American
schoolboy.
The injunction warned Wahlberg that if he racially harassed someone again, he'd go to
jail.
On April 8th 1998, Thanh Lam was getting out of his car when Wahlberg approached him while
carrying a large wooden stick.
According to the police report, Wahlberg insulted Lam based on his ethnic heritage, before knocking
him unconscious with the stick.
When Wahlberg was arrested later that night and brought back to the scene, he boasted
to police:
"You don't have to let [Lam] identify me, I'll tell you now that's the motherf---er
whose head I split open."
It doesn't end there, though.
Somehow, Wahlberg fled the scene and attacked another Vietnamese man by punching him in
the eye.
After the police caught him again, Wahlberg reportedly made several racial slurs about
his victims.
In 2014, Wahlberg requested a pardon for his criminal behavior, but later dropped the request
after it spurred unwanted media attention about his past.
In 2016, he expressed regret for applying for the pardon, but conceded it did give him
an opportunity to meet and apologize to one of his victims.
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