Sabotage is the blackest of black arts, and many entertainers are highly skilled at the
craft. From ousting stars from the franchises they
helped create to deleting their competitor's Instas, here's an illustrious lineup of celebs
who hijacked, undermined, derailed, and in some cases, destroyed another star's career.
​Iced out by Iron Man
Fans of the Iron Man franchise probably remember that it was Terrence Howard who originally
had the role of Colonel James Rhodes, only to be replaced by Don Cheadle in subsequent
movies. According to Howard, it was Tony Stark himself who ensured Howard didn't return for
Iron Man 2.
During a 2013 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Howard was all-too happy
to explain why he hadn't continued playing the role he originated, claiming he was ousted
from further installments of the franchise due to shady business on the part of the film's
star.
"The person that helped become Iron Man… took the money that was supposed to go to
me and pushed me out."
Howard claimed he'd inked a three-picture deal before the film went into production.
After the first film proved a massive hit, producers allegedly changed their tune.
"They came to me with the second, saying, look, we will pay you ⅛ of what we contractually
had for you, because we think the 2nd one would be successful with or without you."
Howard allegedly tried to call Robert Downey, Jr., but said the Iron Man star didn't call
him back for three months. "Two words for that: messy boots."
So not cute
Internet "influencers" Lele Pons and Amanda Cerny were the bestest of BFFs back in 2016,
until Cerny allegedly caught Pons deleting all her popular Instagram posts in an attempt
to sabotage Cerny's career.
Cerny revealed it all in a post she wrote for The Dirty:
"I began to notice my photos being deleted, my videos being deleted and my account being
put on private so no one could follow me."
Then, she allegedly saw Pons messing with her phone at a party. A confrontation was
inevitable. Cerny continued, writing:
"I asked her face-to-face and she looked like she was lying and I demanded the truth from
her. She admitted to it all."
Not-so-smooth sailing
Jax Taylor and Stassi Schroeder of Vanderpump Rules had a pretty rough relationship. According
to an interview Taylor gave with The Daily Dish about his relationship with Schroeder:
"She's broken some cell phones. She smashed my face with a tennis racket. She keyed my
car."
But according to Taylor, Schroeder's crowning achievement was when she sabotaged one of
Taylor's modeling gigs. He recalled that he booked a modeling job for Carnival cruises,
but Schroeder wasn't having it. Once she learned another woman was part of the picture, Taylor
claims Schroeder took matters into her own jealous hands. Taylor recounted:
"She called up the client the night before or got on the email and said, 'He's not doing
this job, it's with a girl.'" According to Taylor, he had absolutely no
idea Schroeder had effectively meddled with his career until waking the next morning when
the gig had been unceremoniously canceled. He told The Daily Dish:
"They're like, 'Yeah we found somebody else.' The client's like, I don't need this drama.
I don't need your girlfriend emailing me.'"
In Schroeder's defense, those Carnival commercials are pretty racy. As for Schroeder's future
flames? "Good luck. And I hope you have thick skin."
Transformers: Retaliation
One surefire way to sabotage someone's career? Brand them insufferable, unreliable, or otherwise
undesirable. Megan Fox maintains that Michael Bay had a vendetta against her after she called
him out to Wonderland magazine while promoting Jennifer's Body in 2009. She told the publication:
"He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad man reputation.
He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for."
Well, that was never going to go well. Bay reportedly retaliated by having Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen crew members besmirch Fox in an open letter that referred to her
as:
"Ms. Sourpants"
"a p0rn star," and
"dumb-as-a-rock"
...among slightly more colorful language. Fox was summarily replaced in the Transformer
films by model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Fox acknowledged her comment was unwise and
says being fired by Bay led to the darkest phase of her life thus far. She told Cosmopolitan
UK in 2017:
"It hurt me and a lot of other people. However, that darkness that descended caused enormous
and brisk spiritual growth."
According to Fox, her treatment is a symptom of a larger problem in the industry.
"There's not a lot of concern for what's right for individuals."
One bitter divorce
In 1996, actress Sondra Locke walked out of a courtroom with a handsome sum of money after
settling a fraud suit against her ex-husband and former co-star Clint Eastwood, who Locke
had accused of deliberately sabotaging her career.
So how, exactly, did Eastwood try to maim his ex-wife's career? Locke alleges Eastwood
convinced her to drop a palimony suit in 1989 in exchange for a lucrative three-year development
deal at Warner Bros. But the studio reportedly kept rejecting every single one of her pitches,
and she pitched more than 30. That's because the 1.5 million dollar deal was allegedly
bogus and Eastwood had financed the whole thing.
As to how much she was ultimately compensated, the Los Angeles Times reported Locke noted:
"I don't have to worry about working."
That's something, at least.
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