In Hollywood, your life can change in the blink of an eye.
Depending on how you play your cards, you can become celebrity royalty...or yesterday's
tabloid fodder.
While some stars successfully stage comebacks, others aren't so lucky.
Let's look at some celebs who destroyed their careers this past decade.
Charlie Sheen was once at the very top of the show business game.
A Hollywood heavyweight known for appearances in high-profile films like Wall Street, Sheen
eventually settled for a regular stint on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.
That proved to be a smart move financially, as he became one of the highest-paid actors
on TV, taking home more than a million dollars for each episode of the show.
But in 2011, Sheen was fired from the series, and for a truly depressing reason.
Reportedly, producers behind the show were so concerned about Sheen's cocaine usage and
self-destructive behavior that they thought he might actually die.
And then there was his penchant for bizarre rants.
"When was the last time you used?"
"Used?
Used?
I use a blender.
I use a vacuum cleaner.
I use, you know, household items."
Sheen's spiral was highly-publicized, but the bad news didn't stop with his Tiger Blood
phase.
Years later, in 2015, it was revealed that the actor had been diagnosed with HIV.
Announcing his health status on Today, Sheen said,
"I think I released myself from this prison today."
Nowadays, Sheen prefers to fly under the radar.
In a 2019 interview with the British morning talk show Loose Women, he explained that he'd
been sober for over a year.
And while he didn't have any film to promote, he certainly had his reasons for being there.
"I'm promoting a sense of nobility and a return to a more innocent place."
Here's hoping for a proper comeback.
Lindsay Lohan's downward spiral is certainly no secret.
But a failed attempt at rebranding herself seems to have been the final nail in the coffin,
career-wise.
In 2013, the notorious party animal decided to change her ways, by seeking help from Oprah
Winfrey.
Lohan would be followed by Winfrey's cameras for a docuseries that showcased the actress
jump starting her career and regaining her sobriety.
But it turned out to be a total bust.
According to the Daily Mail:
"Insiders say Oprah [was] livid with Lindsay...for her behavior on the shows and for leaks of
trashy stories about the show."
After disappearing from the limelight for awhile, Lohan suddenly resurfaced in 2018
and gave an interview to The New York Times.
As the author noted, Lohan was dividing her time between Dubai and Mykonos where she opened
up her own club, Lohan's Beach House.
The Mean Girls star even got back into the TV world with the reality show Lindsay Lohan's
Beach Club.
"Are you ready?
To work for me, you have to be the best of the best."
"I'm so nervous to see how Lindsay is as a boss!"
Well, that show was canceled, too.
And to make matters worse, Lohan eventually lost the actual beach club, with TMZ reporting
in June 2019 that the space looked like a ghost town.
Lohan certainly didn't help matters with her bizarre Instagram meltdown in 2018, which
saw her following a family in Moscow and accusing them of trafficking their children.
The result?
A swift punch in the face.
Louis C.K.'s massive fall from grace shocked the masses.
On November 9th, 2017, The New York Times published a damning report in which five women
accused the comedian of sexual misconduct.
In light of the unnerving article, the New York premiere of C.K.'s movie I Love You,
Daddy was canceled.
Only then did the comedian fess up.
In a statement, he admitted:
"These stories are true...The power I had over these women is that they admired me...There
is nothing about this that I forgive myself for.
And I have to reconcile it with who I am."
Just like that, he seemingly disappeared from the public eye.
But in November 2019, it was announced that C.K. would be embarking on a world tour.
As CNBC reports, it wasn't his first performance since the sexual misconduct scandal, but it
was undoubtedly his biggest.
As of the making of this video, it's not clear whether C.K.'s tour will ultimately be a success,
but we're confident that his past indiscretions won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Celeb chef Paula Deen was fired from her job on the Food Network after some disturbing
allegations were revealed to the masses.
As Fox News reports, a former employee filed a $1.2 million lawsuit in May 2013, alleging
that, Deen had used a racial slur, the N-word, at one of her restaurants.
It gets worse.
In the same article, Fox News revealed that,
"In the deposition, Deen replied 'Yes, of course,' when asked if she used the N-word."
She recalled using the racial slur while being robbed at gunpoint, along with a few other
times, although she didn't specify exactly when those incidents occurred.
After the report surfaced, the Food Network dropped both of Deen's shows.
To make matters worse, she was a no-show for her Today interview that same day.
She then proceeded to post a video in which she voiced her regrets.
"I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I've done."
She goes on to say,
"I want to learn and grow from this.
Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable."
All these years later, it seems like people still haven't forgotten or forgiven Deen's
wrongdoings: Her restaurants keep closing left and right.
"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
Perhaps Azealia Banks should pay attention to that age-old adage.
It's safe to say the singer and rapper is wildly outspoken at the best of times.
Rising to fame in 2011 on the heels of her radio banger "212," the rapper decided to
pick way too many fights with her industry peers.
Taking to social media, Banks scrapped with Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Rihanna, and Lana Del
Rey, to name just a few.
This nasty habit led Vulture to wonder,
"Has Azealia Banks Trolled Her Way Out of a Career?"
In 2016, Banks made her most controversial tirade, and it cost her at least one major
career opportunity.
She attacked Zayn Malik in a homophobic and racist rant.
In a series of since-deleted tweets, she wrote:
"dude, I make better music than you.
Simmer down with that fake white boy rebellion and that wannabe Bieber swag."
And that's basically the only part of her tweetstorm that we can say out loud!
Banks lost more than a few fans and eventually issued a full apology to the former One Direction
member.
It was too late, however, as her Twitter account was suspended and she was fully dropped from
a UK festival line-up.
And how is her career going these days?
Well, in 2019, she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post:
"[I'm] not ever going to release music again...I’m entirely too good for 3/4 of the public."
Some people never learn from past mistakes.
Amanda Bynes was a teenage "It" girl.
She began her acting career at the tender age of ten, and seemed well on her way to
becoming a Hollywood A-lister.
But in 2010, she abruptly announced her retirement on Twitter, writing:
"I don't love acting anymore so I stopped doing it...I know 24 is a young age to retire
but you heard it here first."
Then the trouble started.
In April 2012, she was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence.
The following year, Fox News reported that,
"A judge...granted Amanda Bynes' mother a temporary conservatorship over the former
child actress...Lynn Bynes will also have control over her daughter's finances."
There was even more legal trouble in May 2013:
"Police claim she threw a bong out of her 36-story apartment window in New York."
In 2014, CBS News revealed that,
"Amanda Bynes [was] hospitalized after displaying increasingly erratic and bizarre behavior."
Bynes resurfaced in an interview with Paper in 2018 and opened up about her struggles
with mental health and self-esteem.
The former child star noted that things started to turn sour during the premiere of her last
movie, Easy A. As she explained it:
"I literally couldn't stand my appearance in that movie and I didn't like my performance.
I was absolutely convinced I needed to stop acting after seeing it."
In October 2019, Bynes unfortunately relapsed and began living in a sober living home.
We sincerely hope she'll come back soon, stronger than ever.
Ja Rule arguably damaged his career by getting involved on the wrong side of a huge scam:
Namely, the infamous Fyre Festival.
The Bahamas-based music fest was backed by Ja Rule and spearheaded by an ambitious scammer
named Billy McFarland in early 2016.
"A young tech entrepreneur and a hip-hop mogul come together and create something incredible."
Although the island had an inadequate transportation system, as well as a lack of potable water
and sewage lines, the project quickly moved forward.
By January 2017, the now-infamous Fyre teaser was released, featuring numerous top models
glamming it up.
Acts like Disclosure and Blink-182 joined the lineup.
Countless influencers advertised the event on social media and offered discount codes.
It quickly became an insanely buzzworthy event.
Some guests reportedly paid upwards of $12,000 for a ticket, but they were in for quite the
heinous surprise once arriving at the so-called festival.
As The New York Post reports,
"They were greeted to chaos: disaster-relief-like tents, aggressive security, [and] scant electricity
and water."
Needless to say, the festival was canceled.
Ja Rule took to Twitter and denied knowingly taking part in the scam, but fans were understandably
outraged.
What's worse, both he and McFarland were bombarded with class-action lawsuits.
In January 2019, after two documentaries were made about the disastrous festival, Ja Rule
decided to speak out, claiming that he was also a victim of McFarland's scam.
He got off the hook for a $100 million lawsuit…but after this highly-publicized disaster, his
reputation has certainly seen better days.
Teen Mom star Amber Portwood has definitely had her fair share of publicity over the years,
ever since she gave birth on MTV's 16 and Pregnant back in 2009.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the press hasn't been all that positive.
In July 2019, Radar Online reported that the reality TV star had been arrested and taken
into custody on felony domestic battery charges.
It wasn't the first time she'd had trouble with the law: In 2012, she served 16 months
for drug charges.
Suddenly, things got worse for Portwood.
"You know, I kinda grew up kinda rough, and I had a really bad anger problem."
According to TMZ, prosecutors charged the television personality with a number of alleged
crimes: Domestic battery of her partner Andrew Glennon.
Criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, allegedly, a machete of all things.
And domestic battery in the presence of a child, their then-1-year-old son, James.
As Glennon filed documents seeking custody of their toddler, Portwood denied these claims.
"Well, he keeps telling all the tabloids, 'Well, it's up to her.'
Do you not understand what you're doing right now?"
By the end of October 2019, Portwood reportedly received a plea deal, and a source told Us
Weekly that
"[She'll] receive one felony charge for the incident and she will also be on probation
for one year."
Since then, Portwood has kept a low profile, announcing on Instagram that she would be
taking a break from social media.
That really might be for the best.
Right-wing pundit Bill O'Reilly was fired in 2017 after hosting The O'Reilly Factor
for 21 years on Fox News.
According to The New York Times, the shamed news anchor was ousted for a truly dismal
reason: Reportedly, either O'Reilly or higher-ups at 21st Century Fox had given payouts to five
different women.
As The New York Times reported,
"[The alleged payouts were] in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak
about their accusations against him.
The agreements totaled about $13 million."
According to Variety,
"[The women accused O'Reilly of] verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and [making
obscene] phone calls."
As a result, loads of advertisers pulled their support from The O'Reilly Factor.
O'Reilly gave his final broadcast on April 11th, 2017…and the disgraced anchor returned
to work on his podcast No Spin News on April 24th.
During the segment, he said:
"That I'm very confident the truth will come out."
He went on to say:
"When it does, I don't know if you're going to be surprised, but I think you're going
to be shaken."
All these years later, we remain decidedly unshook by any new revelations.
Aaron Hernandez was a football star with an incredibly promising career.
According to Sports Illustrated, the tight end skipped his senior year at the University
of Florida in 2010 to enter the NFL draft, and was picked up by the New England Patriots
in the fourth round.
In 2012, Hernandez signed a whopping $40 million, five-year contract with the team, cementing
his status as a top-tier NFL heavyweight.
But on June 26th, 2013, Hernandez was arrested in connection with the killing of 27-year-old
semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd.
According to USA Today, he was charged with the murder that same day.
District attorney William McCauley reportedly told the courtroom,
"[Hernandez] drove the victim to that remote spot, and then he orchestrated the execution."
The Patriots released the player less than two hours after he was led from his home in
handcuffs.
In April 2017, Hernandez was found dead in prison.
As CNN reports,
"The 27-year-old...hanged himself with a bedsheet attached to a window in his cell."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.