Burning down a mansion, the Hulkster's big payday, and Marky Mark's bad vibrations.
They may have been newsworthy at the time, but there are plenty of celebrity scandals
that everyone forgot even happened.
Though Ashton Kutcher has unquestionably done good work with his efforts in helping law
enforcement identify thousands of trafficking victims, his character wasn't always highly
regarded by the press, especially when rumors of his infidelity against then-wife Demi Moore
graced national headlines and sparked Moore's alleged mental breakdown.
In 2011, reports surfaced that Kutcher cheated on Moore with two girls in a hot tub on his
sixth wedding anniversary.
Actor Jon Cryer claimed one of the infamous women was his then-girlfriend.
Kutcher went on to divorce Moore and marry actor Mila Kunis, with the public seeming
to have forgotten about the alleged affair.
However, Kutcher joked about those infidelity rumors while accepting the Robert D. Ray Pillar
of Character Award for being an astounding role model.
During the 2017 speech, he mentioned the cheating allegations, and also gave a nod to the time
he was arrested for "felony burglary" after trying to break into his high school.
The year 2007 was the start of something new for "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens.
The then 18-year-old found her face plastered across tabloids when her nude photos leaked
online.
Tabloids love a good story about a Disney star gone bad, but the scandal was traumatic
for the Disney star.
If the sting of having the nation gawk at your barely legal nudes wasn't enough, Hudgens
had to endure the embarrassment of telling her mom and issuing an apology so Disney wouldn't
drop her from "High School Musical 3."
She told Glamour -
"That was just a really s----y situation that sucked.
That was by far the worst moment of my career."
Today, Hudgens has put the incident behind her and is these days better known for romping
around Coachella in flower crowns.
Mark Wahlberg should be a case study in how to rehab an image.
The former rapper transformed himself from violent, teenage criminal to an Oscar nominee,
restaurateur, and all-around adorable dude with a charming Boston accent.
The Mark Wahlberg of the 1980s wasn't nearly as endearing.
Before the young star rose to fame as Marky Mark, he had a hand in a string of violent
hate crimes and felonies.
The Daily Beast reported that the most violent occurred just weeks shy of his 17th birthday.
In 1988, Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder after striking a Vietnamese resident
in the head with a stick, knocking him unconscious and calling him racial slurs.
After fleeing the scene, Wahlberg was approached by a Vietnamese bystander, who he punched
in the eye, which left the man partially blind.
Wahlberg pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to two years in prison, but he only
served 45 days.
Since then, Wahlberg has apologized and petitioned for a criminal pardon.
"You know people have said because of my celebrity, my success that I'm basically waving that
magic wand.
But it's not about that, it's never been about that I've been committed to turning my life
around."
He has lasered off most of the tattoos he associated with his troubled youth, and he's
aligned himself with sappy, family comedies such as "Daddy's Home."
With disgustingly charming roles in heart-melting rom-coms, it's almost impossible to imagine
Hugh Grant as the kind of guy who'd pick up a sex worker, but it became a reality in the
summer of 1995.
Grant paid one $60 for oral sex and was promptly arrested.
Though he apologized to the public and longtime girlfriend Liz Hurley, his mugshot was plastered
across every tabloid.
To make matters worse, the sex worker spilled the beans about their back-alley romp, claiming
to The Guardian that Grant told her about his desire to sleep with a Black woman.
On the legal side, Grant's issues were short-lived.
He had to pay a $1,000 fine.
It's his image that would momentarily suffer, but Grant simply went on TV, admitted his
faults, and that was that.
"I think you know in life, uh, pretty much what's a good thing to do and what's a bad
thing, and um, I did a bad thing and there you have it."
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, who died tragically in a car wreck just weeks before her 31st
birthday, left behind a legacy for her work with the group TLC — one that most of us
forget includes felony arson.
In 1994, Lopes had a dispute with her then-boyfriend, football star Andre Rison.
When Rison attempted to leave, Lopes allegedly threw his shoes in a bathtub, lit them on
fire, and the mansion they were in burned to the ground.
Lopes turned herself into the police, was tried for felony arson, and received a $10,000
fine with five years' probation in a halfway house.
About a year later, Lopes and TLC filed for bankruptcy after being sued by Lloyd's of
London, the company that insured Rison's home.
TLC managed to claw its way back to the top, and after Lopes died, most of us forgot her
scandal all together.
TLC even launched a Kickstarter to crowdfund an album without Lopes, which raised more
than $400,000.
Former host of "The Late Show" David Letterman almost got away with a cheating scandal involving
a female staff member on his show.
We rarely hear about the affair these days, but it was once a topic that dominated headlines.
In the 2000s, Letterman had an inappropriate workplace romance with Stephanie Birkitt,
who was once an intern at "The Late Show," and who was also seeing CBS News producer
Robert Halderman at the time.
Meanwhile, Letterman was dating his now-wife Regina Lasko.
Halderman read about the affair in Birkitt's diary and set out to blackmail Letterman.
The producer wrote a screenplay about Letterman's workplace romances and offered to sell it
to the late night host for $2 million.
If Letterman didn't take him up on the offer, Halderman planned to release the scandal to
the public.
The TV personality contacted law enforcement, and they eventually busted Halderman for blackmail.
Unfortunately for Letterman, his cheating was further explored in an article from The
New York Post.
He later addressed the scandal during an episode of his talk show and in later interviews.
"I hurt a lot of people, I have nobody to blame but myself, I'm not looking to blame
anybody, I'm looking to find out why I behaved the way I behaved."
In 2008, Christian Bale's mother, Jenny James, and his sister, Sharon Bale, alleged he assaulted
them in a hotel.
Bale turned himself in to police and was arrested in connection with the incident.
Afterwards, the actor's representatives issued a statement to the Independent on his behalf
that stated -
"Mr. Bale, who denies the allegation, cooperated throughout, gave his account in full of the
events in question, and has left the station without any charge being made against him
by the police."
Prosecutors later determined that Bale would not face charges for the incident due to a
lack of evidence.
While there may not have been enough proof surrounding this alleged assault, there was
speculation about Bale's feud with his mother for years.
The mother and son reportedly made amends in 2019.
Bale made headlines for all the wrong reasons again after his angry rant on the set of "Terminator
Salvation" was caught on tape.
The actor could be heard yelling at the movie's director of photography, Shane Hurlbut, for
messing up a scene.
He later issued an apology during a radio interview for Los Angeles-based station KROQ,
saying -
"I was out of order beyond belief.
I make no excuses for it."
Justin Bieber was hit with a shocking allegation during the height of his career.
In 2011, a fan came forward to claim that he was the father of her child.
The accuser, Mariah Yeater, took the star to court and requested that he take a paternity
test and move forward with supporting the child.
Court documents detailed Yeater's recollection of her and Bieber's alleged encounter, in
which she claimed that the singer's bodyguard brought her backstage.
It was alleged that Yeater and Bieber later had sex in a bathroom.
A man by the name of Robert Powell claimed to be the real father of Yeater's child.
He came forward to allege she was looking for an opportunity to make money, telling
RumourFix -
"She just picked him because she thought he was famous and all and thought she could get
a lot of money by telling the magazine Justin was the father."
Bieber agreed to move forward with a paternity test, but Yeater ultimately dropped the lawsuit.
It seems that the pop star was able to make light of the situation because he later released
a song titled "Maria" about Yeater's allegations.
Former "Fashion Police" co-host Giuliana Rancic might have taken her banter too far when she
made controversial comments about Zendaya.
Rancic was critiquing one of the "Euphoria" actor's red carpet looks on an episode of
the show.
Zendaya wore her hair in faux locs, which Giuliana apparently didn't like, saying on
the show -
"I feel like she smells like patchouli oil... or weed."
Zendaya later took to Instagram to issue a statement regarding the TV personality's comments,
writing -
"My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive
light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough."
Rancic responded to Zendaya's statement with an apology she shared to Twitter.
She later issued a second apology during an E! News broadcast.
"I wanna say to Zendaya and anyone else out there that I have hurt, that I am so, so sincerely
sorry."
Zendaya took to Instagram once again to share that she accepted the star's apology and was
willing to move forward.
It seems that the world has forgotten about the club shooting that led to Jennifer Lopez
and Diddy's arrest in 1999.
The celebs were dating at the time and decided to enjoy a night out at a club in New York
when a fight broke out after Diddy reportedly bumped into another club goer's drink.
The conflict escalated and shots were eventually fired, some of which Diddy was allegedly responsible
for.
Three bystanders were wounded as a result of the shooting.
Later that same night, Diddy and Lopez were pulled over for a traffic violation.
They were then arrested after a stolen gun was found in the trunk of their car.
Lopez's jail stay was brief and Diddy was later acquitted, so it seems that this former
couple wasn't severely punished for their alleged crimes.
Still, the eventful night appeared to have a lasting impact because it led Diddy to change
his name, and he also shared in an interview with MTV News that he planned to take a leave
of absence during that time.
Celebrity news blog Gawker made a bold move that likely tarnished Hulk Hogan's reputation.
In 2012, the outlet posted an old clip of a sex tape involving Hogan and his friend's
wife.
As you might imagine, the former wrestler wasn't happy, and he filed a lawsuit against
Gawker.
His lawyers argued that the website's post was an invasion of privacy, while Gawker's
lawyers claimed that their decision was protected by the Constitution.
They also argued that Hogan's status as a celebrity leaves him with little protection.
Hogan received justice in the end and was awarded $115 million in damages.
This was quite the victory considering the fact that he only asked for $100 million.
Gawker later filed an appeal and reached a $31 million settlement with Hogan.
The pricey legal battle was still expensive enough to cause the site to shut down.
They made a brief comeback in July 2021 before announcing in February 2023 they would be
shutting down again.
Former "Seinfeld" star Michael Richards shouted racial slurs at audience members during a
stand-up gig in 2006.
The interaction took place after the comedian took the stage at Hollywood's Laugh Factory,
and video footage shared by TMZ documented the disturbing incident.
In the clip, Richards can be heard shouting racial slurs at an audience member, shocking
everyone in the crowd.
He reflected on the incident years later during an interview with Us Weekly, saying -
"I just lost my patience that night because people were heckling me and not letting me
work on my material and I lost my cool.
And it is what it is!
I've moved on."
The comedian also shared he questioned whether he was even a good fit for stand-up comedy
after his outburst.