It’s a story that’s repeated itself ever since the idea of “celebrity” took hold in popular culture.
People get ridiculously famous and wealthy, they have it all, and then they have a huge fall from grace because they are self-destructive and have too many problems.
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about celebrities who tanked their own careers.
1. That’s really bad.
“Cee-lo… he said there was nothing wrong with spiking womens’ drinks…
AND posted on Twitter that it doesn’t count as rape if she was asleep and couldn’t say no.
I haven’t heard from Cee-lo in a while, so….
2. Wanted out of the spotlight.
“Macaulay Culkin. And honestly I think its a good story.
He was just tired of being a child star and wanted a normal life. while some people make fun of how he looks now he’s just living life and having fun.
he has a band called Pizza Underground where they sing about pizza and tell jokes. I just think its good to see some of the celebrities that tanked but for good reasons.”
3. That’s sad.
“TJ Miller.
Dude had a brain tumor removed a while back, taking out part of his brain and then he got arrested for calling in a fake bomb threat in 2018.
Absolutely nuked his career.
4. X Gon’ Give It To Ya
DMX. He was huge in the 90s and early 2000s with multiple top albums and songs on the billboard rap charts. He had trouble with the law (guns, drugs, animal cruelty) his whole life. In 2004 though, he was supposed to catch a flight from JFK to a concert where he was performing.
He never made it to the plane. Instead, he got super high on crack, pulled a random guy out of his car in the parking lot, claimed to be a federal agent, and stole the guy’s car.
He left behind his own (far more expensive) vehicle.
5. He was a big star.
“OJ Simpson.
No explanation needed.”
6. A big scandal.
“Jerry Lee Lewis, arguably one of the founders of rock and roll, managed to completely destroy his career just by getting married.
Oh btw he married his first cousin (once removed).
She was 13, he was 22. It was his third marriage, of an eventual seven. This one lasted 13 years until she filled for divorce citing that she had been “subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable.””
7. Remember this?
“Never forget when Ashlee Simpson got caught lip-synching on Saturday Night Live and tried to blame it on her band.”
8. Blaming the parents.
“Lindsay Lohan, anyone?
I wonder what her life would have been like had her parents not been so fucking awful.
Dina and Michael Lohan were like stage parents on steroids.”
9. Ouch…
“Lena Dunham.
And she dragged quite a bit of Girls cast down with her (drugs, hard time getting other gigs, etc). Girl basically had a career funded and served to her on a silver platter, and couldn’t keep her mouth shut, be self-aware for two seconds at a time, or stay away from drugs.
She’s Hannah Horvac in real life. She literally wrote and played herself – I don’t think she anticipated people thinking it was parody or cringe-humor. I think she just went along with it and slowly it ate away at her.”
10. Pretty much the end of him.
“Michael Richards. Played one of the most iconic TV comedy roles as Kramer on Seinfeld
Post-Seinfeld during a stand-up routine fans were taunting him and he went on a racially-charged rant dropping the N word. It was recorded and his career was absolutely toast after that.”
11. That Carter person…
“AARON CARTER!!!!!!!!!!
Made a threat to kill brother and sister in law, which resulted in a restraining order, got a HUGE face tattoo, also got a womans name tattooed on his eyebrow, sends his revolving door of cam girl exs to jail, claiming they assaulted him. Was posting pregnancy pic with one girl Monday, had a new gf by Wednesday. Suspect drug use!”
12. A bizarre story.
“Jussie Smollett.
That was so stupid, I don’t even know what he was thinking, the fact that he wore the noose around his neck until the police got there.”
13. Total creep.
“Jared from subway for…you know…”
14. Hard to deal with.
“Katherine Heigl is famous for being a massive bitch who no one wants to work with. I think she managed to piss off everyone in Grey’s Anatomy so they wrote her character off.
Same with the entire cast of Knocked Up. She went from being huge in 2007-08 to being a ghost now.”
15. Left for a good reason.
“Rick Moranis. The guy from Ghostbusters, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Spaceballs, etc.
Not because he did anything wrong. He left Hollywood and let his career die because his wife died from cancer and he decided to focus on raising his kids.
Stand-up guy, hope he’s doing well.”
Those sure are some pretty sad stories…
And remember, even when it looks like someone has it all, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that none of us know about.
Do you have any other celebrities to add to this list?
If so, please share with us in the comments!
