Perhaps you grew up dreaming of being rich and famous. Hollywood stars seem to have it all. And celebrities have millions of fans around the world who love them, so how could they be unhappy? But the grass is always greener on the other side, and we often forget that there’s a darker side to the entertainment industry. Plus, it can be incredibly difficult to deal with any personal issues while the whole world is watching.
Redditors have been recalling some of the most tragic celebrity downfalls, so we’ve gathered their heartbreaking stories below. From stars that lost their battle with depression to talented artists who were absolutely destroyed by tabloids, these tales might make you extremely grateful for your quiet, private life.
Amanda Bynes. Child actor downfalls are sad because they’re victims of their environment and bad parents 🙁
ETA: there seems to be some debate on whether her parents were bad or not. IMO, they were terrible by exploiting her as a child and then didn’t protect her which led her to allegedly getting groomed by Dan Schneider.
Britney Spears she was having a mental breakdown and the whole world was beating her further down at the time it was sad to watch.
Jake Lloyd, I was reading into what happened to him after watching ‘Jingle all the Way’ and recognising him as a young Anakin Skywalker.
Apparently Hollywood and the Star Wars franchise in particular, really got to him, and he wound up being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. It’s a shame learning of these unfortunate stories concerning child actors; you can’t help but want to root for them, but the reality of their situation is often disappointing.
Edit: I hear what you guys are saying in regards to schizophrenia, and all the different reasons it could manifest in a person. I wasn’t suggesting that his role in Star Wars was the root cause of his psych history, just pointing out the correlation with young Hollywood actors and the decline in mental health they tend experience.
All the women who lost (or were blacklisted for years)their careers for saying no to Harvey weinstein. Ashley Judd, Courtney love, and selma hayak.
I’m not sure if this counts at all, since she wasn’t cancelled or anything, but Jennette McCurdy. She was a child actress, and the director she was working for was a creep. The work environment sucked. Her mom used her for money and treated her badly. She was even offered hush money, if she didn’t say anything about her experience at Nickelodeon. Yet, at least, before she wrote her book, people wrote about how she loved acting so much and that she’s always wanted to act blah blah blah. I remember seeing a kids book that talked all about Jennette McCurdy, and it said that. I wonder if it’s still around. Anyway, I’m glad she’s found a better job.
He hasn’t fallen, but knowing Bruce Willis is going to mentally deteriorate AT ALL made me really sad.
Anthony Bourdain.
That hurt the most. I honestly envied his life, I wanted to be him or to be what he showed everyday. Traveling around the world. Eating delicious food from all around the world. That was imo the absolute epitome of success. And it was so sad…seeing that it wasn’t enough…was absolutely earth-shattering for me.
Robin Williams…I have a mother with dementia and it’s terrifying and soul crushing to watch someone you love forget activities they used to love. Me and my sister have prepared for the worse but that doesn’t make it any easier.
Prion disease can eat a bag or richards ALONG with cancers!
Lindsay Lohan. She actually really has a ton of talent but who could grow up with those parents plus be a child actor and NOT have a huge downfall? She was doomed from the start.
Nicolas Cage, although that was self-inflicted. He owed a lot of money and had to make a bunch of low budget movies for years to make the money back. But he always gave a good effort, and some of those low budget movies, like Mandy and Pig, were pretty great. And after he played himself in Massive Talent, hes back doing studio movies, so hes good right now.
Amy Whinehouse.
I didn’t realise how little support she had and she was never the type of person to handle fame to well.
Such a talent but her Dad was a jerk and cared more about money. Plus the media just ambushed her. She never had a chance.
I didn’t know anything until I watched the documentary “Amy”. Highly recommend it.
Celine Dion’s forthcoming “downfall” is absolutely tragic. Woman loves to sing, adores her fans, and is eventually going to be unable to connect with said fans ever again due to a one-in-a-million disease.
If God is real, he has a sick sense of humor.
She’s doing well now, but Kristen Stewart around the whole cheating scandal. don’t get me wrong, she was wrong and I also felt bad for Robert Pattinson, but to take in the thing as a whole looking back on it, the way the media and her own fans treated her was horrendous. She was really young and the pressure to be a couple (if they even were) must’ve been immense. Especially when so much of the franchise that they were promoting depended on them “being in love” She lost roles because of it, which when you really think about it is ridiculous, how many men in Hollywood have had affairs and it not affect a thing about their work? Meanwhile the married, older director she had an affair with never seemed to get half the vitriol she did, the whole thing was just incredibly unfair.
Jennifer Lawrence
Everyone hated her for no reason.
Gets cast in Hunger games and all anyone talks about is her being to fat, even thought she is a skinny woman. She accuratly plays the quiet, shy PTSD victim the book described and everyone called her a bad actress.
she shows a charming personallity that feels more relatable (likes food, more honest anwsers, playful, doesn’t take herself too seriously) everyone loves her!
Then suddenly we all hate that about her, because…. she is too… relatable. now she must be faking it.
Fatty Arbuckle. Totally railroaded by a prosecutor who wanted to make a name for himself, finally acquitted after three trials, basically blacklisted by moralist dirtbags, and just as he was making his comeback he loses his life after a heart attack.
I haven’t seen this one yet so I’ll post on my own question:
Nikocado Avocado. I thought he was terrible until I saw his old videos and the young, gentle, friendly looking man he used to be, who had a pet bird on his shoulder and played violin and taught vegan recipes. Then after that I realized he wasn’t terrible, he was just a broken man blinded by fame.
I didn’t feel bad, but I was severely disappointed to learn that the great actor Kevin Spacey is an absolute creep.
Will smith clearly has a toxic marriage and is not handling it well. Chris Rock caught the anger he clearly has towards the situation. Will smith is not okay.
Probably unpopular opinion, but Kanye’s downfall has been hard to watch. He needs help and has needed help for a long time… instead people keep giving this dude air time for the views.
Martha Stewart. Only woman, only entrepreneur on NYSE board. Busted off to prison for some measly trading infraction. Guys steal billions and don’t ever even get sanctioned.
Mad respect for Martha.
Gary Coleman
Coleman was the highest-paid child actor on television throughout the late 1970s and 1980s making over 100K an episode on “Diff’ent Strokes”
But due to medication to treat a kidney disease he never made it past 4’8 which led to more health problems growing up. Plus his parents basically robbed him of his money until he was nearly penniless to the point he had to take a job as a mall security guard.
He was on his way to making a comeback, but died on life support after a major injury.
(Ex-wife pulled the pulled).
J.K. Rowling. She was an inspiration and the world she created was a huge part of so many people’s childhoods. Now she’s a blatant transphobe who uses her fame and influence to justify being a bigot. It’s really sad.
Dixie Chicks. They got caught up in political fodder that has been disproven.
Didn’t Chrtina Ricci get royally screwed over by her guardians. She was showing real promise after growing out the Wednesday Addams fame into things like ‘Black Snake Moan’ but I recall reading she had some bizarre foster parent or estranged parent / custodian situation which poisoned her career. Was glad to see her in ‘Matrix Resurrections’ despite loathing the film as a whole.
Janet Jackson after her Super Bowl mishap her career got ruined, and it wasn’t even her fault.
Katherine Heigl.
Even seeing her interviews, she really just stood up for herself and was demonized. I love everything she’s been in.
Al Franken – Put aside the politics, you have to admit he caught the business end of a tough break. Dismissed unceremoniously. Feel bad for how that situation went down and concluded.
Milli Vanilli. Basically did what all pop singers do now, only it was new when they were doing it. Also, they pretty much were conned into it by an evil music industry impresario who didn’t care about them.
To add insult to injury, you couldn’t even find the songs on streaming for years afterward, even though they were fairly decent late-80s pop, and massive hits at the time.
Hayden Christensen. I know he decided by himself to step away from acting, but all the hate was extremely harsh and undeserved.
Rick Moranis.
Guy is beloved everywhere, play in great movies then… his wife passes away. He stops everything to take care of his children full time.
a REAL hero.
I freakin’ love and respect the man.
George Michael. Brilliant but gay in a time it was not easy. Same with Freddie m.
Kevin Sorbo. Idolized the dude as Hercules / Dylan Hunt, but apparently one too many hits to the head made him the whackjob he is today.
I think he’s kinda in the middle of it still, but John Mulaney’s divorce, rehab, sudden kid after being clear he wasn’t interested in having children, and suspicious relationship timeline makes me sad. It’s by no means the worst situation ITT, but it stings a bit.
Brendan Fraser. So many health issues, getting assaulted, a horrible divorce etc. I’m glad he’s making a comeback. I’ve had health issues too and I know how much they can suck.
I hope he’s okay now.
She hasn’t fell gracefully yet, but whoopie Goldberg. She is just so ignorant and insensitive of people. Let her catch the Jewish flame like Kanye did.
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