20 Famous People Who Were Involved In Or Accused Of Disturbing Acts No One Talks About Anymore

Sean Penn and Madonna were married for four years during the 1980s.

After meeting on the set of Material Girl when Madonna was 26, they tied the knot and co-starred in Shanghai Surprise.

In 1987, there were reports that Sean had struck his then-wife across the head with a baseball bat.

The following year, the One Battle After Another actor was accused of tying the pop star to a chair for nine hours in their Malibu home until she was able to escape and run to a police station.

“When Madonna staggered into the station, she was distraught, crying, with makeup smeared all over her face. I hardly recognized her…she had obviously been struck,” described Lieutenant Bill McSweeney.

Sean was charged with inflicting “corporal injury and traumatic conditions,” but Madonna reportedly dropped the complaints before divorcing Sean the following year.

In 2015, the singer said reports of her former husband’s violent behavior towards her were false, calling the allegations “outrageous, malicious, and reckless.”

In her book No Woman, No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley, Rita Marley, the reggae musician’s ex-wife, wrote that he sometimes forced himself on her to sleep with her without her consent.

In an interview in The Voice, Rita described the incident as “r*pe.” However, she later accused British tabloids of blowing the story out of proportion.

“The way the guy put it in the newspaper, he made it look like Bob had me by the neck. When you think about it, you ask yourself whether a husband can actually r*pe his wife,” she said.

Bob and Rita met when they were both aspiring young musicians in the 1960s. They married in 1966 and were together until his passing from cancer in 1981. The couple had three children.

The Mad Men actor was charged with as*ault in 1991 after allegedly participating in a violent initiation ritual with six other men at the University of Texas-Austin.

The victim, Mark Allen Sanders, accused Jon of beating him and setting his pants on fire, among other violent acts, as part of a Sigma Nu fraternity hazing ritual in November 1990.

As a result of the attacks, Mark reportedly fractured his spine and nearly lost a kidney.

Jon was a 20-year-old sophomore at the time of the incident. Mark said the actor participated in the hazing “till the very end.”

The lawsuit against the then-college student was ultimately dropped, while three members of his fraternity were reportedly sentenced to jail.

When Jon addressed his past behavior in 2018, he referred to the events as a “bummer” and downplayed them as “sensationalized.”

“I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it’s a f**king bummer. I moved on from it,” he told Esquire.

The Emmy winner was asked about the incident again last year, to which replied, “They are claims that have been around for years. No, I don’t want to respond.”

In the 1990s, an adult worker accused the Oscar-winning star of as*aulting her after he refused to pay her fee.

The woman settled with the actor for $39,000. She later claimed that the alleged attack impacted her mental health and that the injuries were “actually k*lling her” and blinding her intermittently.

Jack had previously been charged after smashing the windshield of a car with a golf club because he believed the driver had cut him off in traffic.

Two years later, in 1996, he was also accused of harming a woman at his Los Angeles home and rupturing her breast implants.

The Hollywood star was involved in a series of racially motivated hate crimes in the 1980s.

In 1986, he and three of his friends were charged for chasing three Black children while throwing rocks at them and calling them racial slurs.

The following day, he attacked a group of primarily Black nine-year-old children and gathered other white men to throw rocks at them at the beach.

Two years later, when he was 17, Mark attacked two Vietnamese men while high on PCP, using racial slurs and knocking one of them unconscious with a wooden stick.

The actor was found guilty of violating the civil rights of his victims in the first case. For the latter case, he was charged with attempted m*rder and served only 45 days of his two-year sentence.

Mark sought a pardon for the latter attack in 2014. He wrote, “I am deeply sorry for the actions that I took on the night of April 8, 1988, as well as for any lasting damage that I may have caused the victims.

“Since that time, I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others.”

While one of Mark’s victims has publicly forgiven him, another accused him of wanting to “erase” his past discriminatory behavior.

John himself admitted to using physical violence against women on several occasions.

"I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically — any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself, and I hit. I fought men, and I hit women," the British musician told Playboy Magazine in 1980.

"That is why I am always on about peace, you see. It is the most violent people who go for love and peace. Everything's the opposite. But I sincerely believe in love and peace.

"I will have to be a lot older before I can face in public how I treated women as a youngster."

His first wife, Cynthia Powell, wrote in her book that John slapped her in the face in a fit of jealousy. 

He also physically attacked the Cavern Club's MC Bob Wooler when he jokingly suggested John was gay.

During his Playboy interview, the musician also referred to Julian, his son with Cynthia Powell, as an unplanned child "born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night.”

In 2003, the late basketball star was charged with s*xually a*saulting a 19-year-old employee of a lodge spa he was staying at in Colorado.

The victim was examined at the hospital and had bruises on her neck and tears in her vaginal wall.

It is believed that she refused to testify following pressure from Kobe’s team. The case was ultimately dismissed.

The athlete, dropped by several sponsors after the incident, issued an apology in which he acknowledged that the victim never gave her consent. 

“After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter,” he said.

Kobe settled with the woman for an undisclosed sum in a civil suit.

Sunawin “Leasi” Andrews, the actor’s ex-girlfriend, filed a restraining order against him in 2010 after accusing him of domestic violence.

Andrews claimed that the injuries had sent her to the hospital and sought compensation to pay for the associated medical bills.

Though the woman withdrew her petition when the temporary restraining order expired, her accusations against the Inglorious Basterds star resurfaced during the #MeToo movement.

Legal documents mention an incident in which Michael dragged his ex with his car while the vehicle was moving. “I went to the hospital and had a twisted left ankle, blown out left knee cap, and a burst ovarian cyst,” the filing read.

When The Daily Beast asked the actor to comment on the accusations, he said, “You’ve got the paperwork. What more is there to say?”

The Portuguese football star was accused of r*ping a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009.

The woman, Kathryn Mayorga, was allegedly paid $375,000 in “hush money” as part of an NDA with Cristiano.

The footballer has always insisted that the encounter was consensual, describing the allegations as an “intentional defamation campaign.”

In 2019, Las Vegas prosecutors said they would not charge Cristiano, stating that the allegations could not be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The civil lawsuit was dismissed after Mayorga’s lawyer reached out to Football Leaks, the source of leaked confidential communications from the athlete's attorneys, to prosecute the case.

The King of Pop was the subject of several child s*xual ab*se allegations throughout his career.

The investigations began in 1993 and continued in 2003, with the entertainer being acquitted of all criminal charges on both occasions.

Later on, in the 2010s, two men alleged that they had been m*lested multiple times by Michael and filed lawsuits against his estate and companies. They later came forward with their stories in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.

A judge dismissed the first man’s case because he waited too long to file his claim. Two years later, the same judge dismissed the second man’s lawsuit because the corporations couldn’t be liable for Michael’s actions.

La Toya Jackson, the musician’s sister, said that the accusations against him were true.

"Michael is my brother, but I cannot, and I will not, be a silent collaborator of his crimes against small, innocent children,” she stated in 1993.

However, she later retracted her statement in 2011, saying that she was forced to make those comments by her husband at the time, as per NPR.

The Parisian fashion designer was accused of being a N*zi informant during World War II by her friend Vera Bate, who had confessed to being a German agent.

The French government arrested Chanel for her alleged ties with the German intelligence organization Abwehr, but she was eventually released due to a lack of evidence. It’s also believed her friend, Winston Churchill, played a role in her release.

Chanel’s interrogation was never made public by the French government.

According to Sleeping With the Enemy, a biography of the designer by journalist Hal Vaugh, Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was in a relationship with Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage, a Gestapo spy and major asset to the Abwehr.

The heavyweight boxer served three years in prison after being convicted of r*ping 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington in 1992.

In 2023, another woman filed a lawsuit accusing Mike of r*ping her inside a limousine after the two met at a nightclub in Albany, New York, in the early 1990s.

She alleged that the boxer caused her “physical, psychological, and emotional injury.” 

“I told him ‘no’ several times and asked him to stop, but he continued to attack me,” the woman described. “He then pulled my pants off and violently r*ped me.”

The retired athlete’s former wife, Robin Givens, said in divorce papers that their 1980s marriage was marked by “unprovoked rages of violence and destruction.”

Mike, who has always maintained his innocence, continues to be regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history and competed for the last time in 2024 against Jake Paul.

The musician and his wife, Tanya Anne Hijazi, were jailed in 1991 on suspicion of holding a 24-year-old woman hostage for three days at his home.

The couple allegedly tied her up, threatened her with a weapon, s*xually as*aulted her, and forced her to take illegal substances.

A year later, Rick served over two years in prison after he and his partner k*dnapped and beat music executive Mary Sauger. 
 
The victim said that she was supposed to encounter the couple for a business meeting but was held against her will and tortured for 20 hours.

Hijazi pleaded guilty to as*ault and was sentenced to two years.

In 1994, a jury awarded the victim $1.8 million in damages in a civil lawsuit.

The Karma Chamaleon singer was accused by model Audun Carlsen of handcuffing him to a wall and beating him with a chain in a paranoid episode.

The British pop star, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was allegedly under the influence of illegal substances when he accused Carlsen of hacking into his computer.

George reportedly told Audun, "Now you're going to get what you deserve."

He denied beating the model but admitted to handcuffing him to interrogate him about his computer.

The former Culture Club frontman pleaded “not guilty” but was sentenced to 15 months in jail in 2009.

Judge David Radford said the singer's offense was "so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment can be justified." The judge also determined that Audun had been "deprived of his liberty and his human dignity."

In 2022, Angelina Jolie accused her ex-husband of physically a*saulting her and their children on a private flight from France to California in 2016. The incident is believed to have been the catalyst for their divorce.

According to court documents, the actor and producer grabbed Angelina’s head and pushed her into a wall. He allegedly choked one of their children and struck another when they tried to defend their mother.

The Maria actress said the incident occurred after Brad accused her of being “too deferential” to their children.

A representative for Brad denied the allegations. A source close to the actor also claimed that “the confrontation was spiraling out of control” but that no one was “physically harmed.”

After conducting a review of the incident, the FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services closed the investigation, and charges were not pursued.

Since the divorce, three of Brangelina’s six children have reportedly stopped communicating with their father and dropped his last name in favor of their mother’s.

Vince was convicted of vehicular manslaughter in 1985 after hitting a car while under the influence. 

The crash claimed the life of his passenger, Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas Dingley, and seriously wounded the occupants of the other car. 

The Mötley Crüe lead vocalist was ordered to pay $2.6 million to the victims and their families.

Andy McCoy, the Hanoi Rocks guitarist, claimed Vince never apologized for the crash.

“Every time I see him, he runs away. Because he knows what I’d do. But that’s our business,” the musician said.

Vince admitted that he “definitely deserved” to go to prison for more than 30 days, but the “power of cash” stopped that fate, which he believes is “f***ed up.”

In 2003, the singer served another 30 days in jail after an adult worker accused him of grabbing her around the throat and throwing her against a wall. His most recent charges came in 2016, when he allegedly physically as*aulted a female fan outside a hotel in Las Vegas.

Model Jeanne Bellino accused the Aerosmith frontman of s*xually a*saulting her twice in one day when she was a teenager.

Bellino said she was working on a fashion show in Manhattan in 1975 when her friend arranged for her to meet the musician at a hotel. She alleged Steven, then 27 years old, s*xually a*saulted her twice.

Steven has “vehemently” denied all allegations. In 2024, Bellino’s lawsuit was dismissed, with US district judge Lewis Kaplan saying she had waited too long to sue the star.

The I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing singer was sued by a separate woman, Julia Holcomb Misley, who claims he slept with her when she was 16 after taking her back to his hotel following a concert.

The woman alleges s*xual battery, s*xual as*ault and intentional infliction of distress during a three-year period in the 1970s, saying the rocker used his status to “groom, manipulate, and exploit” her, even coercing her to get an abortion

“Because I know that I am not the only one who suffered ab*se in the music industry, I feel it is time for me to take this stand,” she said in 2022.

Steven’s 2011 memoir devotes several pages to his recollections of a three-year relationship with an anonymous teenage “groupie” when he was 26, as per The Guardian.

The singer claimed his relationship with Holcomb was consensual and that he had immunity because he was her legal guardian at the time.

When he was in his twenties, the Home Improvement actor was arrested at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Michigan for possession of over 650 grams (1.43 lb) of c*caine.

Tim had reportedly been followed by an undercover police officer, who detained him after he attempted to sell the illegal substance to him.

He pleaded guilty to felony dr*g trafficking charges and provided the names of other dealers in exchange for his sentence to be reduced to three to seven years instead of serving life in prison.

The Santa Clause star was ultimately paroled in 1981 after serving two years and four months of his sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Minnesota.

During the ordeal, a judge told Tim that he expected him to be “a very successful comedian.” 

“I was an eff up,” Tim said during a 2021 episode of Marc Maron’s podcast, explaining that his life fell apart and he began drinking at the age of 11 after losing his father in a car crash.

“I just shut up and did what I was told,” the actor said of his time in jail.

“It was the first time ever I did what I was told and played the game... I learned literally how to live day by day. And I learned how to shut up. You definitely want to learn how to shut up.”

Tim, who is now sober, said he still has mental health issues, but “now, I can’t hide from them.”

The rapper published a statement in 2015 apologizing to the women he had “hurt.”

“I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives,” he wrote, without going into detail on the words or actions he regretted.

Several women have accused Dre of violent behavior, including TV host Dee Barnes and his ex-girlfriend, Michel'le.

In 1991, Dre pleaded no contest to charges of criminal battery after Barnes accused him of throwing her down a flight of stairs, choking her, and pinning her to the floor of the women’s bathroom.
Barnes eventually settled out of court with Dre over the incident.

Michel'le, who is the mother of one of his children, accused the Beats Electronics CEO of subjecting her to domestic violence during their time together as a couple.

Additionally, former labelmate Tairrie B claimed that Dre a*saulted her at a post-Grammy party in 1990.

In his statement, the musician attributed the behavior he exhibited in the 1990s to being “a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life.”

"However, none of this is an excuse for what I did,” he added. “I’ve been married for 19 years and every day I’m working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way.”

Straight Outta Compton, the film based on Dre’s life, was also criticized for failing to reflect the allegations of violent behavior numerous women have made against the 61-year-old rapper.

Sinead O’Connor wrote in her memoir, Rememberings, that Prince, who wrote her breakthrough hit Nothing Compares 2 U, was a "violent ab*ser of women.”

As she described, Prince hit her with a hard object enclosed in a pillowcase after suggesting a pillow fight and threatened to "kick the sh*t out of [her.]"

The Irish singer also said Prince had been violent to a woman in his band who had to be hospitalized as a result of the attack.

Charlene Friend, one of Prince’s exes, claimed the Purple Rain musician threatened to have her “k*lled” after they broke up because “no one else could have [her].”

She further accused him of filming their intimate encounters without her consent.

"[He] ran hot and cold, treating me nicely, then being cruel," Friend said.

In 2003, Friend sued Prince for defamation and emotional distress, but he won the case.