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It’s understandable why we admire celebrities. Many use their fame to support important causes, raise awareness, and donate to charity. On the surface, they seem like real-life heroes.
But behind every wholesome image is a team of publicists working hard to keep scandals under wraps and good deeds in the spotlight. So, while some stars appear squeaky clean, the reality is often more complicated.
And strangely enough, nothing seems to clear a celebrity’s reputation quite like their passing. That’s the theme of this viral Reddit thread, where people are naming famous figures whose shady histories were conveniently forgotten once they were no longer around.
Check out the most surprising examples below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
John Lennon. Musical talent aside, the way he treated his ex wife and Julian is appalling. And people let him off far too lightly for the break up of the band, blaming it all on Yoko Ono. He was a grown a*s man who could think for himself.
Not that Yoko is any better. She couldn't be bothered to lift a finger or contribute a single cent towards Julian after John's passing. She inherited John's entire estate worth an estimated $800M at the time of his death. A million would've meant nothing to her, so she obviously was being needlessly petty and spiteful.
On the other hand, Paul looked out for both Julian and his mother. When Cynthia put John's old love letters up for auction because they needed money, Paul bought them and gifted them back to her. He's a class act who deserves his celebrity recognition.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
People blame Yoko Ono for lots of things. But I've heard Paul McCartney explain that it was 100% John's idea to leave the Beatles.
RELATED:
#2
Ronald Reagan
He was a piece of s**t human being, but got away with a lot of it due to his personal celebrity appeal.
He obviously knew about Iran-Contra and lied about it, disparaged Nelson Mandela and supported South Africa's apartheid government, ignored the AIDS crisis, was instrumental in the current wealth inequality that we have today by bringing about "Trickle Down Economics", defunded mental health care and education, gave weapons to the Taliban, busted unions, threw out the Fairness Doctrine, and my personal favorite: sabotaged the Iran Hostage Negotiations behind the scenes so that he could use it against Carter in the 1980 election.
He shouldn't be on Mount Rushmore, he should be under it.
#3
Mother Teresa was a horrible person to those she supposedly cared for.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago (edited)
Words attributed to Mother Theresa: “There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ’s Passion. The world gains much from their suffering.” The problem is that she really, really believed in her own worldview and imposed it on those who were poor and sick. https://allthatsinteresting.com/mother-teresa-saint
#4
Steve Jobs. Everyone only remembers him as the guy who created and then saved Apple and “invented” the iPhone. People don’t remember how he f****d over his best friend, knocked up his girlfriend and left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant, refused to give the mother of his first child any money, refused to show any outward affection to his daughter, and (although this one is a bit milder in scale) refused to take showers and would put his bare feet up on the conference table.
Oh, also, he refused cancer treatment in favor of new-age healing until it was too late, and then he spent a buttload of money to leapfrog his name on the organ donor list.
Scott Rackley 6 months ago
Steve Jobs didn't invent s**t. Woz created the Apple computer. Engineers at Apple created all the rest. He was a marketer, just like Edison.
#5
Not dead, but Oprah’s legacy will definitely be more complicated. She contributed to the hysteria surrounding the Satanic Panic. She’s the reason Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil became famous.
#6
Not dead yet but it baffles me how nobody seemingly knows that conor McGregor was convicted for r*ping a Woman so brutally, the tampon had to be surgically removed.
Christiano Ronaldo was accused of r**e but the case didnt go through because the transctipt of him admitting it to his lawyers, detailing the brutality of it, was acquired illegally.
Both still have a significant following.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Umm. I think youll find that pretty much the entire population of Conor McGregor's home country - Ireland - knows about the r@pe. 😬
#8
I believe it depends on who you talk to, but I'd say Charles Lindbergh.
"Lucky Lindy" was adored for his solo transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 1927. And the nation mourned the kidnapping and m****r of his infant son, Charles Lindbergh Jr., in 1932. (Kidnapping was designated a federal crime because of this case.)
However, Lindbergh was a N**i sympathizer and headed the America First Committee, which was dedicated to keeping the United States out of WWII. He socialized with Nazis during one of his many trips to Germany and received a medal from Hermann Göring, who headed the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force.
Lindbergh also had a secret family in Germany while he was married to Anne Morrow Lindbergh. He had children with two women in Bavaria: Brigitte and Marietta Hesshaimer, and with his European secretary, Valeska. He kept these relationships secret from his wife and his children in America. .
Michael Largey 6 months ago
Highly and publicly anti-semitic, one reason the Nazis liked him so much.
#9
Gandhi was a woman beater and made teenage girls sleep in his bed to “help him learn to resist temptation” or some s**t like that.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Mmm. Gandhi was a massive racist and the bit about the young women is true, but I've failed to find any source backing up the claim about him beating women. He preached in support of women's rights - but in real life? https://www.vice.com/en/article/gandhi-was-a-racist-who-forced-young-girls-to-sleep-in-bed-with-him/ and https://scroll.in/article/826175/most-revered-patriarch-when-eleven-young-women-from-bengal-took-on-gandhi
#10
Not dead yet but the director Roman Polanski was convicted of r**e and/or sodomy of a 13 year old drugged up girl. He fled before sentencing and has been treated as a genius since. He's even won several awards. Several female actresses who were part of the "me too" movement were called out (barely) for signing a petition to have his conviction overturned so he could come back to America. Should be dead.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
But whoever even remotely confused Polanski with a saint at any time?
#11
Joseph Smith. Ever heard of Mormonism?
#12
Kobe Bryant was a r*pist. I said what I said.
BeepBoop is Lonely (she/they) 6 months ago
Hadn't heard of this before. Read the reddit thread. Bro admitted to it 😭
#13
Walt Disney. Built a global empire but also had a history of racism, sexism, and antisemitism that people conveniently forget the moment they walk into Disneyland.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
When his artists tried to form a union in the 1930s, good old Walt gave their names to the FBI as Communist agents. (The FBI patted him on the head and told him to go away.)
#14
Hes not dead yet, but chris brown. Its like everyone has forgotten what he did to rihanna.
#15
Thomas Edison, y'know for not really inventing what he's most famous for.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Thomas Edision is praised for the wrong things. What he *did* invent was the modern "sweat shop" type of research lab, dedicated to exploiting clever engineers and technicians in a way that means the workers get screwed and the company gets rich - at Menlo Park in NJ (not the one in CA). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison#Menlo_Park_laboratory_(1876%E2%80%931886)
#16
Steve Jobs
He had a daughter with his h**h school girlfriend. Repeatedly denied paternity despite DNA tests showing otherwise. Claimed that he was sterile which was a lie. That girl lived in poverty while he went on to become incredibly wealthy. He later finally allowed her into his life and (according to her) was a*****e and distant and she said that he frequently would be manipulative and insult her appearance or hygeine
He was also really temperamental towards his employees. Publicly humiliated staff. Close friends even called him self-centered and difficult to work with.
Apple worked with Foxconn, which was a Chinese manufacturing partner that is accused of Harsh Working Conditions, Long Hours, Poor Wages etc. That obviously isn't something unique to Apple. But Jobs was dismissive of these concerns
Apple was also part of a wage-fixing scandal. Conspiring with other Silicon Valley Companies to not poach employees which suppressed salaries across the industry.
He really wasn't a good dude. Apple in general is not a good company. Yet there is very little negative press towards him or the company. A lot more praise than criticism.
#17
Hugh Hefner. Hefner's former male and female employees and partners made claims of systematic sexual misconduct and manipulation, recreational and manipulative d**g use.
#18
Pope John Paul II. He oversaw one if not the most disturbing cover-ups in human history and he was made an actual saint.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
"Renaissance authoritarianism carried out at the speed of 20th Century communication." - Father Andrew Greeley
#19
Christopher Columbus.
Forrest Grump 6 months ago (edited)
Every year on the second Monday in October, I celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day.
#20
John Wayne. Way after civil rights movement win, he advocated back the other way and was a massive racist. He wanted full Jim Crow stuff back in force.
Now people only ever remember him fondly for his bang average cowboy films.
#21
Charlie Chaplin. Married and divorced multiple teenage girls who he abused.
Baba Caine 6 months ago
True celebrity of his day, and the movie companies like to help cover all this up, same as some of the bigger names been gày, all hush hush
#22
James Brown. Regularly beat his wife over 25 years until she k*lled herself.
Bananaramamama 6 months ago
I think he was a terrible person and an a*****e husband...but he wasn't even married for 25 years (?) he had several wives...I'm curious as to who this refers to
#23
Not dead yet but Hulk Hogan would easily fit this category.
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago (edited)
A pro Trump speech which I saw of his on, You Tube, was somewhere between mēth-induced anti-Biden rage and homo-erotic Trump-love. It really was embarrasing to watch.
#24
Pretty much ANY Kennedy. They probably have the most sanitized public reputation of any American political family.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
J F Kennedy has one thing in his favour: he used his family connections to overcome his medical disqualification from the US armed forces so that he could join the US Naval Reserve and serve in action during WWII. Think about that - a young rising star in a wealthy, well connected US family pulling strings not to get out of a war, but specifically so that he could put himself in the firing line. Criticise him, yes - but recognise that then at least, he acted with courage and honour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_torpedo_boat_PT-109
#25
Marlon Brando
Was an a*s on set and people hated working with him. And SA'd the actress on the set of The Last Tango In Paris by using butter which he had discussed with the director on the day of shooting and did not inform Maria Schneider before to discuss it with her. He also suggested to "write his lines on Maria's rear end" instead of memorizing his lines but it was rejected.
#26
All the poineers of America. Henry Ford, Rockefeller, Edison, Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Ray Croc anyone that became successful climbed over a lot of people to get to the top.
#27
Picasso was a woman beater. Dali sold out his friends to the fascists, if I remember correctly he was responsible for Lorca’s death.
Ellinor 6 months ago
Picasso was worse than that, he abused mentally everyone around him, made them all miserable, some of his girlfriends lost their career because of him. He used to beat Dora Maar until she passed out and then painted her to create "la femme qui pleure". Awful guy, really awful. When my Art History teacher taught us about the "genie" he was I asked if he was going to talk about the polemics and he said that no because it wasn't relevant.
#28
Coco Chanel.
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
She was wise in terms of fashion though. She said that before you walk out your door, you should take one thing off. In her case it was probably her National-Sozialistische D.A.P. swāstika badge. But it's still practical advice.
#29
I mean mike tyson committed r**e and he's pretty much beloved again now.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Mike Tyson was found guilty and served his time in prison - that does make a difference if you ask me. He's also a better person than when he was younger.
#30
Surprised nobody said Hitchcock. Guy was a total a*****e perv. Genius who made absolutely terrific films and expanded the very vocabulary of visual storytelling, but what a twisto.
Abuse of performers, especially women, used to be expected from directors in pursuit of incredible performances (which frequently worked).
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago (edited)
Hitchcock wasn't the first or the only one. Not that that excuses him. https://lithub.com/the-dark-side-of-an-auteur-on-alfred-hitchcocks-treatment-of-women/
#31
Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin and almost everyone remembers him for that other than his music.
When he died, fellow musicians were full of nothing but praise for him and conveniently overlooked this as well as his other misdemeanours.
Kenny Kulbiski 6 months ago
Compared to most of today's "Rock Stars" he was a saint. Diddy? Ye.?etc.
#32
Jackson Pollack. He lived off his wife’s work and k****d his mistress/gf while driving drunk.
#33
How is Michael Jackson not top comment lol.
SouthernGal 6 months ago
I’ll never be able to listen to his music. Can’t stand to be reminded of him. So twisted.
#34
Bing Crosby, known - along with his wife - for terribly abusing his children.
I had a friend whose parents worked as contract background players on the sets, lots and scenes of movies during Hollywood's "Golden Age" when she was a little girl. Every once in a while, they would take her with them and she would be in awe of the various stars she saw, including the ones in the films in which her parents worked and appeared. One of them was one of the "Road" pictures with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Even though her parents usually did not bother those in the main cast, they gave in to their daughter - again, just a little girl, maybe seven, eight or nine years old - who pleaded to meet Hope and Crosby. They took her to Bob Hope first and introduced her. He pulled her onto his lap and immediately treated her as if she was the most important little girl in the world, asking all the usual questions one would of a little girl: what's your favorite school subject?, etc. When he was finished, they - and she later remembered, *very* reluctantly - took her over to Bing Crosby. With their voices shaking, they asked him if their daughter could meet him. He looked at them, looked down at her, and back at them, and then asked with an expression as cold as ice: "Do I have to touch her?".
Analyn Lahr 6 months ago (edited)
Wow. That's kind of creepy. I feel bad for any child actors who had to work with him. Hope seems like he was a good guy though. I imagine Crosby was raised in a similar fashion to how he treated his kids. Not an excuse of course but maybe an explanation.
#36
Bob Barker.
Lived to 99, beloved gameshow host who brought lovely memories to millions of television viewers for many decades.
Also fostered a toxic work environment behind the scenes. Very dismissive and demeaning to his female workers. And of course, most of the models known as "Barker's Beauties" all sued him when they left the show. They couldn't keep up and eventually settled, but Holly Hallstrom went the distance. Her legal fight lasted 10 years, she ended up homeless, but then she won and got her payout of several millions. Way to go Holly!
Seems like during his tenure it was the "old boys club" attitude and the women staff couldn't fight for their rights or defend themselves, because they were up against Barker and CBS.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
Even beating up Adam Sandler in a movie doesn't begin to make up for this.
#37
Alexander graham bell
Tried to outlaw sign language and thought that Deaf people shouldn't have their native language. EVEN THO HIS WIFE WAS DEAF. AGB even today is an oralist Deaf organization against any use of sign language.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
And stole the telephone design from someone else and beat him to the patent office.
#38
Paul Walker dated an actual teenager when he was famous and everyone loves to forget that because of Fast and The Furious.
mp7dvnrw85 6 months ago
He started dating her when she was 16 and he was 33. That’s not on his Wiki page!
#39
Tupac - he r***d a woman and was convicted of 1st degree sexual a*****t for it.
#40
John F Kennedy cheated on Jackie Kennedy repeatedly. His father was a philanderer as well.
LauraDragonWench 6 months ago
Considering what an absolute døuchecanoe his father was, is it any surprise that his children were twisted? Kennedy raised his sons to compete against each other, not in a healthy way, but in a "I will destroy you by any means possible to get father's approval" kind of way. Kennedy, Sr. was also a wife beater and serial philanderer, and had his daughter lobotomized simply because she tried to get out from under his thumb. And that's just a fraction of the man's faults.
#41
Chuck Berry was a total pervert.
Elwood Schwartz (it/that) 6 months ago (edited)
Come on... Who *doesn't* put secret cameras in women's toilets?
#42
Roald Dahl. Fervent antisemite who thought Hitler was spot on with his final solution.
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
And all this despite being a fighter pilot and intelligence officer for the British Army during WWII???
#43
Not dead but Mark Wahlberg as a teen beat an Asian man and blinded him while hurling racist epithets.
Bananaramamama 6 months ago
He was 15. And he actually didn't blind him. He later met with his victim, served time and made apologies. I don't mention this as ANY sort of excuse, but it is important to know that young kids on d***s make ridiculous choices.
#45
Dr. Seuss had a barely-concealed extramarital affair while he was married to Helen Palmer, who was struggling with a chronic illness that left her disabled. She k****d herself in 1967, and Seuss married his mistress eight months later.
He was also heavily in favor of the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and drew many political cartoons during the war in which Japanese people were depicted in an incredibly racist, stereotypical manner.
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
The cheating on his sick wife was indefensible. But, in fairness, his racism wasn't out of step with the time. Japan had done monstrous things in China, and was set to do the same throughout the Pacific. Also, internment was traditionally, and still is in some places, quite normal during war.
#47
Kirk Douglas destroyed more than a few Hollywood actresses without punishment.
Petra Peitsch 6 months ago
The whole Douglas family. The question is: Who are considering them saints?
#48
Caroline Flack. She domestically abused her boyfriend by hitting him with a lamp while he slept. She couldn't take the heat of, rightfully, being called an a****r and committed s*****e. Her s*****e is promoted as a tragedy, while her abuse is swept under the rug. She even has a memorial bench in her hometown.
#49
Liam payne. 1d sub bans ppl for even saying he cheated on his gf with s*x workers he refused to pay the night before he died.
#50
I highly suggest looking up "Behind the Bastards" podcast episodes on celebrities. The episode on John Wayne was the first that came to mind.
#51
Literally, "Saint" Patrick (and his predecessor, Palladius)
Following the Standard Operational Patterns of the era, Cardinal Patrick and his forces committed religious genocide across Ireland at the behest of the then current Pope Celestine I, converting the Island at the point of the sword from paganism to Catholicism (aka "driving out the Snakes"), using converts to his beliefs to force others to either convert or be k****d.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Umm. Almost everything we know about Patrick is unprovable stories, but on the other hand, none of them involve him using violence - after all, how could one man "convert" an island filled with eager warriors at "the point of the sword"? - even if that one man had arrived with his own army (not that anyone's seriously suggesting he did). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick
#52
JFK and the Kennedys in general.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Third entry for JFK in the list. Yes all the criticisms are valid - but JFK used family connections not to avoid military service but so he could fight in WWII - despite medical disqualification. Some presidents did it the other way round...
#53
Prince. Read Sinead O’Connor’s memoir.
BrunoVI 6 months ago
I make a distinction between unrepentant monsters, monsters who were pressured into cleaning up their act, and repentant monsters who saw enough s**t and decided, "no, there's a better way." Prince was in class 3. And it wasn't "convenient"; he passed up on a lot of money to undo the misogyny he had created.
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Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
Who checks this stuff? Multiple entries for Steve Jobs, the Kennedy family, and JFK. Pointless double... and triple-ups.
Hippopotamuses 6 months ago
Who checks this stuff? Multiple entries for Steve Jobs, the Kennedy family, and JFK. Pointless double... and triple-ups.
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