The Top 10 Celebrity Scandals of the Decade: Britney to R Kelly

by Amy Judd | December 18, 2009 at 04:17 pm
14348 views | 24 Recommendations | 4 comments

The last 10 years have certainly seen no shortage of celebrity scandals. Who could forget Britney Spears shaving her head or Michael Jackson's child molestation charges?

NowPublic has put together a list of the top 10 celebrity scandals of the decade, in no particular order.

  1. The Brangelina scandal involving Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and former wife Jennifer Aniston - although Brad Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston in 2000, they ended their relationship in 2005 amid speculation that Brad had been having an affair with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie. Although the two have denied that, just one month after Jennifer Aniston filed for divorce, reports surfaced that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were together.
  2. Britney Spears shaves her head - in early February 2007, Britney Spears checked in to a rehab facility only to check out about 24 hours later. She then made her way to a hair salon where she proceeded to shave off all her hair. She has since gotten her life back together and is back on tour.
  3. Michael Jackson's child sexual abuse allegations - having already endured one case of child molestation charges, in 2003 Michael Jackson was charged with seven counts of charges molestaion and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to Gavin Arvizo. Michael appeared with Gavin in the Martin Bashir broadcast Living With Michael Jackson. Michael denied all allegations and after the five month trial he was acquitted on all counts.
  4. Chris Brown beats girlfriend Rihanna - earlier this year in February singer Chris Brown beat on his then girlfriend Rihanna after she tried to get out of the car they were traveling in. She sustained facial burises and marks and the couple split up. Chris received five years probation and 180 days of community service for beating up Rihanna. Both have since been focusing on their musical careers.
  5. Kate Moss caught snorting cocaine on camera - in 2005, the Daily Mirror ran a story with photos of Kate Moss snoring cocaine at a Babyshambles recording session and they reported that she snorted five lines of coke in 40 mintues. Kate lost modeling contracts with companies such as H&M, Chanel and Burberry and earned the name 'Cokate'. Kate admitted to taking the drugs and issued an apology. She was interviewed by British police but she was never charged. 
  6. Jon & Kate Gosselin's marriage falls apart - They started off as America's favorite TV family. With their eight adorable kids and their willingness to raise their children on camera, TLC must have thought they had struck gold with the Gosselin family. However in April of 2009 it was first reported that Jon was having an affair, then later that Kate was having an affair with her bodyguard. In June the couple started proceedings to dissolve their marriage. They had been married 10 years, and the TLC show where they announced their divorce was the most watched show of the whole series. Their divorce was finalized December 17th and their TLC show was canceled.
  7. R Kelly's child pornography charges - R Kelly had enjoyed a pretty successful career and although he had been accused of having relationships with underage girls before, in February 2002, the Chicago Sun Times received a videotape of what looked to be R Kelly and a 14-year-old girl having sex. Copies of the tape were sold on the black market, and in June 2002 R Kelly was indicted in Chicago on 21 counts of of having sex with a minor. These charges were reduced to "soliciting a minor for child pornography, seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography". The case went to trial in 2008 and after two weeks he was found not guilty on all counts. He was arrested again in 2003 however where police say they found videos, and photos, of underage girls in his home but in 2004 the charges were dropped for lack of probable cause for the search warrants.
  8. The Tiger Woods saga - as everyone knows by now, Tiger Woods fell from grace just a few short weeks ago when it was discovered he had cheated on his wife, with not one but what is now reported to be 17 different women. Some claim he cheated before Tiger and Elin were married, but at this point Tiger is not saying much. There are now reports that Elin is going to divorce Tiger Woods and that she has bought a house in Sweeden and may leave the US. Tiger has also taken a break from golf and has been dropped by some of his sponsor companies
  9. Paris Hilton's Sextape 'One Night in Paris' - the sextape that started it all. In 2004 a tape was released of Paris Hilton and then boyfriend Rick Salomon and it showed them having sex using mostly night vision on the camera. It was released by Salomon himself and the couple ended up suing each other but settled out of court in 2005. It was also the most rented video for a while and won an award. While it kick-started Paris' 'career', she has always maintained that she received no money from the tape.
  10. Michael Richards (Kramer) uses the 'N' word - With Seinfeld being one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, many thought that its glory would never fade. However, in 2006 when Michael Richards, who played Kramer, took the stage at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood he was caught on a phone camera telling a heckler to shut up and then shouting 'he's a n---er' six times to the audience. He also made a reference to lynching. He later apologized on national television and retired from stand-up comedy.

Do you have a favorite celebrity scandal you think we may have missed?

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0
Mary Richard

How about Martha Stewart goes to jail?  Or Robert Blake accused (and acquitted) of murdering his wife

Or the Madonna & Britney kiss or the Janet nipple slip at the Super Bowl?

Can't you make that a list of 100, Amy?  So many "scandals", such a small list ...


0
Amy Judd

Robert Blake almost made it in as did 'nipplegate' but yes, it does need to be a bigger list. Considering this took a while to do just 10, I invite anyone to do a list of 100 if they want!

1
I'm

Do you have a favorite celebrity scandal you think we may have missed?u missed lindsay)

0
Amy Judd

Ah yes, good point!

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Mary Richard
First Flagged at 8:52 PM, Dec 18, 2009 by Mary Richard
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