10 Shocking Celebrity Scandals That Flew Under The Radar
Published on April 13, 2017. Updated August 11, 2017Hollywood is full of celebrity scandals and drama and thanks to cellphones and the internet, it seems no star can hide any of their transgressions. It seems every day there is a new shocking cheating scandal, arrest or even sexual assault allegations involving a celebrity, and once the media gets a hold of the information, it goes viral. That’s why it is really surprising these days when seemingly big scandals get ignored or are not blown up to the same level of others. Other times the scandals occurred so long ago, fans forget ever hearing about it. Here are 10 celebrity scandals that seem to have flown under the radar:
10. Thomas Gibson
For years Criminal Minds fans watched Thomas Gibson as the stoic BAU leader Aaron ‘Hotch’ Hotchner and were stunned when he was abruptly suspended and then fired from the series in August 2016. Gibson’s scandal quickly dominated media headlines, and while everyone was completely shocked that he had apparently physically assaulted one of the writer-producers, it wouldn’t have been so shocking if they had known about his previous behavior. The popular actor was actually involved in two separate scandals prior to his 2016 firing, but they were not given nearly the attention. In 2010, Gibson was involved in a physical altercation with assistant director Ian Woolf and was ordered to attend anger management counseling by CBS. Then, two years later, Gibson was arrested in downtown L.A. for drunk driving after he reportedly drove through a barricade that had been set up to keep cars off of the course for an overnight marathon. During the arrest, a belligerent Gibson had to be subdued by five police officers after he refused to take a breathalyzer test.
Monty Brinton/©CBS/courtesy Everett Collection9. Tim Allen
Tim Allen is widely known as one of the most kind, good-humored and wholesome TV actors and comedians of recent decades, but that wasn’t always the case. In October 1978, three years after he officially began his stand-up career, Allen was arrested in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek Airport for possession of over 650 grams of cocaine. Allen ended up pleading guilty to drug trafficking and in exchange for a sentence of three to seven years instead of life in prison he offered up the names of other high profile drug dealers. He ended up serving just over two years in a Minnesota prison. In 1997 scandal hit again for the actor when he was arrested for a DUI in Michigan and was sentenced to one-year probation and was court ordered to attend rehab for alcohol abuse.
Photo by Picture Perfect/REX8. Nicolas Cage and Vince Neil
Nicolas Cage has often been regarded as slightly odd and many rumors have flown about the star, and maybe that is why people stopped paying attention when his name hits the headlines, despite his involvement in some serious stuff. In April 2016 Cage was hanging out with Motley Crue’s Vince Neil in Las Vegas when a woman approached them to ask Cage for an autograph. Out of nowhere Neil grabbed the woman by the hair and pulled her to the ground and Cage ended up putting Neil in a chokehold to get him off of the woman. At the time everyone focused on the fight between Neil and Cage, but the whole situation was fairly insane. Neil ended up only being cited for battery and was not taken to the station.
Source; Huffington Post7. Stephen Rannazzisi
Comedian Stephen Rannazzisi rose to higher level of fame thanks to his starring role as Kevin in the widely successful FX show The League. As the show became successful, however, the actor often discusses how one critical moment in history influenced his personal and professional decisions in years since. Rannazzisi often spoke about how he survived the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001 and then, in September 2015, he admitted he had lied about the whole thing. While the admission definitely got media attention, it went away rather quickly for such a big lie. In 2009, he told his story about working at Merrill Lynch on the 54th floor of the south tower when the first plane hit the north tower. He said surviving is what inspired him to leave his desk job and pursue acting, but in 2015, he said in a statement, “I was not at the Trade Center on that day. I don’t know why I said this. This was inexcusable. I am truly sorry.” He in fact never worked at Merrill Lynch and was in Midtown on that day. He concluded his statement with, “It was profoundly disrespectful to those who perished and those who lost loved ones. The stupidity and guilt I have felt for many years has not abated. It was an early taste of having a public persona, and I made a terrible mistake.”
Photo by MediaPunch/REX Shutterstock6. Nick Stahl
In the early 2000s actor Nick Stahl’s fame took off after he starred as an adult John Connor in the long awaited third Terminator film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and also landed the lead in the series Carnivale. He continued to work albeit without the same success and then in 2012 he disappeared, and not disappeared in terms that his career took a dive, he literally disappeared. In May 2012, Stahl’s wife reported that the actor was missing, only for him to email some friends five days later to state he was entering a 30-day rehab program, but after the completion he went missing again. In July he was found again and reconciled with his family before entering another rehab program, but has been arrested twice since.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by BDG / Rex Features
5. Demi Moore
In the summer of 2015, relatively low-key A-lister Demi Moore was involved in a somewhat bizarre scandal when the body of a 21-year-old man was discovered in the swimming pool of her Beverly Hills home. Although Moore was not at home at the time of the accident, the situation was still huge, but somehow little more was said about it. In 2017 there was even an update in the incident when the man’s parents filed a lawsuit and yet inexplicably the news was hush-hush.
Photo by Owen Kolasinski/BFA/REX/Shutterstock4. Frank Dillane
Frank Dillane is best known as the son of popular actor Stephen Dillane, and for his roles as the teenage Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and as Nick Clark in Fear the Walking Dead. With his fame growing, all eyes have been on Dillane, but everyone seemed to glaze over a recent bizarre scandal involving him. In May 2016, Dillane was arrested after he tried to get past a security checkpoint on a CBS lot, and when a guard tried to stop him, he punched the guard. Dillane was put under citizen’s arrest and LAPD charged him with battery, but what they can’t figure out is what he was doing there anyway and why he was so hostile as Fear the Walking Dead doesn’t even film on the CBS lot.
Photo by Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock3. Mel B.’s Husband
Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice from the Spice Girls, re-emerged into the spotlight after appearing on Dancing With the Stars. Her popularity increased as she became a judge on Australia’s X-Factor and then became one of the judges on America’s Got Talent. Meanwhile her personal life also seemed to be going equally well as she married Stephen Belafonte in 2007 after only a few months of dating. In a shocking turn of events in 2017, Mel B revealed she had suffered horrendous physical and sexual abuse from her husband for years, and despite the many warning signs, nothing was ever done about it. In 2014, she had to miss filming of The X Factor after receiving a severe beating from Belafonte and yet authorities were not brought in as she denied it even though her appearance when she returned on the show sparked claims of domestic violence because of scratches on her body and a visibly bruised face. In 2017, after she filed for divorce, Brown confirmed that the abuse allegations were true and more severe than anyone even speculated. Most surprising was that, over the years, despite obvious injuries and even a suicide attempt on her part, authorities were never alerted and the whole situation was kept secret.
Photo by MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock2. Casey Affleck
Over the 2017 awards season Casey Affleck was one of the most celebrated actors, winning the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Manchester by the Sea and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for the same role. Amid the praise for the actor, his scandals were being pushed to the side despite their severity. In 2010 the actor was sued by two female colleagues who worked with him on the mockumentary I’m Still Here. The women said Affleck verbally harassed them and insisted that one of them share his hotel room, while another woman said she woke up in her hotel room to find Affleck in her bed and stroking her back. The cases were settled out of court, but it wasn’t until actress Brie Larson, who presented Affleck with both awards, refused to clap for or acknowledge his wins that people began to pay attention and more light was brought to his sexual harassment case.
Press Association1. Steve Howey
Steve Howey has been long regarded as one of the most down-to-earth and sweet celebrities out there ever since he starred as Van Montgomery in the beloved sitcom Reba. He seemed the least likely star to get wrapped up in a nanny scandal, but he did, and his story is particularly crazy, yet somehow very few have heard about it. In 2016, Howey along with his wife, actress Sarah Shahi, were sued by their former nanny, Sarah Alaseri, who claimed she suffered religious discrimination and sexual harassment from the pair. The nanny stated they would ridicule her for her Muslim religion and underwent much verbal abuse. She also stated that Shahi often talked about her affair with a mysterious “A-list” actor and would force Alaseri to look at pictures of her lover’s genitals and would go into great detail about her love-making. Shahi also allegedly told Alaseri to get in better shape and “run off” with Howey so that Shahi could “move on” with her life with her A-list actor lover. Howey and Shahi ended up firing Alaseri, calling her a “criminal,” while she sued for damages in back wages, harassment and wrongful termination.
Photo by Eric Charbonneau/REX/Shutterstock