12 Celebrities Who Ruined Their Brand

Published on February 15, 2016.

Celebrities who are in the industry for awhile are often known for acting a specific way and or taking roles that we as fans come to expect from them. Sometimes we also assume that their on-camera personalities reflect their real-life personalities only to be completely shocked when they make headlines for something scandalous. After coming to love and respect some stars it is always disappointing when they don’t turn out to be the person fans thought. Check out 12 celebrities who have completely changed their image!

12. Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton was the king of the country music scene for many years, and while he does still have a very large legion of loyal fans, there are a lot of rumblings that he has changed recently. Without a doubt, his music has changed as it seems a good portion of the entire country genre is moving more towards pop-country or “bro-country” but the word sell-out has also been linked to Shelton lately. The man who used to be all about down-home country and staying out of the spotlight seems to be lapping up the life in the limelight, and seems to be living the big city L.A. life with his new girlfriend Gwen Stefani. Not to mention, many are pretty tired of hearing about him and Stefani which was also rumored to be a publicity stunt for The Voice co-hosts.

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11. Macaulay Culkin

There seemed to be big things ahead for Macaulay Culkin after his major success as the young star of Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. He was adorable, precocious and talented which meant he was loved by fans, but unfortunately things seemed to go downhill fairly quickly for the actor and we soon learned he wasn’t that adorable young boy anymore. After slipping away from the limelight, it was revealed he had gone off the rails with drug use and at the age of 17 married his girlfriend Rachel Milner, but it only lasted two years. Even now he remains with a sullen and emaciated look, and he reportedly never got help for his drug use.

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10. Alyssa Milano

Audiences got to know Alyssa Milano from her role as Samantha Micelli on Who’s the Boss? from 1984-1992. As a child star, Milano was a sweet and innocent young girl but, it didn’t take long for her to drastically shed that image. The year after Who’s The Boss? ended she took on the role of Amy Fisher in the TV movie Causalities of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story and continued her dive into dark and sexual roles with Deadly Sins and Poison Ivy. By the time she became a star of Charmed in 1998 she was a certified sex-symbol and had completely abolished her “goody-two-shoes” image.

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9. Tom Cruise

For quite awhile Tom Cruise was the epitome of Hollywood stardom. He was the most sought after actor, regarded as one of the hottest actors, and continuously starred in blockbuster after blockbuster, it truly seemed everyone loved him. Then things changed for him as views of him changed. Seemingly all at once he began pushing Scientology and saying some pretty weird things and making a fool of himself by jumping all over Oprah’s couch, proclaiming his love for Katie Holmes. Over the years more and more has been exposed concerning how he treated Katie as a prominent follower of Scientology and, while he continues to act, he has never recovered in the eyes of fans.

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8. Paula Deen

Paula Deen was absolutely loved by fans before her true colors were revealed in a shocking way. Paula Deen seemed to be a sweet woman and also seemed to have it all with successful cookbooks, restaurants and her own show Paula’s Home Cooking. Unfortunately everyone was in for a shock when a story was published claiming Deen had used offensive racial slurs multiple times in the past and a worker at one of Deen’s restaurants claimed that racials slurs were common in the workplace. Deen then admitted she had used slurs and offensive language in the past and tried to defend herself saying it was uncommon to do so in the south especially in the ’60s. The backlash was fierce and swift and, although she has apologized, Deen has never recovered from being labeled a racist.

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7. Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen has always been known for his roles as a less than proper male lead, but he still had fans believing behind that was a loving family man and serious actor; however, after years of playing woman-loving and alcohol-loving Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men, more and more stories came out proving he was much more like his on-screen persona then previously thought. Over the years there have been endless accounts of Sheen’s erractic behavior including rants and even abuse towards his exes due to drugs. He then capitalized on the destruction of his personal life by going on tour with his coined phrase “winning.” It has become more  and more clear that alcohol, drugs and sex are the only factors that fuel Charlie’s life.

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6. Chad Michael Murray

Chad Michael Murray literally catapulted to fame after landing the role of Lucas Scott on the hit WB/CW series One Tree Hill in the early 2000s. He was so great on the show that everyone just assumed Murray was very much like his Lucas Scott character — polite, quiet, humble and kind; however, Murray didn’t handle the fame very well and it quickly became clear he wasn’t the guy he appeared to be. After his marriage to co-star Sophia Bush, rumors quickly were reported that he had already cheated on her with none other than Paris Hilton and Bush did in fact file for annulment after just a few months of marriage claiming fraud. He was also reported to act like a diva on set which factored into his exit from the show.

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5. Katherine Heigl

Actress Katherine Heigl first really became known after being cast as Izzie Stevens on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy, and fans loved her. She was pretty, talented and seemed cheerful and sweet. That image was quickly dashed, however, after Heigl began stirring up controversy and giving a true glimpse of her personality including a moment when she rejected being nominated for an Emmy by bashing Grey’s writers saying her character’s script and story didn’t deserve an Emmy. She then went on to bash the movie that made her famous as a film actress, Knocked Up, and from there many more stories poured in concerning her awful behavior on set and that she was extremely diva-like.

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4. Lindsay Lohan

At this point, many forget the time before Lindsay Lohan’s image was completely shattered. She first became noticed when she was still young and starred as twins in the film The Parent Trap and then appeared in family friendly films such as Freaky Friday and Mean Girls. She started to transition into music and added a sexier image to herself and her music, which many passed off as her transition into an adult in the industry, but her “good” image fell apart once it was apparent she was heavily involved in the partying lifestyle and used drugs. In the course of only a few years she landed in court multiple times with DUI charges and had three separate trips to rehab. She soon had the look of someone who partied too hard and her behavior caused directors to refuse to work with her.

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3. Miley Cyrus

For a lot of people it is still hard to reconcile that the Miley Cyrus of Hannah Montana and The Last Song fame is the same Miley Cyrus we are faced with today. More than once fans have seen child stars go off the rails, but none have so drastically changed their image as much as Miley Cyrus has. She was an adorable Disney star, but in 2012-2013 she drastically changed her look, began getting tattoos and that was only the beginning. She began on-stage antics which included twerking, grabbing herself sexually and even smoking weed, and constantly stuck her tongue out, while also changing her style of music fairly drastically. Cyrus has since not been shy about her body or drug use, often wearing little more than pasties over her chest and posting images of herself smoking pot.

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2. Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby had been a beloved actor and comedian for decades until the fall of 2014 when women came forward accusing Cosby of drugging them and sexually assaulting them. The shocking claims then grew into major proportions as more than 50 women have come forward saying Cosby had attacked them, with the earliest claims taking place in the mid-’60s. He has continued to deny the allegations, but his image as a mentor figure and good-man has forever been tarnished with so many similar allegations against him.

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1. Amanda Bynes

For awhile Amanda Bynes was one of the most successful young actresses in the industry, hot off the success of her shows The Amanda Show, All That, and What I Like About You. She then moved to film with teen comedies such as What a Girl Wants, She’s the Man and Sydney White. Then in 2010 she appeared on the cover of Maxim, showing a much different and sexier version of herself, and from there things got more strange for the young star. In June 2010 she stated she was retiring because she didn’t love acting anymore and in 2012 her problems with the law began including a DUI and then two separate hit and run incidents. In 2013 she underwent a psychiatric evaluation and was arrested for posession of marijuana and then for starting a small fire in the driveway of a neighbor’s home in Thousand Oak, California. Things got continuously worse as she was hospitalized, placed under a conservatorship and after seemingly making progress everything went downhill again in 2014 when she went on strange twitter rants, was accused of shoplifting and arrested for a DUI again. Unfortunately for Bynes severe mental health issues went unnoticed early in her life, and resulted in her downward spiral after her quick rise to fame.