Hollywood is where dreams are made. But, it can also be where dreams are crushed, throw down the garbage disposal and splashed all over news stations, magazines and blogs. When fame comes, so does the pressure to be in the spotlight. Whether that attention comes at a young age or as your career becomes more intense, there’s no way to handle every bit of having a 24/7 magnifying glass on your life without making a mistake or two.
But for these celebrities, fame rained down hard and crushed their spirits in a variety of ways. Everyone has heard the news reports. Young celebrities losing their lives, high-profile families proving to be even more obnoxious than once thought or veteran actors, essentially, losing their minds. From sanity to decision-making, these 16 allowed stardom and notoriety get the best of them.
16 Macaulay Culkin
Everyone knows Macaulay from the classic, Christmas movie, Home Alone. He was making $8 million per film, according to The Daily Beast, becoming the biggest child actor Hollywood had ever seen. But even more famously, he’s known for the nasty battle between himself and his parents throughout his teenage years. Allegedly, his father was mishandling his son’s money and his parents fought over control in a public divorce. Unfortunately after that mess died down, Macaulay was arrested in 2004 for possession of marijuana and other pills – he’s also vanished from the acting scene.
15 Jaden & Willow Smith
No one believes that Jaden or Willow Smith have been completely crushed by fame (yet), but it’s to be asked whether or not the unbelievable spotlight they’ve been under since birth has anything to do with their bizarre interviews. For example, in an interview with T Magazine one can find Willow reading quantum physics and Jaden reading “The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life” and other ancient texts. Some other strange answers given:
I’m curious about your experience of time. Do you feel like life is moving really quickly? Is your music one way to sort of turn it over and reflect on it?
WILLOW: I mean, time for me, I can make it go slow or fast, however I please, and that’s how I know it doesn’t exist.
JADEN: It’s proven that how time moves for you depends on where you are in the universe. It’s relative to beings and other places. But on the level of being here on earth, if you are aware in a moment, one second can last a year. And if you are unaware, your whole childhood, your whole life can pass by in six seconds. But it’s also such a thing that you can get lost in.
14 Heidi Montag
Montag rose in the spotlight after being cast on the MTV reality show, The Hills, where fans saw her relationship with Lauren Conrad flourish and die. And then they watched in awe as her relationship with Spencer Pratt became more and more … ridiculous, as they tried to hold onto fame. Her true demise? The numerous plastic surgeries she received that completely transformed her all-American look to one of a plastic Barbie doll. And now, both her and her husband are reportedly penniless and living at his parents’ house.
13 Corey Haim
Haim is best known for his role alongside Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys, making him a 1980s teen idol and household name. Unfortunately, he began using drugs by his 15th birthday and struggled with addiction for the rest of his life before passing away on March 10, 2010 from pneumonia. Feldman was quoted saying that he had died “very destitute” and alone and explained that the, alleged, abuse Haim had suffered in his youth contributed to his tumultuous past.
12 Justin Bieber
Although it seems as though Bieber may be turning himself around, not too long ago the teen heartthrob was being featured on every media platform for his rebellious behavior. A 2013 CBC News article sheds light on just some of the antics that were being displayed from collapsing on stage, confrontations with a London nightclub bouncer and public arguments with photographers. Fortunately by 2015, Bieber seems to be on the road to recovery with talks of a new album and turning his life around.
11 Charlie Sheen
Known for a variety of roles including those in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Three Musketeers and Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen is now most recognized for his personal life. Fired in 2011 for dangerously self-destructive conduct, his erratic behavior seemed to become the talk of the town in the months following his exit. And in 2014 Jon Cryer, co-star on Two and a Half Men, said, “Anybody who's had an addict as a friend knows that you live with this fear — you know, is the next phone call gonna be the one where something horrible has happened?"
10 Lindsay Lohan
What’s a “crushed by fame” list without the addition of Lindsay Lohan? Starring in a variety of movies as a young actress, and playing Cady Heron in one of her most popular films, Mean Girls, Lohan was on quite the steady demise for several years. In a series of DUIs, arrests, rehab stints and rumored unprofessional behavior on-set, she’s tarnished her reputation in Hollywood and finds it hard to get work – despite her inarguable amount of talent.
9 Marilyn Monroe
If anyone wants a peek into the demise of Marilyn Monroe, just watch Lifetime’s The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. It takes a look at not only the men in Monroe’s life but her mother as well as how fame took a real toll on her emotional and mental well-being. There are a lot of conspiracies surrounding her death but according to various sites, she passed away from a Barbiturate overdose after years of struggling with addiction and depression.
8 Kylie Jenner
There’s been no one instance to make Kardashian fans believe fame has “crushed” the Jenner sister, but her physical transformation could be one to not take likely. Recently, Kylie has been looking more and more like a certain, older sister – whether those are just beauty tricks or surgical procedures are to be debated. It seems to the vast amount of the public that Kylie is letting the scrutiny of fame get the best of her and finds it hard to just be happy being (and looking) like herself.
7 Martin Lawrence
Funny man, Martin Lawrence, is known for his roles in movies such as Bad Boys and Big Momma’ House, but his personal life and violent outbursts seem to have hurt his career. He’s been arrested on numerous including in punching a man in a LA nightclub and carrying a loaded gun in his suitcase in a Burbank airport. But he’s also pushed himself to the limits for his work. While preparing for Big Momma’s House, he slipped into a 3-day coma and nearly died due to heat exhaustion while jogging in heavy clothing and a plastic suit.
6 Amanda Bynes
From Nickelodeon’s “All That” to her funny role alongside Hollywood heartthrob Channing Tatum in She’s the Man, Bynes was an American sweetheart for her entire career. But in 2012 she announced, via Twitter, that she was retiring from acting. And things spun out of control. DUIs, hit-and-run accidents, criminal possession of marijuana and undergoing mental-health evaluations, this is just some of the list of legal issues and bizarre moments since her exit.
5 Shia LaBeouf
Starting on Disney’s Even Stevens as quirky, silly little brother, Louis, LaBeouf transitioned into the adult acting world quite nicely. Until things got weird. His bizarre behavior has had fans scratching their heads for a few years now. There’s even a timeline one can visit at The Telegraph that maps out some of his most absurd and weird moments, pointing to a disturbed life behind-the-scenes of his movies and his Twitter activity. Although his career hasn’t taken a nosedive, his reputation has gotten a bit wonky.
4 Britney Spears
Britney Spears even lost it at one point in time. Does anyone remember when she shaved her head? Reported by San Jose Mercury News, Spears felt trapped and alienated at the height of her fame. Thankfully after some failed relationships and wild behavior, she’s turned her life and career into something even bigger than it was in the early 2000s.
3 Tatum O’Neal
She may have won an Academy Award – making her the youngest – for her role in Paper Moon when she was just 10-years old, but she also hasn’t done much with her career since her youth. And in 2008 she was arrested in Manhattan for buying drugs. She wrote a autobiography claiming that her father’s drug dealer abused her when she was 12-years old which is likely where the stem of her drug addiction may have come from.
2 Jodie Sweetin
Sweetin played Stephanie Tanner who warmed the hearts of every family in America during Full House’s run. But when the show ended in 1995, the young actress began to drink and experiment with drugs landing her in rehab three years later. She’s now on her third marriage but is hoping to make a comeback by signing on to be in Stephanie’s shoes once again with the Full House reboot, Fuller House, which will air on Netflix in 2016.
1 Taylor Momsen
From How the Grinch Stole Christmas to playing Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl, Taylor Momsen has made quite the transformation. She hasn’t made an acting appearance since her stint on the CW hit but she’s still fronting her band, The Pretty Reckless. Her dramatic makeup and style choices just seem to be that of a rebellious, seemingly distraught teenager instead of the fresh-faced talent fans knew her as.
Sources: thedailybeast.com, blogs.nytimes.com, dailymail.co.uk,cbc.ca, eonline.com, ew.com, usmagazine.com, usmagazine.com, gawker.com, mylifetime.com, observer.com, telegraph.co.uk, imdb.com, mercurynews.com
