14 DAY TRIAL // The bigger the star, the harder their fall. Our celebrity culture thrives on scandal because the media knows that the fall from grace is all the more spectacular if a big name is involved – and 2014 has not lacked in those.
As we’re drawing closer to the end of the year and we’re looking back at accomplishments and trainwrecks in all areas of entertainment, it would be a shame if we didn’t come up with a list of the 5 biggest celebrity turkeys of the year.
2014 has not lacked in scandal and controversy, and social media has again proved that it can be the undoing of a big star. Celebrities are humans just like us, and just like us, sometimes they mess up so badly that we can’t but stand back and watch. Grab the popcorn, here are 5 of the biggest celebrity turkeys of the year.
Robin Thicke
Robin Thicke was coming off a very successful run thanks to his Pharrell collaboration “Blurred Lines.” Partly because of the explicit video, partly because of the “rapey” lyrics, that song put him on the map like no other before and he could finally look in the mirror and say to himself “I have arrived.”
Things at home weren’t that good, though. Tales of boozing it up on tour and of sleeping with countless groupies must have found their way back to his longtime wife (and high school sweetheart) Paula Patton, because she eventually kicked him to the curb. But that was only the beginning of a very bad year for Thicke.
In what can only be described as a most uninspired moment, Thicke decided he would try to win Paula back by writing her not one song but an entire studio album, which he called, obviously, “Paula.” The album turned out to be a dud, but that didn’t stop him from promoting it by saying and doing the cheesiest things. Any woman in Paula’s stead was probably cringing throughout the promo tour.
The reality didn’t change, sadly for Robin: he was a cheater who had thrown his marriage in the gutter for random chicks. But now the entire world knew him to be a cheater who also made bad music and even worse life choices.
Shia LaBeouf
I like Shia LaBeouf, I really do. Despite all the negative media attention he’s been getting as of late, I do believe he’s deeply tormented about his purpose in life and in the industry of film: on the one hand, he’s talented and he loves acting, but on the other, he simply can’t keep up with the demands made of a movie star and with studio pressure to meet them.
Still, LaBeouf has also made some very questionable choices this year. First, he made a movie for which he ripped off the work of a famous graphic novelist and he somehow thought he would never get caught. Then, when he did get caught, he raged at the world, painting himself as the victim.
Because that wasn’t enough, he declared he wasn’t “famous anymore” by wearing a paper bag on his head on the red carpet, and then opened an exhibit called #IAMSORRY in New York, with himself as part of the installation. Basically, people could come in and do and say whatever they wanted to him, and all he’d do was cry.
Just a few days ago, Shia revealed that a woman raped him during the exhibit and his claims infuriated many because you can’t yell “rape” when you’re willingly sitting on a chair, doing nothing to prevent the abuse, though you could.
Perhaps the reason why I consider Shia a turkey is because he let all this distract him from what he does best, which is act. Not many fans expect him to be an artist, which is how come all of this happened, but all of them expect him to be an actor. He forgot that.
Mama June
Mama June should be banned from calling herself that. She was once TLC’s favorite thanks to the reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, featuring former kiddie beauty pageant contestant Honey Boo Boo and the entire family.
This year, word got out that Mama June had reconnected with a man who had just been released from prison after serving 10 years for molesting an 8-year-old girl. That girl was actually Mama June’s estranged daughter Chickadee, who was removed from the house after the abuse – he had forced himself on her when he dated Mama June about 13 years before.
That wasn’t even the worst part: as the days went by, more details on this shocking situation emerged. Apparently, Mama June brought her pedophile lover into the house, where she has other 3 minor girls, and when the story broke in the media, she tried to lie her way out of the predicament.
She tried to lie later as well, even after TLC canceled her show and it became clear that she had lost the public’s support for good. Mama June wanted at least a slim chance at continuing to make money off being herself in front of the camera, and she thought she could do that by lying to save whatever was left of her reputation.
Yeah, that didn’t work.
Stephen Collins
Everyone’s favorite TV pastor, Stephen Collins, star of the ABC show “7th Heaven,” was perhaps the most surprising scandal topic of the year, when an audio recording between himself and his estranged wife emerged online.
On it, Collins admitted to molesting girls as young as 7 years back. The conversation was taking place during a couples therapy session, and his wife recorded it because she wanted to have some proof to offer the police so that they could launch an investigation.
After the leak, Collins blamed his wife saying she was looking to slander him, and she claimed she had no knowledge of how the audio got out. Whatever either said on the topic, there was no taking back what Collins himself had admitted to on the recording, namely that he was a pedophile who had acted out on his impulses for years, most of the time using his TV good name to ingratiate himself with the victims’ parents.
Bill Cosby
Last but not least is another example of a surprise of the most unpleasant kind: legendary actor Bill Cosby may also be a rapist of the worst kind. This scandal is still ongoing, and like in Collins’ case, it’s based on things that happened many years ago. Just like in Collins’ case, it could cost Cosby his reputation.
As of now, over a dozen women have stepped forward to claim that the actor drugged and raped them a long time ago, using his influence and fame to lure them to his room with the promise that he could give them a career boost.
Some of them have filed complaints with the police at the time, but many of them, like self-titled “world’s first supermodel” Janice Dickinson, didn’t because they feared he might ruin them, because he was so influential and rich. All of them are speaking out now because they want justice served: it might come 3 decades too late, but it will still be justice.
Cosby maintains that all allegations are false and he’s not lacking supporters, who are blaming social media and the press’ thirst for a scandalous story for jumping to conclusions and thus ruining his good name. As we speak, the jury is still out on this scandal.
Honorable mentions: Justin Bieber, who managed to get arrested several times, Chris Brown, who went on one too many Twitter rages, James Franco, who kept saying and doing inappropriate things on social media throughout the year, Kanye West, because Kanye is always the best! (in ALL-CAPS, preferably), Lindsay Lohan, who is yet to make that comeback she’s been promising us for the past 2 years, and Dean McDermott & Tori Spelling for knowing no limit to which they will scoop just to keep their reality show on the air.
