Courtney Love's recent trouble-filled visit to New York taught us one thing: watching a star self-destruct isn't all that much fun. Sure, we checked out those boob snaps, but we felt really guilty about it. What will happen to little Frances Bean, we wondered? And will her mom's problems add years to her presumed therapy?
Why are we fascinated with Love's out-of-control antics? Because when a celebrity flames out, it's usually not in front of camera-wielding witnesses. Handlers pocket big bucks to ensure that hospitalization is the result of "exhaustion" or "dehydration" and that pesky brushes with the law are "misunderstandings." On rare occasions when a star falls apart before a mass audience, we just can't tear our eyes away, despite our better judgment.
In the wake of Love's Big Apple breakdown, we decided to take a look at some other celebs who have spiraled downward in the public eye. Keep in mind that examples of the tragic (
Kurt Cobain,
River Phoenix), the tragically ludicrous (former child stars in handcuffs), and just plain ridiculous (O.J. in his pokey Bronco) have been nixed.
So, prepare to go off the deep end as we count down the 10 worst celebrity meltdowns...
10. Mariah Carey, 34
Meltdown Moment: It was a cruel summer for Mariah Carey in July 2001. The octave-jumping, cleavage-abusing diva, busily promoting her soon-to-be-released, semi-autobiographical flick "
Glitter" (and we all know how that turned out), seemed out of sorts. On MTV's TRL, she handed out popsicles before beginning a bizarre striptease. "I just want one day off when I can go swimming and eat ice cream and look at rainbows," Mariah told a befuddled
Carson Daly. Days later, the pop star left a pair of rambling audio messages on her Web site. Hospitalization, officially blamed on "extreme exhaustion," soon followed.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "I just want you to know that I'm trying to understand things in life right now," Carey said on her Web site. "I just can't trust anybody anymore right now because I don't understand what's going on ... I'm desperately trying to get out of this room ... I allowed myself to be a little too paranoid about life ... I'm gonna take like a minute off... Nothing's wrong ..."
The Aftermath: The butterfly-loving chart-topper has yet to soar to her previous record-breaking heights. Post-breakdown, her record label, EMI, dumped her, though it kindly ponied up $28 million to buy out her contract. Her ultra-personal album
"Charmbracelet" earned mixed reviews but solid sales, and she earned strong notices for her downscaled 2003 concert tour. She currently has a new album in the works and will once again brave the big screen as she plays against type as a diva in the upcoming flick "State Property II."
9. Margot Kidder, 55
Meltdown Moment: In April 1996, the whisky-voiced actress, who hit it big as Superman's sweetie Lois Lane, suffered a manic-depressive episode while in L.A. and spent several days living on the streets, sharing a cardboard box with a homeless guy named Charlie. By the time police found her hiding in a stranger's back yard, she was dirty, dazed, missing her front dental bridge, and had hacked off her hair to escape detection from CIA agents and one of her ex-husbands (she was experiencing a wee bit of paranoia).
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "Mental illness is the last taboo," the actress told Barbara Walters shortly after her episode, admitting she had suffered from depression for decades. "It's the one that scares everyone to death, and I have to include myself in that until the last few months."
The Aftermath: According to Kidder, she's been able to keep her illness in check without drugs, instead relying on a combination of amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. "For me, the solution was finally getting away from psychiatric drugs and actually healing my body so I wouldn't have the symptoms that are called mental illness," she told the AP. Despite breaking her pelvis in a 2002 car accident, she continues to act and will next be seen with
Andie MacDowell in the supernatural thriller "The Last Signs."
8. Martin Lawrence, 39
Meltdown Moment: Tough call, given Lawrence's past troubles. Better known incidents include a sexual harassment suit filed by his "Martin" co-star
Tisha Campbell, an attempt to board a plane with a Beretta, and a life-threatening coma caused by wearing heavy layers while jogging in 100-degree heat. But Martin's nadir probably came in 1996, when he was hospitalized after police found him at a busy L.A. intersection in a pot-induced stupor screaming at passing cars with a loaded gun in his pocket.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "I'm still in this game and I'm still very much going strong," the funnyman told the L.A. Times last year. "For all my trials and tribulations, I am a man with a good heart. I am not out to hurt nobody. I just want to make you laugh."
The Aftermath: Despite a reputation for being difficult, Lawrence has continued to crank out hit films, most recently scoring with "
Bad Boys II" opposite
Will Smith. Next up is "Rage Control," in which he'll play a college basketball coach who's forced to head up a losing junior varsity team after suffering -- wink, wink -- a public meltdown. But he's not quite in the clear. In February, he was sued by a woman who alleges he popped her in the jaw. Lawrence's rep calls the suit "financially motivated."
7. Anne Heche, 34
Meltdown Moment: On Aug. 19, 2000, the cute blonde best known as
Ellen DeGeneres' better half knocked on the door of a modest Fresno home. Dazed and scantily clad, Heche said her SUV had broken down, asked to take a shower, and then made herself at home. When the cops arrived a short time later, the actress, who had publicly announced the end of her headline-grabbing three-year relationship with DeGeneres the day before, declared she was God and would take everyone back to heaven in her spaceship.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: In her 2001 autobiography, "Call Me Crazy," Heche explained that her disoriented Fresno daytrip was the result of mental illness (fueled by Ecstasy) stemming from childhood abuse by her father, which led her to create an alter ego named Celestia, "a being from the fourth dimension here to teach the world about love."
The Aftermath: The Fresno incident snapped Heche out of "31 years of a fantasy world that I created to make myself feel safe," she told People. Ellen's ex eventually settled into a more traditional life with blue-blooded husband Coleman Laffoon, who is a stay-at-home dad to their son, Homer, 2. Heche has earned rave reviews on Broadway for "Proof" and "Twentieth Century" and will play
Nicole Kidman's best friend in the upcoming "Birth."
6. Whitney Houston, 40
Meltdown Moment: It's been a slow and painful slide for the once mega-selling, Grammy-winning superstar. Her downfall began in earnest in 1997 with a sweat-soaked live performance on HBO and continued with an airport pot bust; an Oscar-telecast firing by
Burt Bacharach after she acted confused and forgot lyrics during rehearsals; an appearance at a
Michael Jackson tribute concert, during which she looked frail enough to spark rumors that she was near death (producers later digitally altered Houston to look meatier); and a televised drug confession.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills?" Diane Sawyer asked Whitney during her ill-advised sit-down in 2002. "It has been at times," replied the "I Will Always Love You" belter, who was adamant she'd never used crack. Said Whit, "Crack is whack."
The Aftermath: Ongoing. Whitney continues to stand by her troubled man,
Bobby Brown (see below), despite their domestic problems. Things started to look up in March when Houston checked into rehab, but she bolted a few days later. Her rep insists she's continuing treatment privately.
5. Bobby Brown, 35
Meltdown Moment: Too many to list. Brown's reputation as an R&B singer has long been overshadowed by his numerous run-ins with Johnny Law. His preferred recipe for disaster: drugs, alcohol and high-performance sports cars. Since Bobby wed Whitney in 1992, he's been in and out of jail for repeatedly violating his parole and most recently spent a night in the pokey for failing to pay child support to the mother of two of his children. Brown, who broke down in tears before being taken into custody, quickly paid the debt.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: In 2002, Brown told Diane Sawyer that he smokes pot "maybe every other day" to keep his bipolar problem in check. "Me and drugs -- we're not friends," said Bobby. "We're not friends at all." In March 2004, he told the judge overseeing his child support hearing, "A lot of things have come down on me with my life, my marriage, my children. I never wanted this to happen.''
The Aftermath: Too soon to tell. Among other legal scrapes, Brown is due in court next month for allegedly assaulting Houston. In the meantime, he's having a camera crew trail him in hopes the reality of his turbulent life will appeal to a network.
4. Christian Slater, 34
Meltdown Moment: The "
Heathers" hottie was no stranger to the boys in blue when he sunk his teeth into trouble in August 1997. Slater, who'd been nabbed three years earlier at JFK Airport with a gun in his bag, was bingeing on tequila, vodka and cocaine at a friend's party when he punched a female acquaintance in the face, chomped a man in the chest who came to her defense, kicked a janitor in the stomach, and tried to grab a cop's gun. Slater, who claimed he had no recollection of his wild behavior, woke up in jail.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "I take full ownership of the incident," Slater told Rolling Stone in 1998. "I haven't shown any great character, doing drugs and alcohol. The cat's out of the bag on me, OK? I'm insane. No doubt about it. Crystal clear. I can't lie about it. I lie, I die. It's over."
The Aftermath: Slater entered rehab and eventually served 59 days in jail. He revived his career with a stint on Broadway and reformed his bad-boy image by settling into domesticity with wife Ryan Haddon, whom he wed in February 2000 (they have two kids). But Slater's hell-raiser reputation resurfaced in 2003, first when he and Haddon reportedly partied hearty with
Ben Affleck at a Vancouver strip club and later when his missus was jailed overnight for winging a glass at his head (he received nine stitches behind his ear). The charges against her were later dropped. The recent headlines haven't slowed Slater down: He currently has five movies in the can.
3. Charlie Sheen, 38
Meltdown Moment: A star by the time he was 21, Sheen put the "demons" in hedonism, spending thousands on Heidi Fleiss' call girls and, at his lowest point, downing two quarts of vodka a day and smoking copious amounts of cocaine. On May 20, 1998, after a week of nonstop partying, Sheen was rushed to the hospital suffering from a drug overdose, a fact his father,
Martin Sheen, candidly announced to the press. Charlie quickly checked into a treatment center, only to leave by limo a few hours later. His worried dad got an arrest warrant, arguing that the "
Platoon" star had broken his probation in an earlier no-contest plea for attacking his ex-girlfriend. Faced with jail time, the actor chose to work on his self-described "destructive appetites" in rehab.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "I was a little annoyed at the time," Sheen said of his father's tough-love approach, "but he saved my life, and I love him for that."
The Aftermath: Sober since getting out of treatment, Sheen has become the quintessential comeback kid. He's found new success on the small screen, first as
Michael J. Fox's replacement on "Spin City," a role that earned him a Golden Globe, and currently on the CBS hit "Two and a Half Men." He wed actress
Denise Richards in June 2003, and the couple welcomed a daughter, Sam, in March.
2. Robert Downey Jr., 39
Meltdown Moment: Downey earned his stripes as death-pool poster boy in 1996, when police stopped him for speeding and discovered crack, heroin and an unloaded gun in his car. Soon after, the Oscar-nominated actor pulled a Goldilocks when he wandered into a neighbor's house and passed out. What followed were five years of relapses, jail time, stints in rehab, and lost jobs.
Dysfunctional Dialogue: "It's like I've got a shotgun in my mouth, and I've got my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of gun metal," a desperate Downey said in court in 1999, just before he was sentenced to state prison.
The Aftermath: Still perceived as an insurance risk, Downey has nonetheless found steady work, including a co-starring role with
Halle Berry in 2003's "
Gothika." The thespian, who says his preferred vice these days is tea, plans to marry producer Susan Levin at Christmas, with his 10-year-old son, Indio, serving as his best man.
1. Michael Jackson, 45
Meltdown Moment: So many crashes, so little space. Among the lowlights that have almost completely obliterated Jackson's once-deserved reputation as the King of Pop: the reported $20 million settlement of a child-molestation lawsuit in 1994 (Jackson maintains his innocence); the disfiguring plastic surgery; the marriages to
Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe; the masked children; the money problems; the kooky disguises; the baby dangling; the disastrous documentary with Martin Bashir, during which he admitted he slept in bed with "many children"; and the current molestation charges that could land him behind bars.
Dysfunctional Declaration: "Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons," Jackson said after being booked in November. "The truth will win this marathon in court."
The Aftermath: With Jackson's image so tarnished by scandal, it will take a PR miracle for his star to be reborn. In March, amid legal wrangling over the current accusations, the Neverland-dwelling performer made an appearance in Washington, D.C., where he was filmed holding and hugging children. Is there a chance Michael will awaken from the Peter Pan fantasyland he's living in and face the reality of his world, which is crumbling faster than his nose? Maybe, but it might be too late to salvage his fame and resurrect the moonwalking, sequined-glove-wearing musical genius of old.
Top 10 Celebrity Meltdowns (cont.) - MSN Movies News
The Head Case
Dumping
Kevin Federline seemed like it might have been a good move for
Britney Spears, but everything since her 2006 split from her babydaddy has gone downhill. Rehab, flashing her goodies at the world, hanging out with
Paris and
Lindsay, aimless driving around L.A. with only the occasional pit stop at Starbucks or Rite-Aid...that was Britney's post-K-Fed life (while often dragging her two kiddies along for the ride), until that fateful February 2007 night when she showed up at a Tarzana, California hair salon and shaved her head, completely bald, with paparazzi snapping away.
Oops, She Did It Again
Yep,
Britney's well-storied downward spiral has been so severe that we had to give her two entries in our list of the most public celeb meltdowns. After the head-shaving trauma, Britney only continued to grow more and more out of control, with another rehab stint, multiple flings, erratic driving trips, hooking up with the mysterious and creepy
Sam Lufti, and losing custody of her children. But she topped, or rather bottomed out on, all that with a January 2008 episode in which she barricaded herself in her bathroom, reportedly half-naked, with son Jayden. Police and ambulance were called to the scene, where Britney was transported,
via ambulance, to the Cedars-Sinai psych ward.
Arresting Developments
2007 was not a good year for
Lindsay Lohan: Her movies flopped, her personal life spun out of control, she developed a bad reputation for being unreliable on movie sets and she made two trips to rehab. The last one came after a
July arrest for DUI, during which cops found a small amount of a "white powdery substance" in her pocket. And the arrest came as Lohan was chasing the mother of her former personal assistant...while wearing an alcohol-monitoring device on her ankle, the result of a previous rehab stint, just two weeks earlier.
Mad Mel
Lethal Weapon and
Mad Max star
Mel Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic rant ("The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world") against a police officer in July 2006 led to three unfortunate consequences: A DUI arrest, the shattering of the image of what had been one of Hollywood's most likable stars and a proliferation of those "Sugar Tits" t-shirts.
Meltdown Highway
As if those frighteningly skeletal photos of
Nicole Richie, her arrest for heroin possession and sundry other drug abuses weren't enough, being busted in 2006 for DUI after driving down a one-way street—actually, a one-way
highway—in the wrong direction was all the confirmation needed that
Lionel Richie's little girl had been partying "All Night Long" for far too often. By the way, if you're expecting to see Richie's pal
Paris Hilton on our list, you'll be disappointed. Paris' shenanigans, from the sex tape to the jail stint, aren't so much meltdowns as they are a way of life for the hotel heir-head.
Drunk ...Eating?
In May 2007, a
viral video showing a drunken, shirtless
David Hasselhoff trying to talk and
eat a Wendy's hamburger hit the Web, shocking and horrifying his fans. Shocking, because of his sad state, and horrifying because of the person who was filming him: His teenage daughter, who was begging him to tell her he would stop drinking. A few days after the video became public, Hasselhoff temporarily lost custody of both of his daughters.
A Star is Born
Things weren't so simple back in the day either. Now she's a screen legend, but in 1947,
Judy Garland was suffering daily breakdowns on the set of husband
Vincente Minnelli's movie
The Pirate. It was the last film she would make for MGM and a few months later, she attempted suicide. But good news for our modern day meltdowns: there are always second acts. Garland had a big and beautiful comeback the following decade.
Sorry, Wrong Number
It's not like he ever had a reputation as a sweet-tempered guy, but that's still a whole lot different that flinging a telephone at someone's head. But that's what
Russell Crowe did—while in New York City to promote
Cinderella Man, a movie in which he played a boxer—in 2005. The Oscar winner was reportedly upset that he couldn't complete a phone call to his wife in Australia, and a poor Mercer Hotel concierge bore the brunt of his frustration. His next call was free... but from a jail cell. Crowe was released six hours later, paid a $160 fine to the state and reportedly $100K to the staffer. That's one expensive hotel phone bill.
Five Finger Discount
Winona Ryder stole hearts on the big screen, but she was caught on a smaller screen—by the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue security cameras—stealing $6,000 worth of goodies in 2001. Ryder was later convicted of grand theft, and tried to explain away the misdeed by saying she was under the influence of painkillers given to her by a "quack" doctor. Worse: She told
Vogue magazine in 2007 that she "didn't have this tremendous sense of guilt, because I hadn't hurt anyone. Had I physically harmed someone or caused harm to a human being, I think it would have been an entirely different experience." Come on, 'Nona, we've all seen the PSAs...shoplifting
does hurt everyone, because the store owner passes the cost of stolen merchandise on to the consumer.
Celebrity meltdowns
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