20 Celebrities Who Destroyed Their Own Careers

1.

It's easy to forget sometimes that athletes, actors, politicians, and other types of famous folks, are just people like the rest of us. Perhaps it is because they are constantly in the limelight and on our televisions and newspapers, they almost seem separated from the rest of us, so when one of them does something wrong it usually comes as quite a shock.

There have been some hard and fast downfalls in the celebrity arena. We've collected some of the worst falls from grace.

Shoutout to AskReddit for answering the question, "What celeb had the hardest downward spiral?"

2.

Antonio Brown. Drove 100 down McKnight Road in Pittsburgh, which has a 45 MPH speed limit. Tried to fight Mike Mayock, called him a cracker, had to be held back by Vontaze Burfict, then punted a football down the practice field and said "fine me for that." The sexual assault allegations came out. Etc, etc... -reverend_fancypants

3.

Bam Margera for me. He looks horrible now, like his dad but worse. Wouldn't be surprised if I wake up one morning and he's dead. -True_Egg_5685

4.

John Belushi. In a brief period in the 1970s starred in 'SNL', 'Animal House', and 'The Blues Brothers'. but died in 1982 from a heroin overdose. -c-fox

5.

Brad Renfro. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 25 after a steep downward spiral. It is suspected he was the victim of Hollywood predator types when he was still a young boy, right after starring in "The Client" as his star was rapidly ascending. -igneousink

6.

I know it’s a bit of a niche but… Conor McGregor. The Khabib fight was the biggest in his career. Two years of layoff, returning to face an unstoppable juggernaut. The press conferences were packed with vitriol and pure bile rather than the typical tongue in cheek charm. It was uncharacteristic - or rather, it was the mask coming off at last.

He got humiliated badly, and everything went wild. Cocaine. Sexual assault scandals, whether true or not. Alcohol. He started his own whiskey brand. Apparently it’s garbage, but don’t take it from me. Take it from the old man he sucker punched in a bar for refusing to drink it. -DrJonesPHD62

7.

Bill Cosby. He was America's favorite Dad, stand-up comic, had several very successful TV shows, spoke at colleges....then out of nowhere... He's just a dirty creepy guy who spikes your drink so he can get some. -Eponarose

8.

Amanda Bynes. Went from the girl next door cast in every teen movie to a conservatorship and addiction issues. -Kmammy

9.

Jim Morrison. The guy would show up drunk and absolutely wrecked all the time during recordings, got arrested on many occasions for his behavior, and later on dies literally right after coming from a bar in his own bathtub. It’s sad and I absolutely adore him as an artist but man is it sad to hear what he got himself into leading to his inevitable death. -TheBeanBagger

10.

Johnny Manziel. He beeat Alabama, won the Heisman trophy, was on top of the college football world. Still got drafted in the first round despite trouble starting to mount in his final year at Texas A&M.

Struggled immensely on and off the field in Cleveland (domestic violence, disappearing to Vegas wearing a disguise, and much more), was out of the NFL after two seasons, and was dropped by nearly everyone in his circle. Popped back up in the CFL, then to the Alliance League, and now he’s a former Heisman Trophy winner/1st round NFL Draft pick playing in the Fan-Controlled Football League. -MIDNIGHT_KNIGHT

11.

Amy Winehouse. Watching her destruction throughout 2007 and 2008 was just horrible, it was like a car crash that no one could stop. I’ve never been able to watch the footage of her final concert in Belgrade as she just looks terrified and with no control. -Btd030914

12.

Jussie Smollett. I think his prime motivation was that fame wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to become a symbol, too. And what’s a more positive symbol than standing against racism? -PenguinGunner

13.

Lance Armstrong had an incredible fall from grace. From multiple Tour de France champion to steroid denier, and finally admitted everything but too late. Lost everything and he couldn't even get sympathy when he went through testicular cancer, that's how bad his spiral was. -jspockman

14.

Michael Richards comes to mind. Massive role as Kramer in one of the most popular TV sitcoms of all time, and then, yikes. Just no coming back from his stand-up meltdown. -Trillamanjaroh

15.

Kurt Cobain. Formed Nirvana in '87, and went from playing record store gigs and dive bars in the late 80's to putting out Nevermind, a record that knocked Michael Jackson out of the #1 spot in Jan of '92. Back then, something like that was unheard of and considered impossible in the industry.

For the next couple of years Nirvana were arguably one of the biggest and most popular rock bands in the world, but Cobain was already thinking of ways to essentially sabotage the bands popularity because he was so uncomfortable with how famous they got while dealing with his own inner demons and drug addiction. -DrRDuke

16.

Maybe not most destructive, but Mel Gibson fell hard.

Guy went from being quite a beloved and pretty decent actor to a respected director, and then said some really hateful things about Jews in the back of a police car (among other things). -Jonnydodger

17.

I think of Chris Farley. His SNL career started in '92(ish), his real break came with 'Tommy Boy' in '94. Dead by '98 at 33 years old. Horribly addicted to drugs, alcohol, food, and other impulse related stuff probably. Probably gained 100lbs in his 6 year run.

OD'd on a "speedball" (as everyone seems to.) Everybody of that era claims he was the funniest guy they've ever known, and most of them talk about being frustrated both by his lack of any self worth (despite how beloved he was), and a feeling of "inevitability" about his early demise. Obviously Chris wasn't like some of the other scumbags mentioned on this thing. He was simply self destructive. -conradbirdiebird

18.

Shia LaBeouf. In all seriousness, 'Honey Boy' seemed to be a sort of apology for the person he had become. Then we find out that he was abusive while starring in a movie about how he became abusive. What a terrible man. -plasticdisplaysushi

19.

I would have to say Whitney Houston. I suspect many people here were either not alive or too young to remember how insanely big Houston was. She was literally the biggest female artist in the world and one the biggest artists, and this was before social media. She holds the record for having 7 consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Top 100, record sales of over 200 million, a host of awards including 28 Guinness World Records.

The only other artist that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Whitney in regards to success would be Michael Jackson. However between 2000 - 2005 her entire career and life completely disintegrated. Her marriage to Bobby Brown, her addiction to crack, the car crash that was her own reality TV show utterly destroyed her career. -GhostRiders

20.

In all honesty? It’s got to be John Wilkes Booth. The man was from a prestigious acting family and not only famous from his own skill and roles on stage, but became seriously wealthy too, and was in demand across the country. People knew him. He was twenty-six years old and a superstar.

But he had sympathies with the Confederacy and planned to kidnap Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with the help of conspirators to end the war more favorably. When they surrendered he was enraged, changed the plan to kill Lincoln and several high-ranking officials with the help of his conspirators, and make the South rise up and welcome him as a hero. And then he killed Lincoln. -MrShoggoth

21.

Richard Gere but for all the wrong reasons, Richard was peak celebrity and face of Hollywood at one point he had the looks, charisma, chemistry and the acting chops but suddenly his career just fell off. What was his mistake you ask?

SPEAKING UP AGAINST ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL CHINESE OCCUPATION OF TIBET this earned him a 10 year ban from Oscars and due to CHINA's massive influence on Hollywood he was essentially blacklisted. -48H1