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They had fame, fortune, and the industry’s full support... until scandals, bad behavior, and career-killing controversies sent everything crashing down. From shocking public meltdowns to devastating accusations and career-ending backlash, these are the Hollywood downfalls that stunned fans and changed reputations forever. Which collapse surprised you most? Let us know in the comments below!
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00:00It's oftentimes as unknown, but occasionally, you know, a giant marquee name comes through on your
00:04caller ID and it's like winning. Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today we're looking at luminaries who
00:10had Hollywood at their feet and lost it all. If I didn't pay the price for the things we both
00:15know
00:16I did do, I'm certainly not going to pay the price for the things I didn't do. Roseanne Barr.
00:23She was outspoken, loud, and shot from the hip. That's what made Roseanne Roseanne.
00:29Are you ever sorry we got married? Every second of my life.
00:32As the years went by though, that outspokenness came back to bite her. One season into the long
00:38awaited revival of her self-titled sitcom, she published a racist tweet about Obama administration
00:45advisor Valerie Jarrett. Barr was roundly lambasted and her series was canceled ahead of its second
00:51season. I thought the bitch was white! God damn it! I thought the bitch was white!
01:00The show was then revived under a new title with the same cast, minus her character.
01:05Well, that's why I'm here. I know Roseanne would want me to step in and watch over the family.
01:09No, it'd kill her. But she's already dead, so carry on.
01:15Barr has spent the years since accusing everyone involved of betrayal and espousing her love of
01:21President Donald Trump. Ingrid Bergman. The Swedish-born Casablanca actress was one of the
01:27biggest movie stars of the classic era. What about us? We'll always have Paris. We didn't have,
01:34we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
01:39When I said I would never leave you. Ingrid Bergman's image was of the glamorous but virtuous
01:44woman. In 1950, that persona was blown apart by her extramarital affair with Italian neorealist
01:52director Roberto Rossellini. Her divorce from her first husband, pregnancy, and subsequent marriage
01:58to Rossellini was a classic Hollywood crisis. The American public turned on her. I felt it was my
02:04private life and people who judged and wrote and talked in the American Senate and wanted me
02:12to be forever excluded from American movies. Fueled by misogyny and xenophobia, the backlash led Bergman
02:19to essentially live in exile in Europe for much of the 1950s. Her career recovered, but she fell from
02:25a greater height than many of the modern stars on this list. If you live with all that bitterness
02:32and oh he did this to me and I, you know, and it shows, it shows in your face and
02:38you should just
02:39forget it. And then of course good health comes in very handy. Ellen DeGeneres. In 1997, the boundary
02:45breaking comics coming out nearly tanked her career. Why can't I just say the truth? I mean be who I
02:52am.
02:52I'm 35 years old. I'm so afraid to tell people. I mean I just, Susan, I'm gay. America got to
03:01know
03:01and love the dancing prankster Ellen DeGeneres through her long-running talk show. Her famous
03:07catchphrase, be kind, eventually turned into a joke. During the COVID-19 pandemic, reports began
03:13to crop up of toxic labor conditions on the set. DeGeneres in particular was singled out for her
03:19coldness, rudeness and downright hostility toward her staff. And she would laugh because I was hoping
03:25she was going to say, Ed, you can't be yelling at crew this way. You can't be yelling at people
03:30this way.
03:30She laughed and she said, every production needs their dog. Consistent horror stories about
03:37DeGeneres' behavior spilled out from former employees. Her attempts at damage control rang
03:42hollow. The show came to an end and DeGeneres has all but left the entertainment industry.
03:48And I've said it before but I'll say it again. If I've done anything in the past 19 years,
03:52I hope I've inspired you to be yourself, your true authentic self.
03:56Will Smith. It was the slap heard around the world. The 2022 Academy Awards were a rollercoaster
04:03for Will Smith. Before collecting his first and potentially only Oscar for Best Actor,
04:09Smith walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face.
04:12I don't need that smoke! I'm like, The Rock! The Rock! I do not need the smoke. Y'all know
04:19what
04:19happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith.
04:22The slap, which was in response to Rock's joke about Jada Pinkett Smith,
04:26stole all the media coverage about the event. Smith received a 10-year ban from the event and
04:32his public persona as a Hollywood family man was severely dented.
04:36Somebody just found out their spouse cheated, you know? It's like there's all these things and
04:41there's strangers and you just don't know what's going on with people.
04:47Several of his brand deals and upcoming projects were canceled.
04:51Smith's return to music after a 20-year absence did not go well either.
04:55Not that that, you know, justifies my behavior at all. I would just say, you know, you're asking
05:00what did I learn? And it's that, um, we just gotta be nice to each other, man.
05:09Jonathan Majors. After years of building a career in independent movies,
05:13the 2020s seemed like a breakthrough for the Yale-educated actor Jonathan Majors.
05:18Roles in Lovecraft Country and the Marvel Cinematic Universe made him the new franchise darling.
05:24It was a short-lived come-up. Majors was arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in 2023
05:30and found guilty of assault and harassment.
05:33And the verdict comes down. I say, how, how, how is, how is that possible?
05:39Based off the evidence, based off the process, the prosecution's evidence.
05:44More allegations of similar behavior soon came out in Variety and Rolling Stone.
05:49Majors' star was too new to withstand the scandal. One day, he was the next big thing.
05:55The next, he was being dropped from several upcoming big budget projects.
05:59Jonathan Majors, guilty of assaulting and harassing his former girlfriend.
06:03Now, in a stunning reversal of fortune for the once-rising star,
06:07Majors reportedly has been dropped by Marvel Studios.
06:11The U.S. Army even dropped their ad campaign starring the actor.
06:15Majors has since gone back to independent film.
06:18Disclaimer is, however you feel or felt about me in the past, or even currently,
06:26it is valid.
06:28Charlie Sheen
06:29At the time he was let go from the successful sitcom Two and a Half Men,
06:33Charlie Sheen was earning almost $2 million per episode.
06:37How exactly do you know Mia?
06:38Oh, we used to do the ballet thing together, but I didn't have the discipline.
06:42No kidding.
06:43I still dance, but just for tips.
06:47Huh. I'll call you back.
06:49Sheen's stints in rehab and increasingly worrying behavior played out before cameras.
06:55The terms tiger blood and bi winning entered the public lexicon thanks to his turbulent
07:00but meme-worthy morning show interviews.
07:03I'm bi winning.
07:04I win here and I win there.
07:06Now what?
07:07If I'm bipolar, aren't there moments where a guy like crashes and is like in the corner
07:11like, oh my God, it's all my mom's fault.
07:13Shut up.
07:14Shut up.
07:15Stop.
07:15Move forward.
07:15Legal battles with former boss Chuck Lorre, substance use, and erratic behavior overshadowed
07:22his work.
07:22By the end of the decade, his output had slowed dramatically.
07:26In 2025, he released a memoir and a documentary seeking to reintroduce himself to the public.
07:33Do you recognize yourself?
07:34I don't know who that is.
07:35And that's not a cop-out.
07:37It's, or I don't know what part of me that came from.
07:40It's weird.
07:41It's like there's a possession going on.
07:43Armie Hammer, a member of a wealthy oil family, the Call Me By Your Name actor shirked family
07:48expectations to become an actor.
07:50Armie Hammer was working steadily throughout the 2010s and had roles in the award-winning
07:55films The Social Network and Call Me By Your Name.
07:59You don't have to be an intellectual property expert to understand the difference between
08:01right and wrong.
08:02You're saying that I don't.
08:04Of course I'm not saying that, sir.
08:05I'm saying that.
08:06Then a series of explicit and disturbing messages to several romantic partners were made public.
08:11Alarming new allegations against Armie Hammer.
08:14Yeah, one of his accusers came forward today with claims that are so disturbing, she broke
08:19down.
08:19This controversy set the internet alight with speculation and rumors.
08:23Hammer stepped away from several projects and was dropped from others.
08:27Although he resurfaced with a podcast, more high-profile work has yet to materialize.
08:33Some people love cilantro and some people hate it and neither are wrong.
08:38But nothing that you did, in your estimation, was non-consensual.
08:42Correct.
08:43Kevin Spacey.
08:44Few modern actors were as respected and lauded as Kevin Spacey.
08:49He won two Oscars, a Tony and a Golden Globe.
08:52As someone who has enjoyed such an extraordinary career and in large measure because of the people
08:57in this room, I just want it to be better.
09:02I just want to be better.
09:03But this is very encouraging.
09:05Thank you very much.
09:05In 2017, multiple allegations of sexual misconduct were brought to light.
09:11Spacey's response brought more criticism and he was fired from Netflix's House of Cards.
09:16Spacey's performance was even edited out of the film All the Money in the World, which
09:21had already been completed and he was replaced entirely by actor Christopher Plummer.
09:26The charges against Spacey were either dropped or he was acquitted for various technical reasons.
09:32He's hoping to make a comeback to acting.
09:34Last month, even telling a German newspaper that I know that there are people ready to
09:39hire me right now, the moment I'm cleared of these charges.
09:43However, his behavior since, and the lingering scandal, has seen him taking smaller roles in
09:49productions outside the United States.
09:51I shocked you with my honesty, but mostly I challenged you and made you think.
09:57And you trusted me, even though you knew you shouldn't.
10:02Harvey Weinstein.
10:03This one-time indie producer became a major Hollywood mogul who figured out how to game
10:08the Oscars.
10:09Prestige pictures were Harvey Weinstein's bread and butter.
10:12There was a time where his name appeared in more Oscars speeches than God.
10:17And on her bum, as you say, J.D. loves H.W.
10:22A tattoo.
10:24He said, I put your name on my ass.
10:27Years of speculation broke open in 2017.
10:30The New York Times and The New Yorker published highly detailed, meticulously researched pieces
10:36on Weinstein's decades of sexual misconduct.
10:39Harvey, how many settlements have you paid out over the years?
10:44We were told 8 to 12.
10:46That's you talking.
10:47That's not me talking.
10:48His abusive power, manipulation, and predation saw one of the swiftest and most deserved downfalls
10:55in movie history.
10:56Weinstein's career was over, his company was dissolved, and he was up for charges in both
11:02New York and California.
11:03He was sentenced to 16 years in the California case, and 23 years in a since-overturned New
11:10York conviction.
11:11I don't think most people are aware of the exotic and extreme tools at the disposal of
11:17the most powerful and wealthy men in America when they are bent at silencing accusations against
11:23them.
11:23Bill Cosby.
11:24Dad, you cannot make Rudy drink.
11:27Take your hands off me, please.
11:30Dad, you can't.
11:32Hey!
11:33Cliff Huxtable was the very image of a loving, goofy patriarch.
11:36For years, that's how many Americans saw the actor behind him.
11:40Then, in 2014, comedian Hannibal Buress opened Pandora's box by referencing Bill Cosby's years
11:47of well-documented misconduct.
11:49Sounds like Bill Cosby a little bit.
11:52Literally, Theo!
11:55I'm getting sidetracked.
11:56Over 60 women have made allegations against the once-beloved actor-comedian.
12:01Cosby became the subject of allegations and charges in several cases.
12:06He denied them all.
12:07Years of legal battles followed.
12:09His 2018 conviction and prison sentence was overturned, although he was found guilty in
12:15a separate civil case.
12:16Cosby has since stayed out of the public eye, leaving behind a tarnished legacy.
12:21Bill Cosby walked free today after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overturned his assault
12:26conviction, leaving his accusers stunned.
12:29What Hollywood downfalls did we leave out?
12:31Let us know in the comments.
12:33Let's see.
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