Popularity and fame are a fragile thing. Some people appear to do whatever they want with no repercussions, and for others a single wrong move will precipitate their fall from grace. And for others, even their downfall can lead to huge amounts of negative media coverage, and more fame. Here are 20 famous people who quickly and most destructively fell from grace:

1. Rolf Harris

One person stated, “Rolf Harris. You probably need to be an Australian of a particular generation, but d-mn this guy. It's kind of our version of Bill Cosby, in that it was absolutely shocking and meant a lot of stuff we identified with became tainted.”

Asecond person replied, “In the UK a good parallel example would be Jimmy Savile. When he was alive he was beloved, he had a TV show that made people's dreams come true, and he raised a huge amount of money for charity. He was even knighted by the Queen.

“Then after his death, it was discovered that he was one of the most prolific s-xual pr-dators the world has ever known. And it wasn't just living people he abused, … as well. Although all this was discovered after his death and he got away with it, there were lots of things named after him that were quickly renamed and his headstone was removed and destroyed.”

2. Jared Fogle

“Jared Fogle (the Subway guy). The things discovered about him are quite disturbing. Prison is an appropriate place for him,” said one.

“He was invited to the premier of the second Avengers movie and less than a month later he was in jail,” replied another.

Then the third added, “He went from a mild cholesterol problem to a child m-lestral problem.”

3. Oscar Pistorious

One user stated, “Oscar Pistorious, for example, had a rather fast transition from paralympic champion and role model to spouse k-ller.”

Another person replied, “This is the answer for me because it happened so fast. I’d never heard of the dude. Then he was this HEEEEEERO that every publication was fawning over. Then like the next summer he’s murdered his wife. The whiplash was huge. Jared Fogle turns out to be a monster but… it’s not like he was beloved or anything. Pistorius truly went from unknown to Adonis in the Pantheon to a killer.”

Finally, the third added, “I would say his downfall slowly started during the 2012 Paralympics, where he started accusing other athletes of cheating so they could beat him, which immediately started to show the cracks in his egotistical persona.” 

4. O.J. Simpson

One user commented, “Still kills me how he was considered for the title role in The Terminator, but Schwarzenegger got it because OJ was considered too nice to convincingly play an emotionless killer robot

Another person replied, “For all your younger people… this was insane when it happened. One day you turn on the TV and helicopters are following a white Ford Bronco for hours. Then the trial of the century. OJ Simpson was the man before this. Insanely successful, famous, rich, then it's over.”

5. Anne Boleyn

“Anne Boleyn. Went from Queen of England to losing her head in three years,” said one.

“Speaking of Tudors, Lady Jane Grey was queen of England for 9 days, then was imprisoned for a few months before being beheaded,” the second person replied.

Then the third added, “The Wolf Hall series about the rise of Thomas Cromwell is such a good miniseries set around her rise and fall. I couldn’t recommend highly enough.”

6. Aaron Hernandez

One person commented, “Aaron Hernandez. Played tight end for the New England Patriots. Fresh off a new contract. Killed his friend, found guilty, then took his own life during the appeal.”

The second person replied, “He's also literally the dumbest criminal ever to live. Stuck his [chewing] gum with is DNA in the spent shell casing. It goes on and on.”

Then somebody added, “I believe an autopsy showed he had the worst case of CTE ever recorded or something? Apparently he had a brain similar to that of a 70-year-old with dementia.”

7. Bill Cosby

“It is hard to think of a contemporary example who fell further from a great height than America's dad,” said one.

“The scariest/saddest part about that story was that no one touched him for years. It was pretty much common knowledge that he was a r-pist for decades, hundreds if not thousands of people knew it and there were public rumblings every now and then, but everyone was too scared to say anything. Really makes you wonder who else is a r-pist and no one is saying anything,” replied somebody.

“In the early 2000's there was a documentary/reality TV show about the playboy mansion. They were openly saying on camera that Bill Cosby was a regular and wasn't a safe person to drink around. That's how much of an open secret it was. People knew,” added another.

8. Kevin Spacey

One user said, “A few years before his revelations, I heard through the gay grapevine (the gaypvine?) about him groping [someone] and saying ‘I know what I want’. So I wasn't surprised at the accusations—just that it took so long to get out.”

The second person replied, “Family Guy called him out like almost 20 years ago.”

Another commenter added added, “There was a website/web 1.0 forum called Fametracker back in the early aughts and one of the most prolific posters was always telling stories about Kevin Spacey acting inappropriately with young actors. Bstewart, you were an annoying poster but I guess you were right about that one!”

9. Chris Benoit

“What happened was quickest, hardest, and most destructive. First, Benoit [killed] Nancy. The next day, he smothered Daniel … having administered Xanax to him. Then, a day after that, Benoit went downstairs to his home gym tied a cable around his neck and committed suicide. Over a three-day period Benoit went from a famous wrestler to murder su-cide,” somebody commented.

“Always gotta highlight that he had bad CTE from all the ab-se he took in the ring. Same disease ended up getting Junior Seau to k-ll himself (in a way that allowed his brain to be studied later). Entertainment moguls are profiting off of the suffering of their employees and the families. I have to add that I think he still bears the blame for his own actions. What I'm trying to say is that there are whole industries that thrive off of unsafe and exploitative conditions,” another person replied.

10. Robin Thicke

One person said, “Robin Thicke went from a decade-defining hit to selling 55 copies of his creep-album in Australia in no time at all.”

The second person replied, “I never heard him after Blurred Lines.”

Then the third added, “He came out with an album called ‘Paula.’ Basically, his wife was leaving him. So he made an album. And then the album was marketed as his attempt to ‘win her back.’ Which was never going to work, and creepy as hell. A few of the songs from that album were actually okay. But with that kind of marketing, and some of the songs being a little pathetic, he just came out looking like a loser creepy. And his career never really recovered.

“Honestly, if he had just released it and kept his mouth shut during all the marketing, he could've kept a low profile but still strong career. Naming it Paula, and marketing it as a targeted message to her was just a terrible idea on all fronts.”

11. Matt Lauer

One user commented, “When I was a child actor in the New England [area] in the early 80s there was a show called pm or evening magazine and Lauer was the host of the providence edition and we were all told to stay as far away from him as possible because he wasn’t a nice man.”

The second person replied, “Came here to say this. I am usually oblivious to things like this, but I got a very skeezy vibe from him YEARS before his scandal, so much so that I stopped watching Today and switched to GMA. Wasn’t surprised one bit he turned to be a creeper after all.”

12. Amanda Bynes

“Amanda Bynes. Her tragic struggles with mental health sent her on a spiral of DUIs and other arrests for destroying property, throwing her bong out of a hotel window and allegedly pouring gasoline on her dog. Her Twitter tirades including Drake and topless photos, walking around LA n-de. I mean there was a lot. And everyone just kind of tuned in for the public destruction of her life. It's really sad.” somebody said.

“This one bugs me so much. She was so fun to watch, quirky and funny. Sad for sure,” the second person replied.

“My heart really goes out to her. She was one of my favorites and it's heartbreaking to know she went through something so terrible. I really hope she's doing better nowadays,” the third added.

13. John Landis

One user shared, “John Landis. In the late 70’s and early 80’s his career as a director was really taking off. Animal House, The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London were back-to-back hits that are all still beloved to this day. 

Then came The Twilight Zone movie. The film included a helicopter escape scene that Landis insisted on shooting as ‘realistically’ as possible. The helicopter crashed, killing three actors, two of whom were child actors. Landis was charged with manslaughter (although he was ultimately acquitted), his friendship with Steven Spielberg was over and his career never fully recovered.”

14. Jerry Springer

“Jerry Springer was legitimately a rising star in the Democratic party, elected mayor of Cincinnati in his early 30s, and some viewed him as the spiritual successor of RFK and progressive politics. Until his career was derailed by a pr-stit-tion scandal. He was caught because he paid for it with a personal check,” somebody commented.

15. Milli Vanilli

Somebody shared, “I remember when it all happened. They were in on it and I have no sympathy for fraud. The best thing that came out of it was Arsenio Hall tearing them apart on the level of Norm MacDonald Vs. OJ.”

Another person replied, “That was quite an education for me at the time. I was amazed at how quickly everyone turned on them, especially the people who had been praising them up to that point. It was my first experience of witnessing a media pile-on.”

Finally, the third added, “The story of these two brothers is that they never sang. Their manager knew they were eye candy and had actual singers back them up while they lip synced. When one day a technical fault exposed the fraud, they tried to convince the manager to let them try singing for real. He refused. Emboldened by their massive success at the time, they threatened him. The manager answered by spilling the beans to the press and revealed that not only did they use lip sync, but never sung a single note on any of their albums. One of the brothers managed to leave the public eye and is still alive today. The other d-ed of an overdose the day after he left rehab.”

16. Harvey Weinstein

“Harvey Weinstein. He came tumbling down. Some say he was the most powerful man in Hollywood, prior to his fall from grace,” said one.

“But wasn't he pretty much always known to be somewhat slimy? I seem to recall a few well-established actresses who simply refused to work with him even before his actions were widely known,” another one added.

17. Eliot Spitzer

One user said, “Eliot Spitzer. Princeton, Harvard Law, Attorney General of New York, Governor of New York. Married and three daughters. Addicted to expensive s-x. All gone now. When you’re the punchline of jokes on late night TV, it ends quickly.”

Do you know other famous people who are not included in this list? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Reddit.

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