From Eddie Murphy picking up a prostitute to Charlie Sheen trashing hotels, it’s no secret that celebrities have a hard time keeping out of trouble. And whether they were just giving the prostitute a ride home or having an allergic reaction to their medication, celebrities rarely have the best excuses.
Guitar player and chief songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend is one of the most recognizable figures in rock and roll. But his image took a big hit when he was accused of subscribing to a child pornography website in 1999. Townshend claims he was simply conducting research and in a recent interview with The Times of London which is serializing his memoir, Who I Am, he said he chose not to fight the charges because he was “exhausted” and he thought the prosecution lawyers would “fucking rip me apart.”
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In May 2010 Lindsay Lohan was supposed to be in court for a hearing on a DUI case. However, Lilo was too busy partying in France and she missed her court date. When asked why she couldn’t make it back to L.A. for her hearing, Lohan claimed that he passport has been stolen and she wasn’t able to make it back to the states. Isn’t that convenient?
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It’s been a long summer for the former Nickelodeon teen star, Amanda Bynes, who has been involved in two hit-and-run cases and has been accused of driving with a suspended license. But the icing on the cake is a recent incident in which Bynes locked herself in a bathroom at a bakery in SoHo. After about 15 minutes, patrons became concerned and tried to communicate to her through the door, but she did not respond. After 30 minutes Bynes finally emerged from the bathroom claiming she had simply been doing her makeup.
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Heiress Paris Hilton has never been a stranger to controversy, but her arrest two years ago was almost beyond belief. Hilton was riding down the Las Vegas strip when her car was pulled over because police officers thought they smelled marijuana. Hilton got out of the car when a white bag containing cocaine fell out of her purse. She defended herself by saying the drugs were not hers and that she thought it was gum.
In 1997 funnyman Eddie Murphy was pulled over late one night in West Hollywood and police officers found something very surprising in his car: a transvestite prostitute. Murphy got off the hook by claiming that he was simply giving the prostitute a ride home. “I was being a good Samaritan. It's not the first hooker I've helped out,” he claims. No charges were filed.
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Known for his role as Pee-Wee Herman, Paul Reubens was arrested 1999 in Sarasota, Fla., for allegedly masturbating in an adult movie theater. In an interview with Playboy two years ago he defended his innocence and claims it couldn’t have been him because he was caught using the wrong hand. “In 30 years of research on masturbation the [Masters and Johnson Institute] had never found one person who masturbated with his or her nondominant hand. I'm right-handed, and the police report said I was jerking off with my left hand.”
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Following directly in Reuben’s footprints, comic actor Fred Willard was arrested in July for lewd conduct in an adult movie theater in Los Angeles. In an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Willard explained that he was only drawn to the theater because it had an “exotic” look to it. “I said, 'Maybe there’s hula dancers in here. Maybe there’s mai tais.' I went in, and I realized I was the only one awake and sober and conscious.”
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Home-run king Barry Bonds has been under a microscope for his entire career and his drastic change in size from the beginning to the end of his career has led many to believe he used performance-enhancing drugs. In 2004 he became the central figure in the BALCO scandal, and when he was asked about his use of PEDs, he claimed his trainer had told him he was simply taking flaxseed oil. “When [Greg Anderson] said it was flaxseed oil, I just said, ‘Whatever.’” said Bonds.
Several years ago, Nicole Richie was pulled over in Burbank, Calif., for reckless driving, whereupon she admitted to police officers that she had been smoking weed and taken some Vicodin. But the starlet had a simple explanation for her drug use: “I have really bad menstrual cramps.”
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Winona Ryder had a tough year in 2001 when she was arrested for shoplifting $5,500 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. Ryder was sentenced to 3 years’ probation and 480 hours of community service, but she claims the whole thing was a misunderstanding and that she was simply doing research for an upcoming role.
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In 2010 you couldn’t open up a tabloid without seeing Charlie Sheen’s name. In one bizarre incident, he was hospitalized after allegedly wrecking his hotel room on an alcohol and coke binge. His publicists scrambled to explain the actor’s strange behavior by claiming that he was having a bad reaction to some medication.
San Francisco Giants’ outfielder Melky Cabrera was having an MVP-worthy season this year before he tested positive for elevated testosterone levels and was suspended for 50 games. Instead of denying the accusations, Cabrera got creative and created a website and a fictitious product that would supposedly prove that he had inadvertently taken performance-enhancing drugs. The fake website was quickly discovered by the Food and Drug Administration, and Cabrera still had to serve his suspension.
