We probably shouldn’t put celebrities on a pedestal. After all, they’re only human, and fame doesn’t make anyone perfect. Still, being in the public eye comes with a certain amount of influence, and many famous faces become role models for their fans.
When you’ve admired someone for years, followed their career, and supported their work, it’s natural to feel a little attached. So when they do something that goes against everything you believed about them, it can hit surprisingly hard.
One Redditor asked people to share which celebrity fall from grace disappointed them the most, and plenty had something to say. We’ve rounded up their answers below. Scroll down to read them, and don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.
#21
Disappointing to learn Brad Pitt is/was an awful spouse and parent …
11points
#22
Rolf Harris. Growing up as an art loving kid and an animal lover, he was always in the limelight of the programs i watched and he seemed like such a good, cheery man.
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10points
#23
Garrison Keillor. Projected an empathetic upstanding guy but was a creep. I miss Prairie Home Companion reruns on the radio.
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10points
#24
My first few choices already mentioned, so …
Jan-Michael Vincent
Actor from a while back, had a hit tv show called Airwolf. Career decimated by substance usage (mainly alcohol).
Jan-Michael Vincent
Actor from a while back, had a hit tv show called Airwolf. Career decimated by substance usage (mainly alcohol).
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9points
#25
Chris Pratt. Loved him in Parks and Rec, was never that big on his big shot movie stuff but good for him right?
Then came all those murky rumors about his politics and religion... but it was the healthy baby post that was the nail in the coffin for me. Now when he gets roles I just think of all the other great actors who deserve a chance.
Then came all those murky rumors about his politics and religion... but it was the healthy baby post that was the nail in the coffin for me. Now when he gets roles I just think of all the other great actors who deserve a chance.
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9points
#26
Not the biggest name, but Marion Zimmer Bradley. "Mists of Avalon" was one of my favorite books of all time until all that terrible stuff came out about her.
8points
#27
Brett Favre - breaks my heart to find he is such a horrible, really horrible excuse for a human.
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8points
#28
Ben Carson. He was an inspiration to Detroit and growing up, I and many people in my school district read his autobiography as an assigned reading book. Then for him to do a 180 and forsake the people he grew up with to curry favor. The classism he espoused when he ran for president though his mother couldn’t read and he grew up poor…
8points
#29
Honestly Matt Lauer, just seemed like a wholesome morning talk show host and…oh boy.
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8points
#30
Mark Wahlberg. I really like him in movies. Then I found out about his past. Now I can’t see him the same.
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8points
#31
Scott Baio. He had all the makings of a shift manager at Subway, but kept dropping sandwiches on the floor.
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7points
#32
I don't know if either counts as a celebrity per se, but 1) Markus Persson (Notch, Minecraft creator) and 2) Elon Musk.
As a Minecraft-crazed kid in the first 2010-2014 wave, Notch was the architect of it all, basically a god, yet would still drop in and play with friends and YouTubers. He was a god, but just a guy, and represented the idea that anyone could program the next big thing.
And for Musk, I'm sure there were early warning signs but again I was a kid awed by the prospect of a real-life Tony Stark. Maybe someone with resources could actually make a meaningful impact on the world instead of just hoarding it all.
They were two of the biggest role models to my precise demographic, and to have both of them go off around the same time was a real gut punch that changed a lot of my outlook on the world. It's a sentiment I've heard echoed by others almost too precisely.
In conclusion, check out Rät by Penelope Scott.
As a Minecraft-crazed kid in the first 2010-2014 wave, Notch was the architect of it all, basically a god, yet would still drop in and play with friends and YouTubers. He was a god, but just a guy, and represented the idea that anyone could program the next big thing.
And for Musk, I'm sure there were early warning signs but again I was a kid awed by the prospect of a real-life Tony Stark. Maybe someone with resources could actually make a meaningful impact on the world instead of just hoarding it all.
They were two of the biggest role models to my precise demographic, and to have both of them go off around the same time was a real gut punch that changed a lot of my outlook on the world. It's a sentiment I've heard echoed by others almost too precisely.
In conclusion, check out Rät by Penelope Scott.
7points
#33
Jackie Chan, loved him growing up, and I'd rent his movies constantly to watch. Now after what I've leaned about the way he's treated his family and him deciding to be a CCP shill to the detriment of his fellow HKers and democracy at large in the region, I can't go back to his movies anymore.
He was such aт inspiration to me, too.
He was such aт inspiration to me, too.
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6points
#35
Not sure he has technically fallen from grace quite yet but the Bill Murray stories are bumming me out.
5points
#37
As a Steelers fan, Antonio Brown. That man was absolutely beloved in this city.
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5points
#38
Ryan Haywood from Achievement Hunter. He was my favorite from the group and the one I identified with the most. He seemed like such a good guy. A family man. Then you find out hes actually a monster.
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4points
#39
Mark McGuire. As soon as the first time he said "I'm not here to talk about the past" to the Congressional committee, it was like watching his reputation instantaneously hitting a wall head-on at 200 mph. I completely believed he hit all those homers with no help from PEDs. To see him indirectly admit that wasn't true made adult me feel like the kid who told Shoeless Joe Jackson, "Say it ain't so, Joe."
EDIT: I know the story about a kid going up to Jackson and saying that likely isn't true. Just using the legend as a simile.
EDIT: I know the story about a kid going up to Jackson and saying that likely isn't true. Just using the legend as a simile.
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4points
#40
Ryan Adams.
I mean, I was wearing one of his shirts on the day that NYTimes article dropped.
I mean, I was wearing one of his shirts on the day that NYTimes article dropped.
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4points