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- Avengers: Endgame
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
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- Stranger Things
- Netflix
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- Bad Boys: Ride or Die
- Sony Pictures Releasing
Hollywood is just as good at making dreams happen as it is at tearing them down. Despite all of the pressures of the industry and the public scrutiny on stars, plenty of actors have come back from major scandals and controversies that seemed career-ending at first. Many Hollywood scandals tend to be drug and alcohol-related or sexual in nature. Yet on top of the classics, there have been actors who drew fire for shoplifting, tax evasion, and other offenses (though these charges are sometimes accompanied by the involvement of illicit substances).
The ‘90s and early aughts were a time of chaos and rapid change in society as a whole, so it’s not surprising that some of the most notorious examples of celebrity scandals occurred during this time. Between Robert Downey Jr.'s rise from addiction, Christian Slater's arrest record and later redemption, and Hugh Grant's solicitation scandal, here are actors who came back from major controversies to win fame and success once again.
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- Iron Man
- Paramount Pictures
The Controversy: Like a number of other big names in Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr. struggled with substance abuse in the first decade of his career. A good chunk of his public-facing issues stemmed from a cocaine possession charge in 1996 and a subsequent failure to appear at mandated drug tests. Ultimately, Downey only served one year of his three-year sentence at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in 1999. At first, Downey was in denial about having a problem, which he candidly told Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast. He noted that prison was the “worst thing that ever happened to me." But it was also a wake-up call, according to the actor.
The Comeback: As hard as is it to watch anyone, famous or not, struggle with addiction, it's good to see them genuinely get the help they need and absolutely thrive. When Downey accepted his 2024 Oscar, he said of his wife (whom he met on his 20003 movie Gothika), "She found me, a snarling rescue pet, and you loved me back to life. That's why I'm here." Between films like The Singing Detective, Gothika, and Zodiac it didn't take very long for Downey Jr. to revitalize his career. Then, he reached even greater notoriety with his role as Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his stunning performance in Oppenheimer.
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- Doom Patrol
- Max
The Controversy: Despite many notable successes, the #MeToo movement is still hitting roadblocks all these years later, with some survivors of sexual harassment or assault still facing poor treatment for speaking out. Brendan Fraser had his own struggles - he came forward about an alleged sexual assault by a Hollywood bigwig, and it derailed his career. Fraser accused the former Golden Globes president Phillip Berk of groping him in 2003. Berk somehow denied the accusation despite admitting to writing Fraser an apology letter. It's pretty unclear why someone would need to apologize if they did nothing wrong - but Berk chalked it up to being “a joke.”
The Comeback: The incident led to Fraser taking a step back from Hollywood. He said, “I was blaming myself and I was miserable - because I was saying, ‘This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.’ … it made me feel reclusive.” He added, ”I don't know if this curried disfavor with the group, with the HFPA. But the silence was deafening.” Although he felt like the awards circuit shut him out for a while, Fraser won an Oscar in 2023 for The Whale. Despite The Whale also getting nominated for a Golden Globe, Fraser refused to attend.
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- Star Trek
- Paramount Pictures
The Controversy: Like many child actors, Winona Ryder had a rough time being thrust into the spotlight at such a young age. She had an impressive string of success for a while which seemed to dry up at the start of the new millennium. There was a bit of a reason for that: in 2001, Ryder shoplifted about $5,000 worth of designer-label clothing from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. Reflecting on the choice, Ryder later said, “Psychologically, I must have been at a place where I just wanted to stop.”
Given the hefty cost of her stolen goods, that's a Class D felony. But after demonstrating good behavior, Ryder luckily got the felony convictions reduced to misdemeanors. She had to pay a fine of $2700 and received three years of supervised probation. The ordeal led to a few Ryder-less years in Hollywood.
The Comeback: Ryder said that the situation “allowed me time that I really needed, where I went back to San Francisco and got back into things that... I just had other interests, frankly.” She added, ”A lot of people had the perception that I just disappeared in the 2000s. And I did, but only from that world.”
When Ryder started to get back into acting, she primarily stuck with small roles in the early aughts. She reignited her love for the macabre in projects like Frankenweenie and, notably, her role as Joyce Byers in the smash-hit Stranger Things. It's good to see that Ryder is continuing to act on her own terms without letting expectations dictate her life.
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- The Batman
- Warner Bros. Pictures
The Controversy: In the early aughts, Colin Farrell was considered to be one of Hollywood's resident bad boys. The number of scandals is quite significant - between an almost-leaked sex tape, having a stalker confront him on The Tonight Show, an affair with Elizabeth Taylor, getting sued by a model for sexual messages, and a Playboy interview that included comments about prostitution and derogatory remarks about women along with the quote, “heroin is good in moderation.” He said on The Late Show, “I'd gotten out of control - for years I could indulge in certain things ... I had quite a high tolerance for various drugs for years, I thought.”
The Comeback: In 2021, Farrell told the Irish Times, “In Bruges was the second or third [film] I did sober and this was one of the first film festivals where I was sober. After 15 or 20 years of carousing the way I caroused and drinking the way I drank, the sober world is a pretty scary world.” Now, he seeks elation without turning to alcohol or drugs. He said, "To be a part of eliciting that laughter, my God, I was high as a kite, in my most sober year.” After In Bruges, Farrell went on to land roles in projects like Fright Night, The Gentlemen, The Batman, and The Banshees of Inisherin, shedding his naughty reputation.
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- Parks and Recreation
- NBC
The Controversy: Long before Kim Kardashian made her claim to fame, Rob Lowe dealt with his own sex tape scandal. To make matters worse, the video that leaked in 1988 depicted Lowe with both a 23-year-old and a 16-year-old. According to Lowe, he wasn't aware that one of the participants was underage; he was able to settle things with the girl's family without getting charged.
The Comeback: Sometimes, someone's worst life moment becomes the best thing to happen to them. Lowe credits the scandal as the turning point that prompted him to clean up his act, saying,
It's one of the reasons why I got sober. I woke up one day and I was like, 'What am I doing with my life?' I'm 29 years in and like people talk, but it's the best thing that ever happened to me.
Lowe didn't have any projects in 1989, but he continued with his typical career trajectory after that, reaching new success with roles on beloved TV shows like The West Wing and Parks and Recreation.
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- Mr. Robot
- USA Network
The Controversy: In the midst of his acting success, Christian Slater had a string of arrests from the late ‘90s to the early aughts. The charges ranged from drunk driving, assault, weapons possession, and sexual harassment. Some of the behavior was linked to the consumption of drugs and alcohol, and Slater spent 100 days in rehab on top of getting a three-month prison sentence in ’97.
The Comeback: In 2005, Slater got sober. He's since stayed out of trouble and done a good amount of film and TV work, with one of his most famous roles being the title character on the acclaimed drama Mr. Robot.
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- Poker Face
- Peacock
The Controversy: Natasha Lyonne has a rap sheet similar in length to her Orange is the New Black character Nicky Nichols. And like Nicky, she's worked incredibly hard to move past her struggles with drugs and run-ins with the law. Some of Lyonne's arrests include a DUI in 2001 and trespassing and harassment charges in 2004. Her partying lifestyle caught up with her in 2005, and she landed in the ICU.
Lyonne is self-aware enough to note that her fame helped her get breaks that other women wouldn't have in her position. In 2014, she told Rolling Stone, “In my experience of living, for a time, in the underbelly of society, I spent a lot of time in various holding cells. As wild as I was, when the cops show up, and suddenly you’re being handcuffed, it’s so deeply shocking and terrifying, the loss of freedom."
She added, "I don’t want to make myself off as tougher than I am. I was never put in the prison system, which frankly would not have happened if I wasn’t some actress with a fancy attorney.”
The Comeback: Though Lyonne never stopped acting, 2013 marked the start of a new era for her. She scored her Orange is the New Black role that year and went on to star in other critically-acclaimed TV projects like Russian Doll and Poker Face. In 2015, she won The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Comedy Series for Orange is the New Black.
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- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- Netflix
The Controversy: Back in 1995, Hugh Grant got into a sticky situation when he was arrested for partaking in “lewd conduct” with a sex worker. Given that he was in a committed relationship with Liz Hurley when it happened, the actor received an extra amount of flack for it.
These days, Grant can look at it with some amusement. When asked about his negative feelings towards British tabloids on The View, he said, “Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, well he’s just bitter because he got arrested with a hooker in 1995.'" He added, “But actually it had nothing to do with that because that was never uncovered by tabloids. It was that the bloody police gave everyone the information. It was nothing to do with that.”
The Comeback: Grant disappeared from screen projects between 1996 and 1999, but he came back strong with Notting Hill. His image damage control began with the forthright statement: “Last night I did something completely insane. I have hurt people I love and embarrassed people I work with. For both things I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.” Rather than getting the possible six months in jail he was facing, Grant ended up with an order to pay a $1,000 fine and attend AIDS classes. In the long term, Grant's career has kept strong well into the 2020s, embracing comedic roles in popular adaptations like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Wonka.
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- The Secrets of Dumbledore
- Warner Bros. Pictures
The Controversy: Jude Law and Sienna Miller had only known each other for one year when they tied the knot. Though the pair didn't have any kids together, Law hired Daisy Wright to nanny for his children. Wright later went to the press, alleging that she and Law had an affair, meaning Law cheated on Miller. It only took a few days for him to confirm the rumors and apologize for the incident in 2005.
The Comeback: Though Law didn't release any projects in 2005, the incident didn't seem to affect his career all that much. He went on to star in a slew of beloved and well-received projects. His resume since then includes movies like All the King's Men, Sherlock Holmes, Anna Karenina, Captain Marvel, and Fantastic Beasts.
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- Marriage Story
- Netflix
The Controversy: Ellen DeGeneres wasn't the only one who faced homophobic backlash after her character came out on Ellen. Laura Dern guest starred as Susan, a lesbian who helps (fictional) Ellen realize she is gay, and she also dealt with harassment and controversy afterward. Apparently, she found trouble getting other work and even needed a full security detail after “The Puppy Episode” aired in 1997.
The Comeback: The Jurassic Park star had a rocky year in Hollywood before scoring the role of Miss Riley in October Sky in 1999. Of course, she also starred in Jurassic Park III, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, and the Jurassic World series. Dern has since won an Oscar, an Emmy, and multiple Golden Globes, so, fortunately, the controversy didn't harm her too much in the long run.
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- Immortals
- Relativity Media
The Controversy: There are always rumors about actors getting blacklisted from the industry, but it's much rarer for them an actor to actually admit it happened to them. Mickey Rourke isn't shy about talking about his past, which included a long period where no one wanted to work with him due to his reputation for being confrontational on sets.
“I pretty much messed up my career in Hollywood,” Rourke said. “I would tell people I’m a man first and then I’m an actor. I went to war with everybody in the movie business.”
He also owned the fact that he needed to adapt his behavior, saying, “After being blacklisted for 13 to 15 years, I learned to accept the fact that there are some things that they just don’t teach you in acting school. There isn’t a class about networking or understanding that there’s a lot of politics in the studio and it’s a business.”
While he tended to always have projects going on, many of them were straight-to-DVDs during this period.
The Comeback: A fresh start is what Rourke has been looking for and he found that with the next generation of directors. He said, “The young guys are cool. They don’t care about what they hear. They judge me by my acting ability, not my old reputation. So it’s been sort of a resurrection of being able to work with younger directors.” With high-profile projects like Iron Man 2, The Expendables, and Immortals, Rourke was back on the rise in the 2010s.
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- The Expendables 3
- Lionsgate
The Controversy: If the world has learned anything from Al Capone, it's that tax evasion will get you every time. Wesley Snipes apparently missed the memo and learned that lesson through personal experience. In 2008, he was charged with three counts of not filing his taxes. He served a prison stint at McKean Federal Correctional Institution between 2010 and 2013.
The Comeback: Snipes had his first major movie comeback in 2014 with The Expendables 3. He played Doctor Death, one of the founding Expendables. Ironically enough, his character also served a stint in jail. He also had a role in Coming 2 America and The Player among other projects.
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- The Blacklist
- NBC
The Controversy: It's not exactly a good look for the star of a kids show to have their name connected to adult theater and p*rnography featuring minors. Paul Reubens first came under hot water in 1991 when he was charged with indecent exposure at an adult theater. But it didn't stop there. In 2001, the police raided Reubens's house and allegedly found p*rnography with minors in the residence; Ruebens turned himself in a year later. The actor insisted on his innocence and had the misdemeanor charge dropped when he pled guilty to a smaller charge.
The Comeback: You can't be involved in something like this and not have it follow you around. For a while, Reubens was mostly booking small roles and one-off TV appearances. However, in the 2010s, he started getting bigger roles again, like The Smurfs. Though he didn't quite match his prior career peak, he continued occasional work, including guest roles on sitcoms like The Conners and What We Do in the Shadows, prior to his passing in 2023.
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- Bad Boys Ride or Die
- Sony Pictures Releasing
The Controversy: Sometimes, comedians take things a bit too far. The biggest headline of the 2022 Oscars wasn't that year's award upsets but the fact that Will Smith stormed the stage to slap Chris Rock after the comedian made a tasteless joke about Smith's wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, and a nonexistent G.I. Jane sequel - a reference to her alopecia. It wasn't abundantly apparent to the audience at first whether or not Will Smith storming the stage to slap Rock was scripted, especially because Rock appeared to laugh at first. It became clear that this wasn't a bit when Smith yelled, “Keep my wife's name out of your f*cking mouth.” Rock responded with, "Wow, dude. It was a G.I. Jane joke." The ceremony continued, and despite the tension, Smith came back up on stage later in the night to accept the Oscar for best actor.
As a result of the incident, Smith received a staggering 10-year ban from the Academy Awards; however, he resigned from the Academy before that determination.
The Comeback: Of course, Smith apologized to Rock multiple times, but it clearly affected his career anyways. After the slap, Netflix scrapped development of an action movie called Fast and Loose that Smith was set to lead. Also, his movie Bad Boys: Ride or Die took a pause in response to the Oscars incident, though it eventually moved forward for a 2024 release and did rather well at the box office.
This isn't the first time Smith came back after a scandal, either. In 1989, he was arrested for aggravated assault and spent a night in jail, but it didn't seem to impact his career nearly as dramatically as the slap would over three decades later.
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- The Ellen DeGeneres Show
- Warner Bros. Television
The Controversy: It's pretty sad that someone coming out would be considered a “controversy” or a reason to blacklist someone from Hollywood. Yet here we are. In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres came out in TIME magazine.
Before DeGeneres came out herself, she tested the waters with her Ellen character when ABC announced that the fictional Ellen would come out in an upcoming episode. Sponsors like JC Penney, Johnson & Johnson, and Chrysler dropped their advertising for the episode while Wendy's parted ways permanently. Even though the episode was a monetary and critical rave, the series got axed just one year later.
The Comeback: A few years later, DeGeneres launched her own talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The series was a huge success, running for nearly 20 years. DeGeneres went on to score a few more acting roles in projects like Finding Nemo and even Taylor Swift's “You Need To Calm Down” music video.
DeGeneres later faced a different sort of backlash for behavior while running her talk show, which led to its cancelation in 2022.
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- Anger Management
- FX
The Controversy: Charlie Sheen apparently had the anger of two-and-a-half men in 2011 while he was on the Chuck Lorre comedy. Sheen was accused of attacking all parts of the production - between calling Lorre “a stupid, stupid little man” and said about Lorre, “I fire back once and this contaminated little maggot can’t handle my power and can’t handle the truth.” Many fans even called out the actor for how some of his comments bordered on antisemitic.
Now, it's pretty rare for a network to publicly fire a lead actor on a successful sitcom. Usually, a cast member will leave to “pursue other opportunities” - whether it was their choice or not, and while fans can read between the lines, it's rarely as brazen as it was for Sheen. However, if you start publicly trash-talking production and the studio, the possibility of vaguely sweeping it under the rug isn't an option. Warner Bros. Television made the statement: “After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen’s services on Two and a Half Men effective immediately.”
The Comeback: There's something rather poetic about quickly turning the subject of your controversy into a sitcom after getting fired from the one you're currently working on. Yup, Sheen joined a new show called Anger Management a year after getting the axe from Two and a Half Men. The FX show had a whopping 100 episodes in just two seasons.
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