30 Celebrities With Dark Pasts You Didn’t Know About

3 years ago

1. Woody Harrelson - Father murdered a judge

Woody Harrelson dad Image Source: allthatsinteresting

While many people know Woody Harrelson to play characters that are cold blooded killers in his movies (most famously in Natural Born Killers), not many know his father committed the crime for real. Charles Harrelson was a hitman who worked for high-level mobsters, and he was in and out of jail throughout Woody’s childhood before being locked away for good in 1979 after murdering a judge.

2. Teri Hatcher - Childhood abuse

Terry Hatcher Image Source: Pinterest

25 years after Teri Hatcher rose to fame with TV’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Teri opened up about her story of childhood sexual abuse. Teri explained how she had been sexually abused by an uncle when she was a child. The same monster went on to abuse another girl who would later commit suicide. Teri Hatcher went public with her story in an open letter to Donald Trump, after the then-President openly mocked a sexual abuse survivor during the Kavanaugh trial.

3. Rose McGowan - Cult upbringing and assault

Rose McGowan Image Source: Newsweek

Long before her film and TV success, actor Rose McGowan was raised in the infamous religious cult, the Children of God. The FBI later investigated this organisation for charges of incest, kidnapping and sexual abuse. McGowan claimed that she witnessed sexual abuse at a very young age, however her family left when the cult founder announced that it was OK for adults to have sex with children. The family fled to the US, where Rose eventually forged a successful career.

4. Charlize Theron - Abusive father killed by mother

Charlize Theron Image Source: Twitter

Actress Charlize Theron suffered a traumatic childhood with her father being a violent alcoholic. Her father regularly threatened her and her mother Gerda with physical abuse. After enduring this for some time, Gerda finally shot and killed her husband when he attacked her in a drunken rage. The court ruled that Gerda was acting in self-defence, therefore Theron’s mother didn’t face any charges. Since then, Charlize has managed to put her troubled childhood behind her with the help of therapy, and now she regularly appears on the red carpet with her mother.

5. Keanu Reeves - Abandonment and grief

Keanu Reeves Image Source: Vanity Fair

You may remember the famous ‘Sad Keanu’ memes floating around social media. However, you might not have realised just how much tragedy the famous actor has endured. Keanu Reeves was first abandoned by his father, who was a heroin smuggler, as a child. Later, in 1993, he lost his best friend River Phoenix to a drug overdose. A few years later at the height of his fame, Keanu Reeves and girlfriend Jennifer Syme lost their daughter in the final stages of pregnancy. 18 months later, Jennifer Syme died in a car accident. Reeves has always been reluctant to talk about these tragedies, but has long been praised for his acts of kindness.

6. Chelsea Handler - Shock family death

chelsea handler Image Source: Daily Mail

Comedian, actress and talk show host Chelsea Handler has faced a lot of tragedy at a young age. She lost her older brother Chet in a hiking accident when she was just ten years old. Chet was hiking in the Grand Tetons fell 80 feet off a cliff. The comedian said that it was hard to deal with the grief and family relied on her for support while she was trying to get to grips with her own emotions. However, one good thing to come out of the tragedy was the her entire family becoming extremely close-knit.

7. Ringo Starr - Fell into a coma

Ringo Starr Image Source: beatlesdaily

The Beatles was nearly a very different band as drummer Ringo Starr nearly died as a young boy. Ringo was struck down by appendicitis at six-year-old. Ringo, whose real name is Richard Starkey then contracted peritonitis and fell into a coma. When he woke up from his coma, his condition meant that he had to stay in the hospital for a year before doctors would discharge him. Before he was discharged, Richard contracted tuberculosis and spent a further two years in hospital.

8. Yoko Ono - World War II horror

Yoko Ono Image source: Artspermagazine

Japanese artist Yoko Ono’s relationship with John Lennon was a turbulent one, and when John Lennon was murdered, she was left a widow. However, Yoko Ono had seen a lot of real horror long before she rose to fame. Ono and her family were living in Tokyo during World War II when the city was bombed by US forces. She subsequently grew up in extreme hardship, and Yoko had to spend time in a mental institute before rising to fame as an artist and meeting John Lennon.

9. Trevor Noah - Brought up during the Apartheid

Trevor Noah Image source: Wall Street Journal

Stand-up comic and Daily Show host Trevor Noah grew up in South Africa under the Apartheid regime. Trevor’s family faced extreme difficulty with his father being white and his mother black. The union was so frowned upon at the time Noah’s mother Patricia often pretended to be his nanny in public. When Noah’s mother remarried her new husband Ngisaveni Abel Shingange was abusive and eventually shot Patricia in the leg and back of the head. Miraculously she survived, but Shingange then threatened to kill Noah after he confronted his stepfather. Shingange was finally imprisoned in 2011.

10. Samuel L Jackson - Trouble with the law

Samuel L Jackson Image source: Twitter

Samuel L Jackson is one of the most successful movie stars of all time. However, in his early years he got in trouble with the law for participating in radical activity whilst he was at college. Outraged by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Jackson and a number of other student activists held the trustees of Morehouse College hostage (among them Martin Luther King Sr), demanding school reform. Jackson was subsequently convicted of unlawful confinement, and expelled from the college.

11: Robert Downey Jr - Childhood drug use

Robert Downey Jr Image source: Purple Clover

Many know Iron Man’s Robert Downey Jr has had a long history of drug addiction. However, you might not have known these issues began when he was just six years old when he was introduced to marijuana by his filmmaker father, Robert Downey, Sr. Downey soon progressed to harder drugs, and was an addict by age eight. The problem followed him into adulthood, and nearly ended his acting career following a series of arrests. He finally managed to kick the habit once and for all in the early 2000s thanks to a recovery programme and some meditation.

12. Madonna - Victim of a cruel sex attack

Madonna Image source: Madonna

Madonna had a horrific experience shortly after moving to New York to launch her career. The singer opened up about how a seemingly nice man lured her into an apartment block saying she could use his telephone, then raped her. The singer says she didn’t report the crime because in her eyes it was ‘pointless’: “You’ve already been violated. It’s just not worth it. It’s too much humiliation.”

13. Pamela Anderson - The victim of numerous sex attacks

Pamela Anderson Image source: Twitter

Bay Watch star Pamela Anderson was one of the most celebrated sex symbols of the 1990s. However, she suffered multiple instances of sexual abuse during childhood. Anderson was molested by a female babysitter when she was aged between six and ten and later she was raped by a 25-year-old man when she was only 12. However, by far the most shocking incident occurred when she was 14, she was gang-raped by her high school boyfriend and six of his friends.

14. Oprah Winfrey - Abused by family members

Oprah Winfrey Image source: turntable

Oprah Winfrey has been very open about her tragic childhood. The TV host was sexually abused by family members which resulted in pregnancy when she was just 14. Oprah gave birth to a son, but he was premature and died only a few weeks later. She finally started to break out of the cycle when she was sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey, who gave her the care she needed and encouraged her to pursue her interests in media and communications.

15. Mackenzie Phillips - Incest allegations against father

mackenzie phillips Image source: The Sun

Actress and singer Mackenzie Phillips is best known for her early role in American Graffiti, and more recently Orange is the New Black. However, her career struggled for many years due to her problems with drug addiction. Little did fans know there was a traumatic reason behind it all. At 19, the night before her first wedding, Mackenzie was raped by her own father, musician John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas. This led to a Stockholm Syndrome-style relationship which lasted for a decade, with John controlling Mackenzie by plying her with hard drugs. Mackenzie did not go public with this horrifying story until an Oprah Winfrey interview in 2009, eight years after her father had died.

16. Cyndi Lauper - Attacked by a band member

Cyndi Lauper Image source: Pinterest

Before the 'Time After Time' singer made it big in the 80s, she worked as a stripper to pay for musical equipment. In the mid-80s Lauper began stripping in a nightclub in Queens and her boss wasn’t impressed with her musical career. The boss told Lauper to ‘stick to what she was good at’ and keep dancing. Later she was sexually assaulted by a band member, whose girlfriend held her down during the attack. Cyndi encountered her attacker working in a deli years later, by which time she was already a superstar.

17. Jim Carrey - Grew up in extreme poverty

Jim Carrey Image Source: allthatsinteresting

For much of his youth, Jim Carrey grew up in extreme poverty. After his father wound up unemployed, the family had no steady income to support themselves and ended up living out of a van. Things got so bad that Jim dropped out of high school at the age of 15 to work as a janitor and earn some extra money to keep things afloat. Thankfully, the Carrey family managed to get back on their feet and in 1979 Jim moved to Los Angeles to pursue his comedy and acting career.

18. Drew Barrymore - Childhood addiction

Drew Barrymore Image Source: Vanity Fair

Like Robert Downey Jr, Drew Barrymore is another Hollywood survivor who was introduced to alcohol and drugs at an extremely young age. By the time she was 11 years old, she was already an alcoholic and a few years later she was addicted to cocaine. At 14-years-old her hard partying facilitated by an irresponsible mother finally caught up with her. Drew spent time in a mental institution after a suicide attempt before she built herself back up, leading to huge success as an actress, producer, entrepreneur and talk show host.

19. Dee Dee Ramone - Violent upbringing

Dee Dee Ramone Image Source: pleasekillme

Dee Dee Ramone of punk band The Ramones sadly endured some extremely tough times growing up. In his younger days as Douglas Colvin he grew up in a violent household with alcoholic parents. To escape, Dee Dee started using hard drugs when he was only 12 years old. He wound up being a drug addict his entire life, and by his teens he prostituted himself and committed armed robbery to fund his habit. Despite the huge success enjoyed by The Ramones, Dee Dee never managed to get clean or overcome his personal demons. He died of a heroin overdose on 5 June, 2002.

20. Lady Gaga - Horrific ordeal left her with PTSD

Lady gaga aged 19 Image Source: googleusercontent

Lady Gaga is one of the biggest musical icons of the 21st century, but has had to overcome a horrific ordeal on her journey to the spotlight. She was raped at 19, leaving her suffering PTSD for which she underwent years of therapy. The singer, songwriter and actress was so affected by the incident that she refused to talk to anyone about it for years.

21. Sophia Loren - grew up during World War II

Sophia Loren Image Source: britannica.com

In her autobiography Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, Italian star Sophia Loren talks about her childhood during World War II and how her family had to beg for food. Growing up she was so thin her nickname was Sofia Stuzzicadenti – Sofia Toothpick. She admitted war made her thinner and hunger was the major theme of her childhood. she wrote. “My mother was begging for food for us. She’d bring us back a potato, a fistful of rice.”

22. 50 Cent - Drug dealing past

50 Cent Image Source: 50 Cent

Rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, left his delinquent past behind to achieve his dream of becoming a musician. At 12 years old, he was already dealing drugs, and in 2000, he was shot nine times. He has since gone onto great things and was a surprise guest during the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show that featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Mary J. Blige.

23. Shania Twain - Struggled with poverty

Shania Twain Image source: Classiccountrymusic

Shania Twain's family was very poor growing up, meaning she and her siblings often went to school hungry. She says the burden of poverty was magnified by the abuse that was happening in the home. In addition to enduring physical, verbal, and sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, Shania Twain’s parents died when she was just 22-years-old. It fell to her to take care of her brothers and sisters, and she worked relentlessly to feed her family.

24. Kelsey Grammer - Father murdered

Best known for his starring role on the TV show Frasier, Kelsey Grammer’s past is the stuff of horror movies. Kelsey’s father was brutally murdered when he was 13 years old. His sister was also raped and killed in a robbery and he had to identify her body. He says he’s forgiven the two killers but doesn’t want to see them released from jail.

Kelsey Grammer Image source: Reddit

25. Jack Nicholson - Dark family secrets

Jack Nicholson Image source: Esquire

Years after the death of the woman he thought was his sister, Jack learned she was actually his mother. June had gotten pregnant at age 17 and lived with her parents. All his life, she told Jack that they were also his parents and he at age 37 Jack Nicholson discovered the truth after a Time magazine reporter phoned him to check on the extraordinary information that investigations had unearthed. Even on their deathbeds, neither June nor Ethel May had offered up the truth.

26. Leighton Meester - Rough start in life

Leighton Meester Image source: Pinterest

Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester has had a truly complicated life. She wasn’t born into a privileged family and couldn’t be more the opposite of her character Blair Waldorf. She was born while her mother and father were doing time in prison for drug trafficking. She lived in a halfway house for the first three months of her life, after which she was sent to live with her grandmother until her mother’s release. Her father. The difficult facts of her childhood provided her with matchless perspective and a blueprint of what not to do in life.

27. Tobey Maguire - Father robbed a bank

Tobey Maguire Image source: Tumblr

Tobey Maguire also had a rough start to life when his father committed a huge crime. Tobey’s father was struggling to feed both him and his sister’s families after she died of cancer. The struggling dad went on to rob a bank in a bid to solve his financial problems when Tobey was still a child. He was arrested immediately.

28. Nicki Minaj - Violent father

Nicki Minaj Image source: The Mirror

Nicki Minaj is never at a loss for words. She told Rolling Stone magazine that her father, who was constantly high, was violent and even set fire to the house once while she and her mother were inside. Robert Maraj was killed in a hit and run last year after a driver hit him with his vehicle as he was walking in Mineola.

29. Jennifer Hudson - Family homicide tragedy

Jennifer Hudson Image source: The Daily Mail

Singer and actress Jennifer Hudson was just starting to become famous when her sister’s estranged husband killed Jennifer’s brother, mother, and seven-year-old nephew in a shocking act of violence. The bodies of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and her brother, Jason Hudson were found at the family home. Missing from the home was Julian King, the singer’s nephew. He was later found in the back seat of an SUV parked on the West Side.

30. Marilyn Monroe - Grew up in foster care

Marilyn Monroe Image source: Biography.com

Perhaps one of the most famous tragic tale is that of Marilyn Monroe. The famous actress’s mother suffered from schizophrenia and was regularly locked up in psychiatric hospitals. Young Norma Jean spent her childhood shunted from one foster family to another before dropping out of school at 16 to get married.