Celebrity Scandals From the 1980s You Forgot About
In a decade defined by indulgence, unbridled ambition, and radical transformation, the 1980s were the ostensible conclusion of the American ideal moving from being to having and finally to the locus of our current cultural emphasis: appearing. Around 1950, under 10% of American homes had a television, a number that would climb to nearly 98% by 1980, signaling the total suffusion of the public consciousness into the tireless consumption of what we would come to understand as mass media. As the power of print and traditional media began to wane, television became the dominant form of media consumption, ossifying our metamorphosis to a chiefly visual culture. Networks like MTV revolutionized the music industry through the widespread popularization of the music video, the visual analog accompanying nearly all widely consumed forms of music and becoming the industry convention. As media production rose to meet the clamoring public’s ceaseless appetite, networks increasingly capitalized on the spectacle of celebrity, the last frontier of personal commodification before the advent of social media giants like MySpace and Facebook in the early 2000s.
Madonna is denounced by the Vatican
Shortly after brokering a multimillion dollar endorsement deal with Pepsi, Madonna released the highly controversial music video for her 1989 smash hit “Like a Prayer”. The video employed an array of religious imagery (burning crosses, an effigy of an unnamed saint, a parochial church) to deliver what would be interpreted both as a bold commentary on racial and sociopolitical issues of the time and a heretic mockery of the Church in equal measure. Pope John Paul II immediately decried the video, encouraging the public to boycott Madonna while religious groups called for the boycott of not only Madonna, but also Pepsi, creating a completely unforeseen PR calamity for the beverage giant. Pepsi withdrew from its deal with the pop star shortly thereafter, desperately clamoring to distance itself from the controversy as quickly as possible while allowing Madonna to retain the $5 million promised to her. Despite the widespread outrage, Madonna remained largely indifferent to the criticism, and continues to borrow religious imagery in much of her music and performance today.
Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey are involved in a deadly automobile accident
Shortly after appearing in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off together, the couple traveled to Northern Ireland together, renting a BMW 316 for the scenic drive through the Irish countryside from Irvinestown to Maguiresbridge. Shortly after stopping at a petrol station to wait out a harsh deluge of rain, the couple collided head on with another vehicle, killing 28 year-old Anna Gallagher and her 63 year-old mother, Margaret Doherty, when Broderick had mistakenly driven the BMW into the oncoming traffic lane (perhaps through force of habit being that Americans, like Broderick, drive on the right side of the road, whereas the Irish use the left). Broderick suffered a broken leg and ribs alongside a collapsed lung while Grey obtained severe whiplash later necessitating surgery to avoid paralysis. Broderick was subsequently charged with causing death by dangerous driving, facing up to 5 years behind bars, but was only convicted of careless driving and fined $175.
Corey Feldman sues his parents
The Stand By Me star was a bonafide teen heartthrob by the late 1980s, having earned roughly $1 million from his acting gigs by the age of 15. When Feldman was legally emancipated from his parents in 1987, they’d squandered much of the young actor’s fortune, leaving him just $40,000, inciting allegations the couple has grossly mismanaged the young star’s earnings. To complete the emancipation process, Feldman (confoundingly) needed his parent’s signature, but his father held out until the young Feldman agreed to sign over the $40,000 remaining in his fortune, leaving Feldman without a dollar to his name at just 15. Feldman has spoken candidly about the abuse he suffered from his parents as well as his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, stating these issues were largely enabled and exacerbated by his tenure as a child actor in the entertainment industry.
Ozzy Osbourne bites off the head of a bat
The Black Sabbath frontman turned reality star bit the head off a bat during a performance at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa on January 20, 1982. A fan threw the dead bat onto the stage resulting in Ozzy, believing the bat to be a rubber toy, picking up the carcass and biting into it, blood immediately flooding his mouth and spilling down his chin. Osbourne thought the bat was alive when he’d bitten it in the immediate aftermath, but Mark Neal, the then 17 year-old fan who’d thrown it on stage, confirmed it’d been dead long before making it into Osbourne’s grasp. Somehow, this was not the first time Osbourne performatively beheaded a live animal in a macabre public spectacle, having bitten the head off a dove during a 1981 meeting with CBS records after signing his first solo deal. In capitalist commemoration, Osbourne sold plush toy bats complete with a removable head on his website in 2019, the first batch selling out just hours after their release.
Vanessa Williams is stripped of her Miss America title
Williams made history in 1984 by becoming the first African American woman to be awarded the title since the pageant's inception in 1921. Explicit, unauthorized photographs were later published in Penthouse magazine in the weeks leading up to the conclusion of Williams reign, igniting significant media attention publicly shaming Williams and pressuring her to resign, leading to Williams later relinquishing her title to Miss New Jersey 1983, Suzette Charles. When Williams served as the head judge for Miss America 2016, former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell issued a public apology on behalf of the organization.
Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson end their relationship after nearly 20 years.
One month after ending her relationship with photographer Bob Richardson, Huston met Nicholson when she’d attended the actor’s 36th birthday party thrown at his palatial Mulholland Drive home in Los Angeles. The pair then began what would be a tumultuous, frenetic relationship that would last on and off from 1973 to 1990. Despite referring to Huston as the love of his life in 1980, Nicholson was persistently unfaithful, eventually conceiving a child with actress Rebecca Broussard in 1989 while he and Huston were still together. The affair ultimately led to the complete dissolution of their romantic relationship, though the 2 remained fond of one another, even starring opposite each other in Sean Penn’s 1995 drama The Crossing Guard.
The fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker
As hosts of the wildly popular televangelist program The PTL Club, the Bakkers were emblematic of the wholesome evangelical values they tirelessly espoused, making Jim’s 1989 indictment on multiple charges of fraud and conspiracy all the more shocking. In the late 1980s, Jim used funds from the couple’s ministry to pay hush money to church secretary, Jessica Hahn in an effort to cover up his alleged sexual assault of Hahn. Subsequent investigations into the Bakkers revealed widespread accounting fraud, leading to Jim’s conviction and subsequent imprisonment. Tammy divorced Jim in 1992 and later married Roe Messner, the man who allegedly produced the hush money payment to Jessica Hahn, and passed away from colon cancer in 2007. After his release from prison, Jim returned to televangelism, continuing to spew bizarre prophecies of the end of the world, even Christians would launch a second Civil War should former President Donald Trump be impeached.
Sean Penn’s multitude of assault charges
The Oscar-winning actor and self described humanitarian was charged with assault on 4 separate occasions throughout the 1980s and simultaneously dogged by rumors of viciously abusing his ex-wife Madonna throughout their 4 year marriage. The Angry Birds Movie star was first charged with assault and battery after he’d attacked 2 journalists attempting to take photographs of him and Madonna in Nashville in June of 1985, shortly before he’d allegedly assaulted a Hong Kong Standard reporter who’d photographed the couple arriving at their hotel room in January 1986. Penn was charged with battery again in June 1986 after assaulting songwriter David Wolinski in a Los Angeles club after the actor accused Wolinski of trying to kiss Madonna. Penn later violated his probation and was arrested in April 1987 after punching a film extra on the set of the film Colors, leading to a 60 day jail sentence (of which he only served 33 days).
Marvin Gaye’s tragic death
The Motown legend was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., on April 1, 1984 after intervening in a quarrel between his parents. Gaye’s father, a minister, physically abused his son throughout his childhood, contributing to a lifelong strained relationship between the pair. After a brief physical altercation between Gaye and his father, Gay Sr. retreated from the room then returned and shot his son twice using a pistol the singer had bought him for Christmas to defend himself against intruders. Gaye was pronounced dead on arrival at California Hospital Medical Center and his father was arrested for his murder shortly thereafter. Gay Sr. later pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, receiving a 6 year suspended sentence alongside 5 years probation.
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin is arrested for publicly urinating on an airplane
On a domestic flight from Indianapolis to Los Angeles in 1989, the acclaimed guitarist engaged in an array of bad behavior ultimately leading to his arrest when the plane touched down for a layover in Phoenix, Arizona. Leading up to Stradlin’s arrest he’d verbally abused a flight attendant, began smoking a cigarette in a non-smoking area of the plane, and then urinated on the galley floor in front of other passengers, resulting in his bandmates giving him the nickname “Whizzy”(incredibly clever). The Guns N’ Roses guitarist was arrested for causing a public disturbance and given a year of probation for the ordeal, in part catalyzing Stradlin to return home to Indiana and finally obtain sobriety from drugs and alcohol. After getting sober, Stradlin grew tired of the rock group’s lifestyle, leading to him leaving the group in 1991 before rejoining in 1993.
Pete Rose is banned from the MLB
Former baseball player Pete Rose was permanently banned from Major League Baseball in August 1989 after it was revealed he’d bet on games while both playing for and managing the Cincinnati Reds. Rose initially admitted to betting on other sports like football and basketball but maintained he’d never bet on baseball, though he’d later admit to placing numerous bets on MLB games in 2004 following more than a decade of public denial of wrongdoing. The former manager has applied for reinstatement numerous times but no action has ever been taken to lift his permanent ban, numerous MLB officials citing the risk Rose’s reinstatement posed to the integrity of the sport as reason to maintain the ban. Additionally, as a result of the ban Rose was made ineligible for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, an issue that’s been widely contested and debated in the baseball community in the decades following Rose’s departure from the MLB.
Rob Lowe’s leaked sex tape
A sex tape showing the Parks and Recreation star with a 16 year-old girl and 23 year-old woman filmed the night before that year’s Democratic National Convention was leaked to the press in 1988. Lowe, 24 at the time, met the pair at an Atlanta nightclub while in town to campaign for former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination (an election he’d later lose to former President George H. W. Bush). Lowe’s career tapered off for a time as a result, but eventually recovered and pushed the actor to get sober after battling addiction in the years leading up to the incident.
Todd Bridges is charged with attempted murder
The Everybody Hates Chris actor was charged with attempted murder after he shot Kenneth “Tex” Clay 8 times at a Los Angeles residence after Clay had allegedly stolen Bridges’ BMW in February 1989. Bridges had a couple of run-ins with the law throughout the 1980s, first being fined $240 for carrying a concealed firearm in 1983 and then receiving a suspended sentence after pleading no contest to making a bomb threat in 1987. Bridges was subsequently acquitted of the charges stemming from the shooting in 2 separate criminal trials.
John Belushi’s tragic death
The Animal House star deeply struggled with addiction and substance abuse throughout his illustrious career, even being fired and subsequently rehired by Saturday Night Live on multiple occasions due to erratic, concerning behavior he’d exhibited under the influence. After a brief stint of sobriety, Belushi relapsed during the filming of the 1981 black comedy Neighbors and was found dead of a speedball (a caustic mixture of cocaine and heroin) overdose in his Chateau Marmont bungalow by his fitness trainer and bodyguard Bill Wallace on March 5, 1982. The fatal speedball shot was given to Belushi by drug dealer Cathy Smith who was later arrested and convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the comedian’s untimely death after being extradited from Canada.
Princess Diana greatly diminishes early HIV/AIDS ostracization
The Princess of Wales’ work throughout the AIDS crisis of the 1980s came to be a legacy defining, culture shifting initiative the ramifications of which are nearly impossible to understate. Early in the AIDS crisis, patients were met with nearly universal revile, treated as lepers and social pariahs for fear their condition may jeopardize the health and wellbeing of those they’d come in close contact, leading to total alienation from friends, family, and loved ones. In April 1987 (a month before the years ongoing AIDS crisis would even be acknowledged by President Ronald Raegan), Diana made a public appearance holding the hands of AIDS patients and speaking candidly about the realities of living with HIV, dismissing the pervasive fear HIV/AIDS could be spread through mere physical contact and close proximity, making her one of the first significant mainstream figures to dispel the hysteria surrounding HIV contagion. Despite Queen Elizabeth II disapproving of Diana's work within the AIDS movement and encouraging her to pursue a “more cheerful” cause, Diana continued her work within the community until her death in 1997.
Ben Johnson is stripped of his Olympic medal
During the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson won the 100 metres final and shattered his own world record with a staggering 9.79 seconds time, securing him his first gold medal and making him the first Canadian to win the event since 1928. Johnson was hailed as a national hero until just days later it was revealed the athlete’s urine sample submitted to the Olympic Doping Control Center contained stanozolol, a performance enhancing anabolic steroid, leading to his disqualification. The exposure of Johnson’s steroid use led to the success of several other high profile athletes competing to have their performance questioned, with many later testing positive for performance enhancing drugs and facing their own penalties. Following the doping accusations, Johnson’s 1987 World Championships record was also stripped but he was able to retain the 2 bronze medals he’d won at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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