Worst Celebrity Downfalls 2002-2006
Whitney Houston, Tom Cruise, Martha Stewart Fall from Grace
Dec 3, 2008
From America's darlings, to laughing stock of the world in just a few short years. These celebrities were at the top of their game - so what went wrong?
Whitney Houston
Born in 1963, Whitney first shot to fame in the late 1980’s, and was one of the first African-American females to receive high rotation on MTV. Her 1985 self-titled debut album became the biggest selling album of all-time for a solo artist, and critics raved about her extraordinarily powerful vocal range. Success followed Whitney into the 90’s at which time she appeared in the motion picture “The Bodyguard”, and also recorded the single off the soundtrack “I Will Always Love You”, which became the biggest selling single for a female artist of all time. Her success soon plummeted after her marriage to R& B artist, Bobby Brown as rumors of drug abuse soon began to circulate. Tabloids reported Whitney’s increasingly erratic behavior and her record sales plummeted.
In 2002, Whitney was interviewed by TV journalist Diane Sawyer about allegations of drug abuse, to which the defiant Whitney responded, "I make too much money to do crack. Crack is wack.” A quote that would soon become as infamous as her lifestyle.
Things soon went from bad to worse when in March 2006, Whitney’s then friend, and Bobby's sister Tina Brown sold pictures to UK magazine The Enquirer, which in turn printed photos of Whitney's bathroom littered with beer cans, syringes and other drug paraphernalia.
Despite the numerous stints in rehab that followed, rumors of her drug taking still abound, making the diva's once wholesome Christian image and worldwide fan-base a distant memory.
Martha Stewart
Magazine publisher and business magnate, Martha Stewart was the epitome of the perfect all American housewife. Martha headed broadcasting giant Omnimedia, and also enjoyed tremendous success with her many published cookbooks and syndicated talk show “Martha”. As one of the most powerful women in the United States, it came as an enormous shock to her many fans when in 2004 she was accused and convicted for insider trading.
After being found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators, Martha was sentenced to five months jail in West Virginia, with two years under court supervision – including 5 months home confinement wearing an ankle tracking device.
Tom Cruise
Once ranked the Worlds Most Powerful Celebrity by Forbes Business Magazine, it seemed that actor and producer Tom Cruise held the formula for making any movie a success. With a series of box office hits spanning over 20 years, Tom was nominated for three Academy awards, and won three Golden Globe awards. With a reputation for negotiating the biggest deals in Hollywood, his commercial prowess was well recognized as a major force to be reckoned with until his controversial behavior and candid radical comments began to cause strife among both his fans and industry executives.
His appearance on popular talk-show Oprah in 2005 did little to deflect the increasing bad publicity, when he suddenly started jumping on Oprah’s couch declaring his love for his future wife, Katie Holmes. His odd behavior on Oprah made headlines around the world, and it wasn’t long before he found himself offside with the Hollywood heavyweights at Paramount Pictures.
In August 2006, it was reported in the Wall Street Journal that Paramount Pictures would be ending its 14 year association with Cruise due to an economic downturn in Cruise's worth as an actor and producer – commonly believed to be directly related to his increasingly controversial behavior and advocacy of the pseudo-religion, The Church Of Scientology.
A USA/Today Gallop poll conducted in August 2006, found that half of all those surveyed had an “unfavorable opinion” of the actor. It seems that his constant campaigning for Scientology, even lobbying politicians in France and Germany whereby officials denounced Scientology as a cult and refused any further dealings with Cruise, has only distanced himself from his once huge worldwide fan base, and industry executives alike.
