Famous Actors Who Ruined Their Careers

Paul Reubens

Pee-wee Herman was a huge name during the 80s. The bow-tied man-child was the subject of two feature films and an Emmy-winning children’s TV series. But the public perception of him changed suddenly in 1991. He was visiting his parents in Florida when he was arrested for indecent exposure at an adult movie theater. Shortly after this, Reubens vanished from the public eye and disappeared for the remainder of the 90s.

When he attempted to make a comeback, even more charges were brought his way. Another decade passed before he dared to return to the character, which he did successfully in 2016, starring in the critically acclaimed Netflix film “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.”

Ingrid Bergman

Starring in “Casablanca” and “Gaslight”, Bergman appeared to be a typical woman of the time, happily married to her husband. While she was married to Peter Lindstrom, Bergman began an affair with her director on “Stromboli,” Roberto Rossellini. The two fell in love and when she fell pregnant with his child, she left Lindstrom and her first child to be with the Italian director. A woman publicly admitting to an affair caused an insane scandal at the time.

The fervor went all the way to Washington when Senator Edwin C. Johnson proposed a bill that made it so that movies would have to be approved based on the moral content of the film as well as the moral character of the people involved in filmmaking. Johnson said that Bergman “had perpetrated an assault upon the institution of marriage.” Bergman left the country for eight years and her status was permanently damaged, but she continued to make films.

Amanda Bynes

The star of “The Amanda Show” and “She’s The Man” ran afoul like many child stars before her, but what truly destroyed her career was her Twitter meltdown in the weeks after her arrest. It was like a teenager getting fired from McDonald’s for tweeting how much they hated working there, only so much worse.

All this resulted in her being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, twice placed in a psychiatric facility, and her career being put on ice. According to People, as of summer 2021, she’s been laying low at the beach, finishing her degree, and apparently dabbling in rap music.

Paula Deen

Paula Deen was once everyone’s favorite cooking show mom, a pleasant Southern lady who loved good food and wanted you to love it, too. This led to stints on shows like “Top Chef,” “MasterChef,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” and a role in an actual movie, “Elizabethtown.” But by 2012, the Deen empire had all but crumbled, thanks to its empress being pretty racist.

Once her statements were verified in district court, the Food Network reacted swiftly, refusing to renew her contract despite her multiple video apologies, reports People. Deen laid low for a while, banished from Food Network and resurfacing for a season of “Positively Paula” on the more obscure RFD-TV network, making the occasional appearance on “Fox and Friends” and “The Dr. Oz Show.”

Robert Blake

In a career spanning the best part of 70 years, Robert Blake went from child star of MGM’s “Little Rascals” to The Mystery Man in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” the last character he played before his wife passed away in 2001. Three years after his arrest, Blake was acquitted. However, a civil court claim later found him guilty of “intentionally” causing Bakley’s passing and ordered him to pay $30 million to Bakley’s children.

Blake’s criminal trial was the nail in his career coffin. However, that didn’t stop the then-71-year-old actor from issuing a plea to producers in the aftermath. He proclaimed himself “broke” and announced himself available for work. Unsurprisingly, work never came.

Kathy Griffin

Controversy has helped make Kathy Griffin famous. But then she went too far with a stunt that, depending on who you ask, was either a poorly presented joke or a violent threat to the life of a sitting president.

In May 2017, Griffin posted a picture of herself holding a Donald Trump mannequin head. According to her, she was mocking the latest of Trump’s remarks. Unfortunately for her, few saw it that way, least of all her employers. CNN quickly canned her from its New Year’s Eve broadcasts. The FBI even investigated her over the picture. Griffin apologized, saying the joke went too far.

Months later, she seemed less broken. In August 2017, she retracted her apology, reports the Los Angeles Times, saying the backlash had gone too far. According to her, not only did she lose her CNN gig, but her entire standup tour was canceled because most of the theaters got dangerous threats. She says her “little picture” cost her jobs, money, and close friendships, and she’s done apologizing for something everyone blew way out of proportion.

Megan Fox

Playing Mikaela Banes in 2007’s “Transformers” made Megan Fox a star. Within a couple of years, she’d made the sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” the comedy “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People,” and the cult horror-comedy “Jennifer’s Body.” Despite comparing him to the mastermind of World War II, Michael Bay still hired Fox for “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

But, according to The Guardian, it was reportedly overruled by producer Steven Spielberg due to her remarks. In an interview with The Washington Post, Fox said she retreated from Hollywood to “escape” the misogyny and find her “purpose.”