11 Celebrity Scandals You Probably Have Forgotten About

1. Tim Allen Was a Coke Dealer

Long before he was The Toolman to a generation of kids in the 90’s, Tim Allen was a convicted drug dealer.

In 1978 Allen was working at an advertising firm and performing stand up comedy on the side. On October 2nd Allen was caught by drug sniffing dogs at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport transporting about a pound and a half of cocaine. In exchange for a life sentence Allen gave the names of other offenders he knew and only spent about 28 months in a federal prison in Minnesota.

Following his stay in prison he returned to his career in comedy and after a decade or so became the A-List Santa Claus(e) we all know today. To infinity and beyond!

2. Rob Lowe Has a Sex Tape With a Minor

Rob Lowe, teen heartthrob turned adult heartthrob, was going through a notable time in 1988. A videotape of him having sex with two women was recorded the night before the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. When the tape leaked it was discovered that one of the two young ladies was 16 years old. Rob was taken to court and agreed to 20 hours of community service in order to avoid criminal charges.

He called the incident the “greatest thing that ever happened to me” on The Oprah Winfrey Show, crediting it as the reason why he eventually got sober. I’m not entirely sure that the underage girl or her family would agree.

3. Dr. Dre Beat a Woman

Andre Romelle “Dr. Dre” Young is known by many as a record producer, rapper, and Beats Electronics entrepreneur. Dr. Dre is currently the richest figure in the hip hop scene and worth about $550 million.

After a January 1990 interview with Denise “Dee” Barnes, a former rapper and television personality, Dre felt that he had been negatively portrayed for leaving the rap group N.W.A. In retaliation against Barnes he sought her out and assaulted her. He physically attacked her against a brick wall and tossed her down a stairway while his bodyguard held off a crowd of onlookers with a gun. Barnes nearly escaped the attack by heading into the women’s restroom before Dre followed her and punch he repeatedly in the back of the head.

In February Barnes brought a $22.75 million lawsuit against Dre to which he plead no contest. He was fined $2,500, sentenced to two years probation, ordered to perform 240 hours of community service, and to produce an anti-violence PSA.

4. Left-Eye Burned Her Boyfriend’s Mansion to the Ground

Long before Chris Brown and Rihanna, there was Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (of the highly celebrated 90’s girl group TLC) and Atlanta Falcons football star Andre Rison.

Lopes and Rison began dating in March of 1993. The relationship was abusive from early on; Rison was arrested less than six months later after he allegedly physically abused Lopes. He was also charged with firing a gun into the air during this attack in an attempt to prevent nearby people from intervening. The charges for that incident were eventually dropped.

This would lead to further reports of the pairs discord culminating the night of June 8, 1994. Rison reportedly purchased himself several new pairs of sneakers without obtaining any for Lopes. After a night of clubbing he came home to find an upset and allegedly intoxicated Lopes in his six-bedroom, million dollar home. In what he claims was self defense he slapped her and threw her around his bedroom before exiting the premises.

Lopes then set fire to the new sneakers in Rison’s bathtub before attacking Rison’s two new luxury cars with a vacuum cleaner. After this, Lopes proceeded to watch the entire mansion burn to the ground from the front lawn before fleeing the scene.

Lopes and Rison reconciled after she was sentenced for the crime. She would pay a $10,000 fine, live in a halfway house, and be on five years probation for the incident.

The pair planned to eventually wed before Lopes’ untimely death in 2002.

5. Chuck Berry Taped Women Using the Toilet

Chuck Berry, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and one of the pioneers of rock music, has had several run-ins with the law. He was most notably caught secretly videotaping inside the women’s restroom of his restaurant The Southern Air in 1989.

One of his employees took him to court alleging that the tapes were created for him to use as part of his “sexual fetishes.” This eventually lead to a class-action suit. When Berry’s home was searched it was discovered that the rocker had been in possession of firearms, marijuana, and a collection of videotaped depicting underage women performing sexual acts. Charges for the case were eventually dropped after the lawyer for the prosecution was caught in a financial scandal.

6. Victor Salva Sexually Abused a 12-Year-Old Actor

Director Victor Salva has certainly never let a good child-sex scandal keep him down. During the production of Clownhouse, a low-budget horror movie surrounding three pre-teen male protagonists, Salva asked 12-year-old Nathan Forrest Winters to meet him for extra “rehearsals.” During these meetings Salva engaged in a variety of sexual acts with Winters. Salva videotaped with sessions to add to his personal collection of child pornography.

Winters’ parents got involved and Salva’s house was raided by the cops. Salva was sentenced to three years in jail and became a registered sex offender.

That’s what makes it so surprising that Salva was enlisted by Disney to make the 1995 feature film Powder which depicted an albino teen boy with supernatural powers developing relationships with adults, some of whom insinuate that they’ve used the boys powers for sexual performance. Disney released the film, which contains several shots of a few nude teen bodies, despite protests from Winters family and others.

Salva went on to make the Jeepers Creepers franchise… another series of films depicting nude young people in horrific circumstances.

7. Rick James Tortured At Least Two Women

Rick James qualifies as a grade-A super freak. Before we begin on the actual scandals, let me just point out that Rick James has admitted to spending about $7,000 per week on drugs for five weeks straight (adjusted for inflation, that’s over $13,000 in 2014).

Following a suspicion that a young companion had stolen drugs from him in 1993, James held Frances Alley (then 24-years-old) hostage for six days. During this time together he would physically and sexually torture the woman using a heated knife and the hot end of a crack pipe.

After another long bought of crack use, James kidnapped music executive Mary Sauger and physically assaulted her for about 20 hours. He was eventually sentenced to two years in prison for the incident.

He was later accused of sexual abuse again in 1998 but the charges were dropped. James died in 2004 under the influence of alprazolam, diazepam, bupropion, citalopram, hydrocodone, digoxin, chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine and cocaine.

8. Lou Pearlman Is an Alleged Sexual Predator and Ponzi Scheme Mastermind

Lou Pearlman, the man behind N’Sync, the Backstreet Boys, O-Town, and pop star Aaron Carter, was incarcerated in 2009 following his conviction for masterminding a half-a-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. Pearlman allegedly swindled the money from 1,700 victims with promises of investing into the airline and music industries.

Pearlman had other run-ins with the law before this incident. Aaron Carter brought suit against Pearlman in 2002 at only 14 years old, stating the Pearlman had cheated him out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

All of this pales in comparison to the allegations from LFO band member Rich Cronin that Pearlman was a sexual predator. Nick Carter, member of the Backstreet Boys (and brother of Aaron), has alluded to similar crimes after claims of Pearlman’s misconduct by his mother.

9. Hugh Grant Was Caught With a Prostitute

In 1995 Hugh Grant was the epitome of Cool Britannia. While in a relationship with model and film actress Elizabeth Hurley, he was arrested off of Sunset Boulevard in LA after being caught in the act with prostitute Divine Brown. Hurley forgave him for the incident before they split in 2000.

Grant plead no contest and was fined $1,180 and placed on two years’ summary probation. He was also asked to complete an AIDS education program. Grant has been fairly open about the scandal and his wrongdoing, even going on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno the same week and owning up to the crime.

Brown, who now goes by her birth name of Stella Thompson in Atlanta Georgia, has made over $1 million in media deals since the scandal.

10. Eddie Murphy Too

On May 2, 1997 Atison Seiuli, who had a warrant out for her arrest for charges of prostitution, was found in the company of former SNL player and movie star Eddie Murphy. Murphy, a married father of three, had picked her up in a notorious West Hollywood “hooker zone” and claimed he was simply being a “good Samaritan” by offering her a ride in his Toyota Land Cruiser.

Police did not find Murphy guilty of anything and did not arrest him at the scene. Seiuli, not as lucky, was taken into custody. Seiuli died in an accidental fall from her LA apartment the next year.

11. David Letterman Was Blackmailed for Sleeping With His Female Employees

In 2009 David Letterman, the extremely popular host of The Late Show, revealed to his studio audience that he had recently been blackmailed for $2 million. The extortionist, 48 Hours Mystery producer Robert ‘Joe’ Halderman, had threatened to go public with the information that the host had sexual relationships with several female staff members.

The Daily Mail, one of the most popular and unreliable new sources in the UK, claims that Letterman kept a secret suite in his television studio for his trysts. All employees of Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, have denied those claims.

Halderman was convicted of blackmail and served four months of a six month sentence before completing 1,000 hours of court mandated community service.