These were the biggest celebrity scandals the year you were born (31 Photos)

As a society, we seem to live on gossip, scandals and people doing stupid shit. It’s human nature, and it’s unavoidable. But we forget that celebs are human too, and subject to the same dumb mistakes that us regular folk make. Sometimes, it’s an honest mistake and society/the media turn it into a circus, other times it’s a genuine mystery, while other times, it’s just a brain-dead move that you wonder how they put on shoes in the morning.

How many of these do you remember from your youth?

1980 – Brooke Shields posed in a controversial Calvin Klein Ad
She was 14 at the time, and the tagline “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing,” implied that she was going commando at the time.

Someone, please think of the kids.

1981 – The mysterious drowning death of Natalie Wood
At first glance, her death just seemed tragic – she was on a boat with her husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walked, when she fell and drowned.

Except, conflicting eye-witness reports, mysterious bruises and drugs in her system tell a different story. Currently, no one really knows what happened that day.

1982 – Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off of a bat
During a show in Iowa, Ozzy got lost in the moment and decided to shock the audience, by biting what he thought was a toy bat.

It was a real bat.

1983-Vanessa Williams was stripped of her Miss America crown, for posing nude
She was the first African-American crowned, but her reign was cut short when Penthouse got their hands on some old nude modelling shots and published them without permission.

1984 – Marvin Gaye was murdered by his father
The famous soul singer was shot by his own dad, while intervening in an argument between his parents.

1985 – Sean Penn gets arrested for assaulting a paparazzi
Penn’s always been a troubled guy, but he was handed a 60-day sentence in 1985 for assaulting a photographer who tried to take a photo of him and Madonna.

Should have gotten a medal for that.

1986 – Jack Nicholson’s love children came out of the woodwork
Despite being in a relationship with Anjelica Houston since 1973, it was revealed that he was stepping out on her, and leaving it in.

1987 – Matthew Broderick caused a fatal car accident
He was driving with Jennifer Grey on a dark and stormy night, when he lost control of his car and crashed into another vehicle. He broke his leg, and Jennifer got bruises, but the occupants of the other car weren’t so lucky. Two women lost their life.

He got charged with dangerous driving causing death, and was convicted, but only fined $175.

1988 – Rob Lowe made a sex tape with a 16-year-old
Before he was a bonna fide tv star, he was a child star and pretty famous at that. He was also into politics, and the night before the Democratic National Convention, he brought two women back to his his hotel and they videotaped him having sex with them. He was unaware that they were taping and that one of them was underaged.

This was the first ever celebrity sex tape scandal.

1989 – Pepsi cancels their partnership with Madonna
It’s not very common for a company to cancel a sponsorship deal outright over a music video, but it was a different time. Pepsi, and the mom’s of America, didn’t care for the “Like A Prayer” video.

1990 – Roseanne Barr ruins a baseball game
At the start of a San Diego Padres game, she decided to shriek the National Anthem and got booed and jeered by the crowd.

1991 – Pee-Wee Herman was arrested for Indecent Exposure
As the story goes, Paul Reubens was at an adult movie theatre, when he started to masturbate. Cops happened to be *ahem, on hand, and he was nabbed.

There goes my childhood.

1992 – Princess Diana’s phone calls are leaked
This is pretty much how the world found out that theirs wasn’t a fairy tale marriage. She was having a secret relationship with someone, and Charles was having an affair too.

1993 – Michael Jackson is accused of assault
This is where things started to go a little wrong for the king of pop. There were rumours that he assaulted a 13-year-old boy, and he ended up settling out of court.

Truthful or not, it tainted is legacy.

1994 – Nancy Kerrigan gets her knee whacked
Sure, they’re not major celebrities, but this was a huge scandal in the figure skating world. Tonya Harding and her boyfriend had a secret plan to incapacitate their rival, with a baton to the knee.

1995 – The OJ Simpson trial ends
Everyone was talking about this trial during the early 90’s, and when the “not guilty” verdict came down, we were all a little flabbergasted. His innocence didn’t last long, as he was slammed with a civil suit and found guilty two years later.

1996 – Tupac Shakur was shot and killed
Tupac’s mysterious death was the big news story, and frankly, we’re still stumped. There’s something off about the events that transpired during Tupac’s drive-by.

1997 – Princess Diana’s accident
A lot happened in ’97, but nothing was more present than the death of Princess Diana. It was a tragedy mourned the world over.

The scandalous part was the role of the paparazzi in her car crash. Those guys needed to be taken aside and shot.

1998 – Bill Clinton’s affair is made public
The truth about a 3-year affair with intern Monica Lewinsky came to light this year. It wasn’t so much that he was cheating, so much as the fact that he lied about it under oath, that doomed his presidency.

1999 – Brandi Chastain scores the game winning penalty kick in the World Cup
She became a celebrity after this event, but there was way too much blowback for her celebration. Whoop-de-doo, a black sports bra.

2000 – Angelina Jolie makes out with her brother
Before she started saving babies, she was a Hollywood dark horse, with tattoos, a devil-may-care attitude and also, a strange relationship with her bro.

2001 – Winona Ryder got caught shoplifting
No one knows why she lifted over $5,500 worth of designer clothes from a Beverly Hills shop, but drugs were probably to blame.

2002 – R. Kelly was revealed to be a perv
This is when the truth came out, when he was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography, and the infamous peeing tape.

Since then, he’s been the subject for far too many scandals, to still have a career.

2003 – Britney Spears and Madonna made out
In the middle of a performance with Madonna and Christina Aguilera, Britney leaned in for a kiss. It rocked the MTV Video Music Awards to the core (not really.)

2004 – The infamous Janet Jackson Halftime show
This ‘accidental’ reveal of Janet’s boob sparked the FCC to insist that live performances get a few seconds of delay, and also, helped create Youtube.

I’d say Jackson’s nipple changed the world.

2005 – Brad Pitt leaves Jennifer Aniston for Angelina
There was just too much scandal to handle at this time. Not only were Brad and Jennifer divorcing, it was because he got too involved with Angelina Jolie on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Made everyone stop believing in true love that day.

2006 – Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving
It wasn’t so much the intoxicated driving, because pretty much every celebrity has tried that. It was his “Sugar-t*ts” nickname that he gave police officers that caused a scandal. Oh, that, and the anti-semitism.

2007 – Britney Spears has a breakdown
We all remember this one, right? Brittney went into a barbershop, shaved her head, and attacked a photographer’s car with an umbrella.

You know the meme; If she could survive 2007, you can survive today.

2008 – Heath Ledger passes away
This wasn’t so much a scandal as a huge tragedy. After playing such a dark and twisted character as the Joker, it looked like his demons got the best of him.