Year In Review: Scandals

A lot of scandalous stuff went down in 2010, but the most outrageous and shocking had to be the Mel Gibson audio tapes. In April, Mel split from his baby mamma Oksana Grigorieva, and two months later she filed for a restraining order claiming that Mel had attacked her, knocking out two of her front teeth. If that wasn't bad enough, Oksana secretly recorded conversations with Mel,  which were leaked to Radaronline. In the audio, Mel is heard calling Oksana a "gold-digging whore," threatening to kill her and using the "N word." The pair is still locked in a bitter custody battle over their daughter Lucia, while Mel is under investigation for abuse. In addition, Mel is claiming Oksana tried to extort money from him, threatening to release the audio tapes if he didn't pay her. Oksana still insists that she did not release the audio to Radar. Meanwhile, the scandal has had a negative effect on Mel's movie career. The release of his upcoming film The Beaver has been delayed until next year, and he lost a cameo in the upcoming film The Hangover 2 after the movie's actors protested his hiring.

Sandra Bullock’s 2010 couldn’t have started off better. She was in a hit movie, The Blind Side, and was considered a frontrunner for the Best Actress Oscar. In February, she did indeed win that trophy, but that’s where her fairytale year abruptly ended. In mid March, In Touch magazine ran an interview with a biker chick named Michelle "Bombshell" McGee who claimed that she had had an 11-month affair with Bullock’s husband Jesse James. Sandra almost immediately left James, and stayed out of the public eye. James eventually acknowledged that he cheated on his wife, and it turns out it wasn’t just with McGee. Very quickly, several tattooed strippers and porn stars claimed to have had flings with Jesse. In addition, a photo was released showing James in a Nazi hat, swastika armband, and doing a Nazi salute. James eventually entered rehab for sexual addiction. And while all this was happening, Sandra was keeping a secret herself (albeit a really happy one). When she finally reemerged in public in April, she announced that she had secretly adopted a baby boy in January (when she was still with James), who she named Louis Bardot. With Jesse out of her life, Sandra decided to adopt Louis as a single mom. Their divorce became final on June 28^th.

When Conan O’Brien debuted as new host of The Tonight Show in June, 2009, he had no way of knowing how fast things would go downhill for him in 2010. Ratings for Conan’s show never quite matched that of his predecessor Jay Leno, who was simultaneously tanking with his new 10 pm program. In an attempt to fix things, NBC chief Jeff Zucker decided he was going to cut The Jay Leno Show to 30 minutes and air it at 11:35, bumping The Tonight Show to 12:05, but Conan wasn’t having it. On January 12^th, he announced that he decided he’d rather leave The Tonight Show, than host it at a later time. On January 21^st, it was announced that Conan had reached an agreement with NBC and would be exiting The Tonight Show the next day, just seven months after he started the gig,  and Jay would be back as Tonight Show host after the Winter Olympics. Due to his exit settlement (reportedly worth $45 million), Conan was forbidden to do TV until September, so he took his act on the road, selling out live performances in thirty cities across the country. While speculation claimed Conan would likely get a new show on Fox, in April, he surprised everyone by announcing he signed a contract with the cable network TBS. His new show, Conan, debuted November 8^th.

Tiger Woods’ so-called perfect life began to fall apart in late 2009, starting with the car crash over Thanksgiving, and the revelation of his many infidelities, but 2010 wasn’t exactly perfect either. After being in seclusion for several months, he finally emerged on February 19^th, delivering his first televised speech from the PGA Tour headquarters in Florida. During the very controlled speech, in a room filled with personally selected members of the press that were unable to ask questions, Tiger admitted he was unfaithful to his wife, and that he had checked himself into a center for help. Although he never admitted what he was being treated for, speculation was that he was getting help for his sex addiction.    In March, Tiger returned to golf, playing in the Masters, although he did not do well. His wife Elin was in Sweden during his comeback, leading to speculation that their marriage was over. Rumors claim Tiger admitted to Elin that he had over 120 affairs, including a one-night stand with the daughter of their neighbor. That admission was said to be the last straw, and the couple finally called it quits for good. Their divorce became final on August 23^rd. Although terms of the settlement were not released, several websites claimed Elin got almost $100 million from her cheating ex.

It was another bad year for Lindsay Lohan, but this time she wound up behind bars. Things started to go really sour for the Mean Girls star in May, when she failed to appear for a scheduled DUI progress report hearing. Lindsay’s lawyers claimed she was stuck in France, where she was attending the Cannes Film Festival, because someone had stolen her passport. At a rescheduled hearing a week later, the judge in Lindsay’s case ordered her to, among other things, wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet in order to remain free on bail. She was due back in July, at which point the judge was expected to determine whether Lindsay had violated probation by not attending alcohol education classes. At that July hearing, the judge ruled that Lohan had indeed violated the terms of her probation and sentenced her to 90 days in jail, starting July 20^th. Lindsay spent 14 days behind bars, was released August 2^nd and taken to rehab at UCLA, where she was supposed to stay for 90 days, but was released 23 days later. She still had to submit to random drug tests, which is what got her in trouble again. In September, after the MTV Video Music Awards, it was reported that Lindsay had failed a drug test, which she later confirmed via Twitter. Lindsay was then denied bail and sent back to jail, but was released the same day after a different judge granted her bail. A few days later Lindsay voluntarily entered the Betty Ford Center for drug and alcohol treatment and at a hearing on October 22^nd a judge ordered her to remain there until January 3^rd.

Charlie Sheen ended 2009 behind bars for attempting to strangle his wife Brooke Mueller during a Christmas trip to Aspen, and his 2010 didn’t get much better. In February, Aspen prosecutors formally charged Sheen with two misdemeanors, felony menacing and third degree assault and criminal mischief. He later that month checked himself into rehab for what he called “preventative” treatment. In August, he reached a plea bargain and pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to 30 days in rehab, 30 days probation and 36 hours of anger management. Shockingly, that would be the least scandalous thing he did. In October, while on a trip to New York with his ex-wife Denise Richards and his two daughters, Charlie went nuts at the Plaza Hotel, causing several thousands of dollars in damage to his room. Cops were called and Charlie had to be taken to a hospital where he underwent observation. The actor's reps claimed he had an allergic reaction to a medication he was taking, but that appears to be just a cover. According to reports, Charlie had been drinking and snorting cocaine all evening, and went crazy when he thought his wallet and watch were missing. A porn star named Capri Anderson was in the hotel room with him, and later claimed he attacked her. In November, after giving an interview to Good Morning America, Capri filed criminal charges with police in New York, but on the same day, Charlie sued her in Los Angeles for extortion. He claimed she threatened to make up a story and go to the press unless he paid her $1 million. Oh, and on November he filed for divorce from Brooke Mueller.

Miley Cyrus continued to strip away at her good girl image in 2010. In May, a video of a then-16 year-old Miley hit the internet, showing her giving a lap dance to 44-year-old Last Song producer Adam Shankman during the film's wrap party.  Then in June, her new album Can't be Tamed was released and Miley was criticized for the provocative outfits she wore while promoting the record. In October, a month before her 18^th birthday, Miley's father Billy Ray filed for divorce from his wife of 18 years Tish. Later rumors claimed Billy Ray called it quits after finding out that Tish had an affair with singer Bret Michaels, a charge they both deny. But the most scandalous thing to happen to Miley occurred December 10^th, when TMZ posted a video of her smoking a bong. Turns out it contained Salvia, a legal hallucinogenic herb, which reportedly has the same effects as LSD and marijuana.  While Miley's father revealed that he was upset by his daughter's actions, the Hannah Montana star didn't seem fazed by the scandal. Sources say on the same day the video was released she went to work on a movie as if nothing happened.

Bristol Palin, daughter of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, had quite a year. First in July, Bristol announced that she had reunited with her baby daddy Levi Johnston and they had once again gotten engaged. But that reunion was short lived. Just three weeks later Bristol revealed that she had broken off their engagement because Levi was more interested in the spotlight than spending time with her and their son Tripp. Interestingly, in the fall, it was Bristol who was interested in the spotlight, agreeing to compete on Dancing with the Stars. Although she was consistently ranked in the bottom each week, she somehow never seemed to get voted off the show. Some viewers were furious, suggesting that there was a conspiracy to keep her on, that either producers were fixing things or that her mom's supporters tied up the phone lines. The show even received death threats, and in one instance, a suspicious white powder was sent to the studios where Dancing was taped. (It turned out to be harmless.) Bristol eventually lost the competition to Jennifer Grey, but that didn't keep her name out of the news. Fellow competitor Margaret Cho suggested that Sarah forced Bristol to compete in order to keep the Palin name in the public eye and later Kathy Griffin compared her to the lead in the movie Precious, because she didn't lose any weight during the competition.

On August 30^th Paris Hilton and boyfriend Cy Waits were driving down the strip in Las Vegas when their SUV was pulled over by cops, who smelled pot coming from the vehicle. But things just got worse for Paris. As she was being arrested, .8 ounces of cocaine fell out of her purse. Although she denied the bag was hers, she eventually pled guilty to two misdemeanors  and was sentenced to one year probation, 200 hours community service, $2,000 fine and ordered to complete a drug abuse program. In other Paris news…just days before her cocaine arrest, a stranger tried to break into her house holding two big knives. Waits was able to stop the guy and detain him until cops arrived.

On November 1^st, a rep for Camp Rock star Demi Lovato announced that the 18-year-old was leaving the Jonas Brothers tour, “in order to…seek medical treatment for emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time." The rep insisted that Demi was not going to rehab for drug problems, and speculation centered on Demi's battle with an eating disorder and her history of cutting herself. It later came out that a fight on an airplane was what prompted Demi to finally get some help. Hours before the incident, Demi had gotten in trouble for her behavior the previous evening, and felt that a dancer, Alex Welch, had tattled on her.   Demi was so furious, as she boarded her plane in Peru, she walked right up to Alex and punched her, leaving the dancer with a black eye and a bruised left cheek bone. Alex is reportedly planning to sue Demi, although word is, they are already working on a settlement.

[via Dial Global]