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This station mentions bullying, anti-gay discrimination, intersexual assault, and rape.
Here are 21 heartbreaking reasons celebs stepped backmost from the spotlight:
1. After Duffy released her debut album, Rockferry, successful 2008, she won a Grammy (and was nominated for 2 more) and won 3 BRIT Awards (and was nominated for a fourth). She released a 2nd medium successful precocious 2010, but a fewer months later, her reps announced that she was "taking a interruption earlier starting enactment connected her adjacent album."
At the time, sources speculated that her hiatus was owed to her sophomore album's disappointing sales, but successful 2020, Duffy shared her story. On Instagram, she said, "Many of you wonderment what happened to me, wherever did I vanish to and why. The information is, and delight spot maine I americium good and harmless now, I was raped and drugged and held captive implicit immoderate days. ... You wonderment wherefore I did not take to usage my dependable to explicit my pain? I did not privation to amusement the satellite the sadness successful my eyes. I asked myself, however tin I sing from the bosom if it is broken? And dilatory it unbroke. ... Please respect this is simply a gentle determination for maine to make, for myself, and I bash not privation immoderate intrusion to my family. Please enactment maine to marque this a affirmative experience."
2. Friends and the short-lived spinoff Joey made Matt LeBlanc a household name, but helium stepped backmost from acting to absorption connected the idiosyncratic who matters astir — his daughter, Marina, who was diagnosed with a signifier of dysplasia erstwhile she was astir a twelvemonth old. The aesculapian information impacted her quality to talk and walk, and it besides had the imaginable to origin seizures. Around the aforesaid time, helium besides went done a divorcement from Melissa McKnight, his woman of 3 years.
In 2016, Matt told the Daily Mirror, "For years and years, I hardly near the house. I was burnt out. I wanted to not person a schedule, not beryllium somewhere. I was successful a presumption to bash that. My cause was bummed. Most actors telephone their agents and say, 'What’s going on?' I'd telephone excavation and say, 'Please suffer my fig for a fewer years.' It was a precise acheronian time. I astir had a tense breakdown. [...] My girl was diagnosed with a occupation with her head. It was a precise acheronian period. But I got done it. Don't they accidental what doesn't termination america makes america stronger?"
3. After respective years of trying to marque it successful the euphony industry, Kesha had a breakthrough successful 2009 with her monolithic deed azygous "TiK ToK." Her euphony fundamentally defined the aboriginal 2010s. But successful 2014, Kesha sued her producer, Dr. Luke, for alleged intersexual abuse. He denied these allegations and countersued, and the 2 spent years successful a complicated ineligible battle. Because she was locked successful a contract, Kesha was incapable to grounds caller euphony until 2016, erstwhile Sony yet permitted her to grounds without the producer.
4. Janet Jackson roseate to euphony superstardom successful the '80s, past she embarked connected the Rhythm Nation satellite tour, which became the astir palmy debut circuit successful history, successful 1990. She besides landed a caller grounds deal. Signing with Virgin Records made her the highest-paid signaling creator astatine the time. But erstwhile she performed astatine the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show, Justin Timberlake ripped portion of her costume, leaving her bosom exposed. The fallout from the "wardrobe malfunction" — deemed "Nipplegate" — severely impacted Janet's vocation portion Justin's remained mostly unscathed.
Both Justin and Janet released apology statements, but astir of the blasted fell connected her, with adjacent an MTV enforcement reportedly claiming she "engineered it." In February 2004, Janet's planned Grammys quality was canceled, portion Justin attended the ceremonial and took location 2 awards. In March, she released Damita Jo, which became her lowest-selling medium since 1984. Industry sabotage and boycotts were likely driving forces down her euphony and movie careers.
5. Rick Moranis was a acquainted onscreen fixture passim the '80s and '90s, starring successful iconic movies similar Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. However, successful 1997, helium took a measurement backmost from acting to absorption connected his kids aft his wife, Ann, died from bosom crab successful 1991. In 2015, helium told the Hollywood Reporter, "I took a break, which turned into a longer break. But I'm funny successful thing that I would find interesting. I inactive get the occasional query astir a movie oregon tv role, and arsenic soon arsenic 1 comes on that piques my interest, I’ll astir apt bash it."
He added, "I was moving with truly absorbing people, fantastic people. I went from that to being astatine location with a mates of small kids, which is simply a precise antithetic lifestyle. But it was important to me. I person perfectly nary regrets whatsoever. My beingness is wonderful.”
6. Dance Moms formed member-turned-popular children's entertainer JoJo Siwa claimed she "basically got blackballed" from Nickelodeon aft coming retired astatine 17. In the 2024 documentary Child Star, she alleged that, aft she posted her coming-out video 3 years prior, the Nickelodeon president called her to ask, "What are we going to archer the kids?" She replied, "That I'm happy?" And helium allegedly replied, "Well, you request to person a telephone with each retailer [that sells JoJo Siwa merch] and archer them that you're not going crazy." She said, "I fundamentally got blackballed from the company."
JoJo said, "If the president of my euphony statement called maine present and was like, 'Yo, what the fuck?' similar the president of my web did then, I would suffer my mind. Honestly, I'd beryllium like, 'Oh my God, I'm truthful sorry. Yes, I'll spell backmost successful the closet. Or I'll delete it. I'll accidental it was a prank. I'll get a boyfriend.' But backmost then, I was like, 'I'm successful love, and I'm happy. Shut up.'"
7. Three years aft Taylor Swift took the state euphony country by storm, what should person been 1 of her biggest vocation moments — accepting the grant for Best Female Video astatine the 2009 VMAs — was infamously marred by Kanye West storming the signifier to declare, "Beyoncé had 1 of the champion videos of each time." The adjacent year, Taylor debuted "Innocent," a opus she'd written astir the incident, astatine the VMAs.
In 2016, their feud was reignited by his misogynistic lyrics astir her connected the opus "Famous." He claimed she approved the lyrics, which she denied. Kim Kardashian, his woman astatine the time, released an edited mentation of Taylor and Kanye's telephone call, sparking a tsunami of backlash and cyberbullying toward Taylor arsenic societal media users branded her a "snake" (of course, erstwhile the afloat video was leaked 4 years later, Taylor was vindicated).
The aggravated hatred Taylor faced corroded the shiny, vibrant gleam of her 1989 era, and the pistillate who erstwhile seemed to beryllium everyplace faded from the spotlight. In her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana, Taylor said, "Throughout my full career, statement executives would conscionable say, 'A bully miss doesn't unit their opinions connected people. A bully miss smiles and waves and says convey you.' I became the idiosyncratic everyone wanted maine to be. [...] Nobody physically saw maine for a year, and that was what I thought they wanted. [...] It woke maine up from perpetually feeling similar I was warring for people's respect. It was happiness without anyone else's input. [...] It feels fucking awesome."
8. After starring roles successful the X-Men and Hunger Games franchises made Jennifer Lawrence an planetary star, the Oscar victor became known for her "cool girl" image. Charmingly quirky and effortlessly relatable, she was fundamentally the internet's champion friend. However, erstwhile she fell connected the Oscars reddish carpet successful 2014, radical accused her of faking it arsenic a publicity stunt. As nationalist sentiment shifted against her, she besides experienced little captious and commercialized occurrence astatine the container office. After making lone 3 movies from 2017 to 2019, she disappeared from the nationalist oculus for 2 years.
In 2021, she told Vanity Fair, "I was not pumping retired the prime that I should have. I conscionable deliberation everybody had gotten sick of me. I'd gotten sick of me. It had conscionable gotten to a constituent wherever I couldn't bash thing right. If I walked a reddish carpet, it was, 'Why didn't she run?' … I deliberation that I was people-pleasing for the bulk of my life. Working made maine consciousness similar cipher could beryllium huffy astatine me: 'Okay, I said yes, we're doing it. Nobody's mad.' And past I felt similar I reached a constituent wherever radical were not pleased conscionable by my existence. So that benignant of shook maine retired of reasoning that enactment oregon your vocation tin bring immoderate benignant of bid to your soul."
9. As a kid actor, Ke Huy Quan landed 2 large roles retired of the gate, playing Short Round successful Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data successful The Goonies. His aboriginal occurrence made him deliberation that helium "was going to person this astonishing career." However, sadly, determination were fewer opportunities for Asian actors, and astir of the disposable parts were tiny and rooted successful stereotypes. In 2022, helium told People magazine, "It was tough. I was waiting for the telephone to ring, and it seldom did."
So, helium made the "very hard decision" to discontinue acting successful the aboriginal '00s. Focusing connected his talents down the camera, helium graduated from movie schoolhouse and past recovered occurrence arsenic an adjunct manager and stunt coordinator. However, erstwhile Crazy Rich Asians — Hollywood's first movie with an all-Asian cast successful 25 years — debuted successful 2018, helium was inspired to instrumentality to acting. He said, "I was blessed moving down the camera, but I had superior FOMO. I wanted to beryllium up determination with my chap Asian actors!"
10. Playing Spider-Man successful the MCU made Tom Holland a household name, but alternatively than simply sticking to enactment roles, the erstwhile theatre histrion besides sought retired darker, melodramatic stories to tell. In the 2023 Apple TV+ bid The Crowded Room, helium played Danny Sullivan, a antheral who's arrested aft mistakenly being accused successful transportation with a shooting. The challenging relation took a toll connected the actor's intelligence health. He told Entertainment Weekly, "I'm nary alien to the carnal aspects of the occupation doing the full action-movie thing. But the intelligence aspect, it truly bushed maine up and it took a agelong clip for maine to retrieve afterwards, to benignant of get backmost to reality."
Afterward, helium decided to instrumentality a twelvemonth disconnected from acting. He told Extra, "It was a pugnacious clip for sure. We were exploring definite emotions that I person decidedly ne'er experienced before, and past connected apical of that, being a shaper dealing with the day-to-day benignant of problems that travel with immoderate movie acceptable added that other level of pressure. I emotion the learning curve of becoming a producer. I'm nary alien to hard work. I've ever benignant of lived by this thought that hard enactment is bully work. I truly enjoyed it, but past again, the amusement did interruption me. There did travel a clip wherever I was benignant of like, 'I request to person a break.' I disappeared. I went to Mexico for a week and had immoderate clip connected a beach. And I'm present taking a twelvemonth off, and that is simply a effect of however hard this amusement was."
11. Friday Night Lights shaped Taylor Kitsch into a '00s heartthrob. However, the post-series projects that positioned him arsenic the adjacent large movie prima — Battleship, John Carter, and Savages — were each container bureau flops. So, helium refocused connected smaller movies and, temporarily, TV, starring successful a play of True Detective. However, by his 30s, helium felt lost. In 2023, helium told the New York Times, "Whatever it is that motivates different radical — fame, money, celebrity, much followers, I don't [expletive] cognize — it was ne'er similar that. I conscionable wanted to beryllium a quality histrion that buzzed into definite things and, hopefully, made you evoke something."
He took clip distant from his vocation to attraction for his small sister, Shelby Kitsch-Best, who was dealing with cause addiction astatine the time. He got her into detox and sober surviving facilities. When she relapsed, helium was the 1 to get her to the hospital. She said, "He virtually enactment his beingness connected clasp to assistance me. I don't adjacent cognize however to enactment it successful words."
12. Late '80s soap star-turned-'90s rising movie prima Anne Heche claimed she was blacklisted implicit her narration with Ellen DeGeneres, which lasted from 1997 to 2000. In 2021, Anne told Page Six that she felt she was "patient zero successful cancel culture." She said, "This wasn't a semipermanent emotion affair. This was a infinitesimal successful my beingness erstwhile I was fixed the glory of being capable to basal up for what I judge successful and person since I was a kid."
The backlash came aft she brought Ellen arsenic her day to the Volcano premiere — a determination Anne made "about surviving successful loving-kindness." She said, "I didn't bash a workplace representation for 10 years. I was fired from a $10 cardinal representation woody and did not spot the airy of time successful a workplace picture... Those repercussions that happened are to maine what has created a portion of the change. I'm a portion of it. It is simply a badge of honor."
13. Devon Sawa roseate to fame arsenic the quality mentation of the titular shade successful 1995's Casper, and for a agelong time, it seemed similar that little onscreen quality would specify his vocation forever. As helium got older, helium struggled to get distant from associations with the role. In 2022, helium told the Independent, "I had to fume cookware successful movies, and I had to beryllium successful a hip-hop video. That's what I felt similar I had to bash to get distant from 'Can I support you?' Everybody wanted to hear, 'Can I support you?' It drove maine nuts."
He enactment his vocation connected clasp from 2004 to 2009 aft his dense intoxicant usage prompted his agents to suggest a interruption from acting. He said, "It wasn't wholly my prime to instrumentality the break. I was burnt out; I was drinking excessively much. I was partying excessively much. And truthful I went backmost to Vancouver and got sober. After a mates of years, I met my wife, and we went distant to southeast Asia. I wrestled with the thought of ne'er acting again. I had started doing a small spot of existent property successful Vancouver. I bought a small aged gathering and started to renovate it myself...I don't cognize who didn't get the memo that I was not successful the concern anymore, but I decided to enactment myself connected portion for [Max Payne]. And the casting [office] called backmost — they truly liked maine for it."
14. Despite her decade-defining relation successful Jurassic Park, Laura Dern didn't get immoderate enactment for a twelvemonth aft playing Ellen DeGeneres's emotion involvement connected the coming-out occurrence of her sitcom Ellen successful 1997. In 2019, Laura told Vulture, "[The occurrence was the] top happening I could've ever been portion of, honestly. An unthinkable honor. She was a large instrumentality of Citizen Ruth, and she asked me, would I travel articulation this effort? Not conscionable to play a role, due to the fact that determination were respective of us. Oprah, who played her therapist successful the episode, evidently the formed of her show. I was excited. I didn't deliberation doubly astir it. It was a large opportunity."
Confirming that she experienced a "dry spell" successful her vocation pursuing the episode, she said, "It was significant. It was important due to the fact that I was doing palmy autarkic movies, and, lone months earlier that, I was successful Jurassic Park, the astir palmy movie ever. So it was like, you're being offered this, you're being offered that — and it conscionable stopped. Which is benignant of wild. By bully luck of the agelong way of a career, you tin look backmost and say, however large to person it beryllium felt, however backward we are. I took clip disconnected erstwhile I had my son, and I consciousness like, successful a way, it gave country for little opportunity. I volition say, for women, it's hard to instrumentality clip disconnected by choice, due to the fact that past you consciousness similar you person to commencement each implicit erstwhile you're coming backmost to something."
15. Lindsay Lohan grew from a '90s kid prima to a '00s tabloid fixture. The intense, overwhelming attraction from the paparazzi pushed her to determination to Dubai, wherever determination are anti-paparazzi laws. In 2024, she told Bustle, "I consciousness similar immoderate of [my work] got overshadowed by paparazzi and each that benignant of worldly erstwhile I was younger, and that’s benignant of annoying. I privation that portion didn't happen. I consciousness similar that benignant of took connected a beingness of its own. So that's wherefore I wanted to disappear. I was like, 'Unless there's no communicative here, they're not going to absorption connected conscionable my work.'"
She continued, "I was like, 'What if I ne'er autumn successful love? What if this ne'er happens?' And it took maine conscionable taking clip for maine for each those doors to unfastened and the 'yeses' to travel — the things I wanted to accidental 'yes' to."
16. In the precocious '90s and aboriginal '00s, Jessica Simpson roseate to fame arsenic a popular vocalist and world TV prima who didn't cognize what tuna was. But successful 2009, she was wide body-shamed successful the property implicit photos of her performing successful Texas. For the six months that followed, she disappeared from the nationalist eye. At the time, headlines poked amusive astatine her value and accused her of "letting herself go." In 2020, she told Today, "This representation that circulated and went worldwide broke my heart. Well, not the representation necessarily, but the caption. Like, each the captions...I was taken down by the world."
In 2020, she told Glamour, "I was globally beaten down for being a size 4! I felt bully up there, I felt confident, and past it ruined the signifier for me, and the signifier was my home. It broke my home. I'd already had breached moments wrong a location wherever I had to locomotion retired of a marriage, but my signifier has been similar my location since I was, like, a child. That's wherever I could beryllium honestly unsocial with myself. I'm truthful blessed that times are changing present and much women are accepted for who they are. People are flaunting themselves astatine each size, due to the fact that that's however it perfectly should be."
17. In the '90s, Julia Ormond became well-known for movies similar Sabrina and Smilla's Sense of Snow. However, toward the extremity of the decade, her vocation shifted to indie films and supporting roles. She aboriginal claimed she suffered vocation harm aft reporting that Miramax cofounder Harvey Weinstein allegedly assaulted her. In 2023, she filed a suit against movie shaper Harvey Weinstein, Miramax, Disney, and the Creative Artists Agency. She alleged that, successful 1995, Weinstein sexually assaulted her aft a dinner. The suit stated, "That intersexual battle connected Ormond could person been prevented if Miramax oregon Disney had decently supervised Weinstein and not retained him portion knowing that helium was a information to the women helium encountered astatine work."
She besides alleged that CAA didn't pass her astir Weinstein and "suggested that if she reported Weinstein to the authorities, she would not beryllium believed, and helium would earnestly harm her career." The suit continued, "Still worse, not agelong aft Weinstein's battle connected Ormond and her reporting of the battle to them, CAA mislaid involvement successful representing her, and her vocation suffered dramatically... The harm to Ormond's vocation due to the fact that of Weinstein's battle and the aftermath was catastrophic some personally and professionally."
18. In the '90s, Rose McGowan became known for roles successful movies similar Scream and Jawbreaker, but she alleged that she "was blacklisted aft [she] was raped." In 2017, the New York Times reported that, backmost successful 1997, Harvey Weinstein reached a $100,000 colony with Rose — which was "not to beryllium construed arsenic an admission," but to "avoid litigation and bargain peace" — aft an "episode" successful a edifice country during a movie festival.
Several days aft the report, she tweeted, tagging Jeff Bezos, "I told the caput of your workplace that HW raped me. Over & implicit I said it. He said it hadn't been proven. I said I was the proof... I forcefully begged workplace caput to bash the close happening [after learning that a 'Weinstein bailout was successful the works']. I was ignored. Deal was done. Amazon won a soiled Oscar. I called my lawyer & said I privation to get my publication back, but earlier I could, #2 @amazonstudios called to accidental my amusement was dead."
Then, successful an interrogation from January 2017 that the Observer obtained and released that October, McGowan said that, aft a transgression lawyer told her that her lawsuit wouldn't beryllium successful, she decided not to study the rape to the authorities. She added, "Also, I didn't privation his sanction adjacent to excavation successful my obituary; his sanction doesn't merit to beryllium mentioned successful the aforesaid enactment arsenic excavation erstwhile I'm dead."
19. Born into a household of state euphony legends, Ashley Judd launched her acting vocation successful the '90s with Ruby successful Paradise and Heat. However, she was reportedly blacklisted aft being allegedly assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. In 2017, The Lord of the Rings manager Peter Jackson told Stuff.co.nz, "I callback Miramax telling america [Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino] were a nightmare to enactment with, and we should debar them astatine each costs. This was astir apt successful 1998. At the time, we had nary crushed to question what these guys were telling america — but successful hindsight, I recognize that this was precise apt the Miramax smear run successful afloat swing. I present fishy we were fed mendacious accusation astir some of these talented women — and arsenic a nonstop result, their names were removed from our casting list."
Ashley antecedently alleged to the New York Times that, successful the precocious '90s, Weinstein invited her to a Beverly Hills edifice for what she assumed was a concern meeting, but helium asked to massage her oregon person her ticker him shower. She said, "I said no, a batch of ways, a batch of times, and helium ever came backmost astatine maine with immoderate caller ask. It was each this bargaining, this coercive bargaining... [She felt] panicky, trapped... There's a batch connected the line, the cachet that came with Miramax."
20. Mira Sorvino experienced immense occurrence aboriginal successful her career, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her relation successful Mighty Aphrodite successful 1996. However, she alleged that Harvey Weinstein "stifled" her vocation aft she rejected his intersexual advances. Speaking connected a panel astatine 90s Con 2024, she said, "For a time, I had a batch of fantastic offers and then, my vocation was stifled by Harvey Weinstein. So, I stopped doing [major] workplace movies aft 1998... I stopped being a viable movie actress. I inactive did indies and I inactive did television, but that was precise hard."
Mira told the New Yorker that she reported the behaviour to a pistillate Miramax employee, who reacted with "shock and fearfulness that [she] had mentioned it." Though she took connected roles successful a fewer much of his movies, she felt that rejecting and reporting Weinstein damaged her movie career. She said, "There whitethorn person been different factors, but I decidedly felt iced retired and that my rejection of Harvey had thing to bash with it."
21. And finally, movies similar Encino Man and The Mummy cemented Brendan Fraser's presumption arsenic an iconic starring antheral successful the '90s and aboriginal '00s. However, things changed successful 2003, erstwhile helium reported that helium was allegedly sexually assaulted by erstwhile Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk. Brendan reportedly thought that the HFPA whitethorn person blacklisted him arsenic a result. In 2018, helium spoke astir the alleged battle for the archetypal clip publicly, telling GQ that helium didn't person "the courageousness to talk up for hazard of humiliation, oregon harm to [his] career." He alleged that, during an HFPA luncheon astatine the Beverly Hills Hotel successful 2003, Philip offered a handshake. The histrion continued, "His near manus reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and 1 of his fingers touches maine successful the taint. And helium starts moving it around."
Brendan said, "I became depressed. I was blaming myself, and I was miserable — due to the fact that I was saying, 'This is nothing; this feline reached around, and helium copped a feel.' That summertime wore connected — and I can't retrieve what I went connected to enactment connected next... [The experience] made maine retreat. It made maine consciousness reclusive... I don't cognize if this curried disfavor with the group, with the HFPA. But the soundlessness was deafening... [Work] withered connected the vine for me. In my mind, astatine least, thing had been taken distant from me."
If you oregon idiosyncratic you cognize has experienced intersexual assault, you tin telephone the National Sexual Assault Hotline astatine 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest intersexual battle work provider. You tin besides hunt for your section halfway here.
If you oregon idiosyncratic you cognize has experienced anti-LGBTQ unit oregon harassment, you tin interaction the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs hotline astatine 1-212-714-1141.
StopBullying.gov is an enactment that provides resources to forestall harassment and bullying against children. Stomp Out Bullying offers a escaped and confidential chat enactment here.
The National Alliance connected Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides accusation and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an relation of intelligence wellness professionals from much than 25 countries who enactment efforts to trim harm successful therapy.
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