From career-threatening controversies to remarkable comebacks, these celebrities proved that scandal doesn't have to mean the end. Join us as we explore how these stars managed to bounce back and even surpass their previous success levels, turning potential career-enders into stepping stones.
00:00That's when I said, you know what? I'm done. I don't want to fight. I want to get my life back. I just want to move on.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're exploring the stars who overcame potential career-ending controversies and ended up more famous than ever.
00:13And you held your fist up in your mugshot.
00:15Right.
00:16Very nice of you to keep that in.
00:18Everybody doesn't do that.
00:20Kristen Stewart
00:21Fresh off the Twilight saga and in the middle of a co-stars-turned-lover's romance with Robert Pattinson,
00:27Kristen Stewart was one of the most famous actors around 2012.
00:31Starring as Snow White in the action-fantasy reboot Snow White and the Huntsman,
00:36Stewart was looking to break away from the role that made her famous.
00:39All these years, all I've known is darkness.
00:46But I have never seen a brighter light than when my eyes just opened.
00:50Instead, she found herself splashed across gossip sites.
00:54Once pictures of her and director Rupert Sanders hit, exposing their affair, the media scrutiny was constant and merciless.
01:01You don't even know what they had.
01:04They were in love.
01:07And she just threw it all away.
01:11Stewart recovered, although she would later confess to it being one of the hardest times of her life.
01:16But her career grew, leading to bigger and better opportunities.
01:20If I ever do become queen, what will I be?
01:27Insane?
01:28Natasha Lyonne
01:29Nobody's ever really alone, right?
01:31We got a lifetime of regrets to keep us company.
01:34She went from child actor to burgeoning indie star.
01:37And then, a series of legal and health troubles began that overshadowed the first half of her career.
01:42The raspy voice to Natasha Lyonne has been up front about her substance use disorder and the complications it caused her personal and professional life.
01:51I'm always very transparent around my whole history and mostly in the hopes that it's in some way can help the next guy.
01:59Throughout the 2000s, she made headlines less for her work and more for her public scandals.
02:05It took a few years, but now she's more famous and booked than ever.
02:09Are you having fun?
02:10Fun is for suckers, Max.
02:13Two minutes ago, I turned 36 and staring down the barrel of my own mortality always beats fun.
02:19In high demand after Orange is the New Black, Lyonne has become a must-cast performer, fronting at least two critically acclaimed series since.
02:28Winona Ryder
02:29She exemplified Gen X coolness.
02:32Winona Ryder starred in some of the most iconic movies of the 80s and 90s, but her career was almost completely derailed by her arrest for shoplifting.
02:41He said the actress walked past three cash registers with a pile of clothes and handbags before leaving the store.
02:47In 2001, Ryder was apprehended for theft from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills.
02:54She was subsequently tried and sentenced to probation and community service and had to pay thousands in fines.
03:00Unfortunately, her legal and health issues at the time made it difficult for productions to insure her, and her work slowed down significantly.
03:07I was getting thoughts like, I don't want to be here anymore.
03:12The only thing that they offered was a room, a bed.
03:17They put me in the psychiatric ward.
03:19Although she continued to work, her career did eventually pick up again.
03:24Since landing a regular role on Stranger Things, she's had a deserved career renaissance.
03:28Ellen DeGeneres
03:39Coming out of the closet isn't always the taboo it once was, but things were different in 1997 when Ellen DeGeneres came out both in real life and in character as the lead of her own sitcom.
03:50I mean, what is wrong? Why do I have to be so ashamed? I mean, why can't I just say the truth? I mean, be who I am? I'm 35 years old. I'm so afraid to tell people. I mean, I just... Susan, I'm gay.
04:07Her character's Coming Out episode garnered even more publicity than DeGeneres' own. And the pushback was wild.
04:14It got to the point where even Elton John, who I'd never met in my life, Elton John said, we know you're gay, shut up and be funny.
04:20Constant moral outrage ensued, and the sitcom was canceled just one season later.
04:25But a few years after that, Ellen would return with a highly successful talk show that would last nearly two decades.
04:32Unfortunately, there were more scandals to come, and that show would end in 2022 amid accusations of DeGeneres fostering a toxic work atmosphere.
04:41This environment, this toxic culture that she created in the office has been going on for 16 years.
04:47Hugh Grant. For many Americans, he represented the charm and panache of the ideal British man.
04:53In 1995, Hugh Grant was in the middle of a major career upswing when he was arrested for lewd conduct.
05:00And I said, hi, Richard. So I've just been arrested with this hookah. Is that bad?
05:06And he said, oh, that's not great.
05:11Caught with a sex worker named Divine Brown, Grant faced public humiliation and scandal that put a strain on his relationship with actress Elizabeth Hurley.
05:20His respectable screen persona took a hit as a result of the story, but his career picked up again after a three-year hiatus.
05:26If Mr. Thacker realized he'd been a daft prick and got down on his knees and begged you to reconsider whether you would in fact then reconsider.
05:43He returned to romantic comedies and has since branched out into more villainous dramatic roles.
05:49Madonna.
05:50From the beginning, the queen of pop has been a lightning rod of moral outrage.
05:55Her risque song Like a Virgin and its performance at the very first VMA Awards was just the starting gun for a career built on scandal.
06:10It was the first of many singles and music videos to be banned in several markets.
06:15Her 1992 coffee table book, Sex, features Madonna and others in various states of undress and provocative poses.
06:22The aluminum book cover encased 128 pages of spiral-bound controversy.
06:28Just like the artist herself, the book was explosive and incendiary,
06:32and became a brilliant example of working a scandal to your advantage.
06:36It's what she would spend most of her career doing.
06:39Matthew Broderick
06:48In 1987, the Ferris Bueller actor was driving with co-star and then-partner Jennifer Grey in Northern Ireland
06:55when they crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with another car.
06:59Broderick and Grey suffered several injuries.
07:01The two women in the other car were killed on impact.
07:05Though he faced prison time, ultimately Broderick was only fined.
07:09However, the lingering trauma of the accident was hard on him, Grey and the family of the victims.
07:15The dirty dancing star took a step away from Hollywood in the years after.
07:19Broderick recovered, and his career didn't appear to suffer too badly.
07:23He has worked fairly consistently in Hollywood and on Broadway ever since.
07:28I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!
07:32Ha ha!
07:34And Leo, you're gonna have it!
07:36Vanessa Williams
07:38Crowned Miss America 1984, she was the first black woman to hold the title.
07:43Within a year, nude photos of Vanessa Williams were published in Penthouse Magazine without her consent.
07:49He ended up going from magazine to magazine.
07:51He went to Playboy.
07:52Playboy said they wouldn't buy them, these photos.
07:56And he ended up going to Penthouse, and Penthouse said, sure, we'll do it.
07:59Pressured to cede the title to the contest's runner-up, Williams' entertainment career might have been over.
08:05But that was only the beginning.
08:07Just four years later, she became a successful recording artist and made a transition to acting.
08:13This early scandal became merely a blip on her public record.
08:20For the 2016 pageant, she returned to Miss America as a judge, where the organization offered a formal apology for her treatment.
08:28On behalf of today's organization, I want to apologize to you.
08:35Jane Fonda
08:38Though she was the daughter of Hollywood's all-American leading man, Jane Fonda experienced a political awakening in the late 1960s.
08:47How did it feel to know that the President of the United States was targeting you personally?
08:51It didn't feel good. He had better things he should have been focusing on.
08:55It led her on a crusade to lend her money, fame, and efforts toward the civil rights movement and ending the Vietnam War.
09:02But one snapshot from her trip to North Vietnam caused an uproar in her home country.
09:07A photo of her sitting on a gun that would ostensibly be used to shoot down American planes sparked a flame of intense controversy.
09:14Although she does not regret her activism, Fonda deeply regrets sitting on the gun.
09:19I will go to my grave regretting the fact that I was photographed sitting on an anti-aircraft gun.
09:26The pejorative nickname, Hanoi Jane, sticks with many even today.
09:30Her career didn't suffer too much. She became one of the most legendary movie stars of the era.
09:36I'm not going to make excuses for what happened. It happened.
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09:57Elizabeth Taylor
09:59When Elizabeth flew to Chicago for the funeral, she was accompanied by Todd's best friend, singer Eddie Fisher.
10:06His wife, Debbie Reynolds, stayed in Los Angeles to watch over Elizabeth's three small children.
10:11Modern entertainment journalism was almost born off the back of this classic Hollywood goddess in her eight marriages.
10:18Her fourth to singer Eddie Fisher was embroiled in scandal from the start.
10:22Both Debbie and Eddie offered their emotional support. Unfortunately, Eddie's comfort became adultery. Debbie was the last to know.
10:30Their romance began in 1958, while Taylor was still in mourning over her third husband.
10:35And Fisher was married to Taylor's friend and colleague, Debbie Reynolds.
10:39The fallout was immediate. Ironically, it was during this marriage that Taylor enjoyed what is arguably her longest and most consistent run of successful movies.
10:50Scrutiny only followed her when she began an affair with Cleopatra co-star Richard Burton, giving way to a whole new era of invasive celebrity gossip and tabloid stories.
11:01The affair was so blatant that the Vatican condemned them, and the couple was denounced in the US Congress.
11:07Whose post-scandal comeback did you follow in real time? Let us know in the comments!
