12 Celebrity Meltdowns and Public Blowups People Still Remember

Celebrity lives can look carefully managed from a distance. Then someone loses their temper in a restaurant, leaves an infamous voicemail, goes off during an interview, or has a very public confrontation that follows them for years.

Some of these incidents damaged careers. Others became viral moments that eventually took on lives of their own. And a few look very different once you strip away the tabloid language and go back to what actually happened. Either way, these are some of the celebrity blowups, controversies, and public confrontations people still remember.

To assemble this list, 24/7 Tempo reviewed contemporaneous news reports, interviews, court and police reporting, and entertainment coverage from outlets including the Associated Press, CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, and other established sources.

Charlie Sheen's 2011 feud with the people behind "Two and a Half Men" became one of the defining celebrity spectacles of the era. After weeks of increasingly public attacks on CBS, Warner Bros. Television, and series co-creator Chuck Lorre, Warner Bros. fired Sheen from the sitcom in March 2011. Sheen then continued the media blitz through interviews, live appearances, and his now-famous "winning" persona.

One part of the feud also drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League. While attacking Lorre, Sheen repeatedly referred to him as "Chaim Levine," invoking Lorre's Jewish background. The ADL's Abraham Foxman called the comments "borderline anti-Semitism." Sheen rejected that characterization and later demanded an apology from the organization.

One angry voicemail has followed Alec Baldwin for nearly two decades. In 2007, during a bitter custody dispute with ex-wife Kim Basinger, a message Baldwin left for their 11-year-old daughter Ireland became public. In it, he called her a "rude, thoughtless little pig" after she missed a scheduled phone call.

Baldwin also appeared confused about her age during the message, saying he did not care whether she was 12, 11, or another age. He later publicly apologized. Years afterward, Baldwin and Ireland even poked fun at the infamous voicemail together, but it remains one of the most widely remembered celebrity recordings of the 2000s.

Few celebrities experienced more intense tabloid scrutiny in the mid-2000s than Britney Spears. In February 2007, she shaved her head at a California salon, an image that quickly became one of the defining photographs of an already chaotic period in her life. Spears later wrote about that period from her own perspective in her 2023 memoir, "The Woman in Me."

Several other incidents around that time also made headlines. In 2006, Spears was photographed driving with her infant son on her lap instead of secured in a car seat. She later called it a mistake and said she had been trying to escape aggressive paparazzi. In 2007, prosecutors charged her with misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving without a valid California license after she struck a parked vehicle in a Studio City parking lot and left. The hit-and-run charge was later dropped, and the license case ultimately ended in a mistrial.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has spent years generating headlines for unpredictable appearances and inflammatory public remarks. One of the most consequential stretches came in 2022, when a series of antisemitic statements triggered widespread condemnation and cost him major business relationships.

Adidas ended its lucrative Yeezy partnership with Ye in October 2022, saying his recent comments and actions were "unacceptable, hateful and dangerous." Other companies also cut ties with him during the controversy. Whatever else happened around that period, the business consequences were very real.

Mel Gibson faced a major public backlash following a 2006 drunken-driving arrest in Malibu. Authorities said Gibson was stopped after driving 87 mph in a 45-mph zone, and his blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.12%, above California's legal limit of 0.08%.

The arrest became an even bigger story after reports emerged that Gibson made antisemitic remarks to the arresting deputy. Gibson acknowledged using what he called "vitriolic and harmful words" and publicly apologized to the Jewish community. The incident remained attached to his public image for years afterward.

Roseanne Barr's biggest career blowup played out in real time on Twitter in May 2018. Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. She deleted the post and apologized, but the damage was immediate.

ABC canceled the highly rated revival of "Roseanne" just hours later. ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey called Barr's statement "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." The network later continued the show's world without Barr as "The Conners."

Ezra Miller was at the center of a string of legal incidents in 2022. In March, Hawaii police arrested Miller following an incident at a karaoke bar in Hilo. Police said Miller yelled obscenities, grabbed a microphone from a woman who was singing, and lunged at a man playing darts. Miller later pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct, while a harassment charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Miller was arrested again in Hawaii the following month on suspicion of second-degree assault after police said the actor threw a chair that struck a woman. In June, a Massachusetts court also issued a temporary harassment prevention order against Miller at the request of a mother acting on behalf of her 12-year-old child. The court order itself did not spell out the underlying allegations.

Chris Brown's most serious early-career scandal came in 2009, when he assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna before the Grammy Awards. Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault and received five years of probation along with community labor.

Two years later, Brown had another widely reported outburst after a "Good Morning America" interview in which Robin Roberts asked him about the Rihanna case. ABC News said Brown became angry backstage and smashed a dressing-room window. Brown later apologized, saying he was disappointed in his behavior and had let out his anger after the interview.

The Will Smith moment needs almost no introduction. During the live broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, Smith walked onto the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. After returning to his seat, Smith shouted at Rock from the audience.

Smith went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor that same night for "King Richard." He later apologized, resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was barred from attending Academy events, including the Oscars, for 10 years.

James Corden's restaurant controversy exploded in October 2022 when restaurateur Keith McNally publicly accused him of treating employees poorly at Balthazar in New York City. McNally described two incidents and briefly banned Corden from the restaurant before reversing the decision after Corden called him.

Corden later addressed the situation on "The Late Late Show." He disputed parts of the more dramatic version of the story, saying he had not screamed, called anyone names, or used derogatory language. He did, however, acknowledge making a rude comment to a server after his wife's order was repeatedly prepared incorrectly, calling his own behavior "ungracious" and apologizing for it.

Shia LaBeouf's 2017 arrest in Savannah, Georgia, produced one of his most notorious public outbursts. Police arrested the actor after they said he became disorderly, used profane language, refused an order to leave, and ran to a nearby hotel while officers tried to arrest him.

Body-camera footage later showed LaBeouf berating officers and making racist remarks during the arrest and booking process. He publicly apologized afterward, saying he was deeply ashamed of his behavior and making no excuses for it.

Tobey Maguire gets the lighter entry on this list because his best-known paparazzi blowup came with some pretty obvious context. In July 2008, photographers crowded around Maguire's car as he and then-wife Jennifer Meyer were leaving Madeo restaurant in West Hollywood.

With photographers blocking his view as he tried to pull away, Maguire finally lost patience and shouted at them to get out of the way because he could not see the traffic. The profanity-filled clip has been reposted and memed for years, but unlike several incidents on this list, there was no arrest, criminal case, or career fallout attached to it. Mostly, it was a guy in a car who really wanted people to move.