We've all said things that we regret. Some of our past mistakes, big or small, still haunt us when we close our eyes at night. But celebrities live in a different world than us. Their mistakes are often recorded and remembered by the public. For them, past mistakes can be especially difficult to live down.
For the most part, celebrities give pretty boring interviews. They often regurgitate the same canned answers or offer carefully crafted responses to familiar questions. But sometimes they slip up and say or do a little more than we’re used to. These momentary lapses in judgment may not impact the celebrity right away. Sometimes, the interviews are forgotten or overlooked and lay dormant only to come back and bite the celebrity later on.
For the celebrities on this list, interviews have not always been kind. Some highlighted lies or hypocrisies, some forever changed the public perception, and some even got the attention of the law or crime lords. Here are the interviews that have come back to haunt these celebs.
William H. Macy Gives Advice About Lying
It didn’t take long for William H. Macy's interview with Men’s Journal to come back to bite him. In the Q&A, Macy was asked to reveal the best advice he ever received, to which he responded, “Never lie. It’s the cheapest way to go. Lies cost you a lot, and they’re never worth what they cost.”
About a month later in March 2019, the college admissions scandal rocked newsstands. The scheme, which saw parents pay large sums of money to facilitate the acceptance of their children into the colleges of their choice, touched several celebrities, including Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, who was arrested for her part. According to E! News, Huffman was charged with “conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.”
Becoming Hanoi Jane
Jane Fonda has had a long and illustrious acting career. She’s won two Academy Awards and acted in some of Hollywood’s most memorable films. Yet, to some, she’s still remembered as “Hanoi Jane,” the actress who seemingly rallied against the US troops in her anti-war demonstrations.
In 1972, Fonda visited North Vietnam to publicly condemn the Vietnam war. According to Time, “Fonda appeared on 10 radio programs to speak out against the U.S. military’s policy in Vietnam and beg pilots to cease bombing non-military targets.” On her last day in Hanoi, surrounded by photographers and journalists, Fonda was photographed sitting atop an anti-aircraft gun. For this, she was labeled “a traitor,” criticized, and protested against. The image looked bad, and Fonda knew it.
Mark Ruffalo Spoils Infinity War
Over the years, Mark Ruffalo has proven himself to be a bit of a spoiler aficionado. He’s revealed more than he should on a few occasions, but the worst of all his spoiler reveals was actually a sleeper. It took time and hindsight to actually see how much the actor revealed.
While chatting with Good Morning America during the Disney D23 expo, Ruffalo got to talking about Avengers: Infinity War. Looking like he wanted to reveal more than he should, Don Cheadle advised against it. Ruffalo then carefully considered his words and said, “Like every other Marvel movie, it doesn’t end well for the superheroes.” Test passed, at least temporarily.
Sean Penn's Pen Gets Him In Trouble
On January 8, 2016, authorities apprehended Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the infamous Mexican drug lord, after months on the run. Having escaped maximum security prison twice and long-eluding authorities, El Chapo, according to CNN, became “a symbol of the Mexican government’s ineptitude and corruption.” The next morning, authorities revealed the details of their extensive operation that led to the arrest.
The morning after that, Rolling Stone published the interview between Sean Penn and El Chapo from 2015. The optics were awful. While Mexican authorities struggled to recapture the notorious criminal, the guy from Mystic River got a face-to-face. The interview’s timing was perfect for publicity, but it created an unwelcome backlash for Penn. Speaking with CBS News, the actor criticized Mexican authorities.
Hating on Katherine Heigl
