15 Now D-Listers That Ruined Their Career In An Instant

For Oprah Winfrey, “It's much easier (for me) to make major life, multi-million dollar decisions, than it is to decide on a carpet for (my) front porch. That's the truth.” If only the same could be said for the guests on her couch, the world would have been spared from feasting its eyes on whales of embarrassments, sloppiness and career-smashing unruliness. Like all others, celebrity lives too are made up of the sum-total of all the decisions they make every day. And we need to accept that nobody can make right decisions all the time - sans a couple of royal mess-ups, life wouldn't be the same for any of us!

However, for the big cats, there's no immunity from mistakes, faux pas and sluggishness. There's probably something about reaching that bubble of success that cloaks these people with a false sense of being impermeable to failure, but they forget that they live in a world where their every move is of public interest. Even when their missteps are the result of a genuine accident or a slip of tongue, the stars must bear the brunt - because fame comes at a hefty price. From miscalculating amazing roles to staggering under the weight of multi-million-dollar public careers to making bad decisions in private lives - their occasional slip-ups reflect that despite all the money in the world and the best of publicists, you cannot escape the public verdict. Here are 15 now D-listers that have ruined their careers in an instant.

15 Tom Cruise

Cruise may have had a couple of box office successes since then, but his public image was never the same after he decided to jump like a trampoline on Oprah's couch at The Oprah Winfrey Show, not to mention his over-articulate support of scientology, which only added misery to his woes! Tom lost all his credibility as the most sought-after dreamboat, hauling himself up as an internet joke, instead, for years to come, following this incident. Freshly in love with Katie Holmes - a relationship that is speculated to have blossomed from a “wife-search” spear-headed and sanctioned by the Church of Scientology, the Mission Impossible star hopped about on his host's furniture declaring his undying love for his now ex-wife. For some time, we all pretended as if the “act” we all thought we saw, never happened, but YouTube and internet journalism ensured otherwise, and there was no recovering for Cruise from this one.

14 David Hasselhoff

The Baywatch star fell from A-list to addiction within a matter of days because of his troubled marriage. His road to ruins was only accentuated once his personal life began to shroud over his public persona as reports of his drinking and break-up started doing the rounds. In 2006, he was refused access to a British Airways flight due to insobriety, even though his publicists insisted that was not drunk but merely under the influence of antibiotics. The public didn't dig that, of course. A year later, the death knell for his career was sounded by a viral clip of his misdemeanour - his daughter released a video of him on the internet, drunkenly trying to gobble up a Wendy's burger while arguing with her. The result was obvious. Not only did he lose temporary custody of his daughters, he also lost respect, along with his enormous fan following.

giphy.com

13 Mel Gibson

It was nothing short of professional suicide when the Lethal Weapon star got arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department back in 2006, for speeding with an open bottle of booze. However, that was not what Mel Gibson made headlines for. Even after refusing arrest and several unsuccessful attempts at fleeing the scene, he made repeated threats to his arresting officer, telling him that he owned Malibu and would spend every cent on getting even with him. And going by a transcript of the police report procured by the LA Times, Gibson then “blurted out a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks about '(expletive Jews'.” He also said, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world,” before taking a moment to ask the officer, “Are you a Jew?” Well, that sure was a career-ending outburst!

12 Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay made it to the spotlight as a child model as early as three and soon made her way into becoming “the” teen sensation once hurled up by Disney in their successful 1998 remake of “The Parent Trap”. The years that followed only ushered in more success for the redheaded actress until her winning streak came to a staggering halt in early 2007. LiLo had all the buzz and the talent but thanks to her excessive lifestyle, she became a paparazzi magnet causing a stir with her scandalous association with drugs, wrong people, subsequent arrests and rehab. Her career derailed in a matter of moments - while working on “George Rule”, the head of the production openly reprimanded her, saying, “We are all well-aware that your ongoing all-night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called 'exhaustion'. We refuse to accept bogus excuses for your behaviour.” And, that was that!

giphy.com

11 Courtney Love

The poster child for drugs, Courtney Love's life under the spotlight is packed with career-wrecking moments. More of an old gem, glittering in the dirt, Love paved way for her own downfall with her outrageous decisions. In 1992, a Vanity Fair profile alleged Love of using substances while pregnant - three years later, at a party, the singer threatened to pound the writer with Quentin Tarantino's Best Director Oscar award for Pulp Fiction! Further in 1995, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Love hurled her compact at Madonna as the latter was being interviewed. Following that instance, the Material Girl issued a statement saying, “Courtney Love is in dire need of attention right now.” And that was not all, in 2003, she lost the custody of her daughter with late husband Kurt Cobain, for overdosing on Oxycontin in front of the child.

giphy.com

10 Tiger Woods

In the world of sports, there are those who are remarkably good at their job, and there are those who go on to make the indisputable greats - Tiger Woods was very close to making it to the second set. One of the highest paid athletes in the world, he was on his way to breaking jack Nicklaus's record of the most major golf tournaments won in a career. However, an incident in 2009, shoved Woods under a different light. He was attacked by this then wife, Elin Nordegren, after claims that he cheated on her with multiple women. The public scandal cost him some of the biggest endorsement deals of his career, along with thousands of fans. And, there was going back - Woods remained history prevented from making.

giphy.com

9 OJ Simpson

This man was the spitting image of success - a sport star turned actor. OJ Simpson was the all-American hero, who had a successful football career followed by a transition into Hollywood until his ex-wife, Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her house in Los Angeles. Simpson was arrested five days later, followed by a trial that went on to be one of the most publicized events in American history. An estimated 100 million people tuned in to hear the verdict announcement that pronounced him “not guilty.” However, a civil jury in Santa Monica unanimously found Simpson liable for the deaths and he was ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages, leading to his bankruptcy. Thirteen years after this incident, he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping charges stemming from a September 2007 event in Las Vegas.

Giphy.com

8 Tila Tequila

One of the earliest recognized social media celebrities Tila 'Tequila' Nguyen traced her debatable path to fame across MySpace to an MTV dating show, “A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila” in 2007, in a way many would call the American dream! And, like all dreams, this too was short-lived. That very year, the Singapore-born celebrity's fame came crashing down with a bizarre post on her website. Titled, “Why I Sympathize With Hitler”, the article sketched how she had “learned the truth about the war and what Hitler truly did,” explaining “why he was not a bad person as they have made him out to be.” To add to the rabble-rousing piece, Tequila posted pictures of herself posing in front of a photo of Auschwitz, dressed as a scantily-clad Nazi!

giphy.com

7 Robert Blake

The murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley in 2001, spelled doom for the actor who had a career spanning over 70 years. Robert Blake's wife was shot in the head at point-blank range in the actor's car, which was parked a little away from the Studio City restaurant, where the couple had been dining that night. Blake claimed to have returned to the eatery to collect the gun he had left behind, when the fatal shooting took place. Even though the police noted that the gun in question wasn't the murder weapon, it was hard to ignore the perfect timing of his disappearance from the spot. He was finally arrested in 2002, and eventually ordered to pay $30 million to Bakley's children for “intentionally” causing her death. Soon after, he proclaimed himself “broke” and announced his availability for work, but none ever came.

giphy.com

6 Brendan Fraser

What ever happened to Brendan Fraser? At the turn of the millennium, he was everywhere - graduating from goofy kid adventures to a character actor, on his way to becoming a movie star - and suddenly he wasn't there anymore! A sorry case of the Hollywood “cold-shoulder”, his star power became significantly duller after he decided to be content with what he had achieved, letting go of films that could have written a success story for him, instead. After his fantasy adventure “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” returned with a worldwide box office total of $242 million, from a budget of $60 million, Fraser made a monumental error of judgment - he turned down the chance to reprise his role in “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”. The role went to Dwayne 'Rock' Johnson and the film surpassed the original, raking in a $335 million, wiping out Fraser's big-screen career.

giphy.com

5 Ashlee Simpson

Ashlee was on the right track towards carving a successful career, with her debut album Autobiography going triple platinum. Her show titled “The Ashlee Simpson Show” didn't fare too badly either but disaster struck the singer in 2004 during an act on Saturday Night Live, on which she had appeared to promote her album. She was set to play two tracks - the first song, “Pieces Of Me” took off on a smooth-sail, but when she began singing the second, “Autobiography,” the vocals of the first started playing again, clearly proving that she was lip-syncing. She tried to cover up with an awkward dancing jig but that didn't help her cause. The public reaction during her performance at the 2005 Orange Bowl, where she was echoingly booed a 72,000-odd crowd attested that her explanation for using a vocal guide track on the advice of her doctor wasn't bought by the audience!

giphy.com

4 Mischa Barton

With a promising career lying ahead, Mischa Barton began making headlines for all the wrong reasons. It all started in 2007, when the OC star was arrested on suspicion of driving the influence, possession of marijuana and driving without a valid license. She was detained and later released on the same day on a US$10,000 bail. Further, in 2009, she was hospitalized in a psych ward. Though she remained mum on a reason, sources were quoted telling E! News that she was admitted for “suicidal reasons.” Again in 2010, she was sued by her New York landlord for refusing to pay three months of $7,000 per month rent on her apartment. While her troubles were endless, the same cannot be said about her career. Even though she attempted at making a couple of comebacks, none of them worked out in her favour.

Giphy.com

3 Paris Hilton

She has always been famous for being famous. Heiress to the Hilton chain of hotels, Paris Hilton has dabbled in everything - singing, DJing, movies, commercials, TV and some more TV! A routine guest at courtrooms, her claim to fame runs beyond the numerous drug charges, DUIs, extravagant lifestyle, and preposterously stupid statements. It was for her participation in 1 Night in Paris (a love-making tape featuring Hilton and her lover Rick Salmon) that Hilton attracted maximum notoriety. According to the Entertainment Weekly, “… the Paris Hilton-Rick Salmon tape received more print and television coverage in a week than the run-up to The Simple Life (reality show starring Hilton) in months… ” However, this did not help Paris stay afloat in the spotlight for long. After all, with statements “I'm so smart now. Everyone's always like 'take your top off.' Sorry, NO!… I'm not stupid,” to her credit, we are not surprised!

2 Martha Stewart

After gaining success through a variety of business ventures, including publishing, broadcasting, merchandizing, author of numerous best-sellers and television personality, Martha Stewart was convicted of charges related to the ImClone stock trading case in 2004. After a highly-publicized six-week trial by jury, she was found guilty of felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators. She was sentenced to five months in a federal correctional facility with a two-year period of supervised release. She also paid a fine of $30,000. However, the jailhouse queen made a spectacular comeback following her term and took her media company back to profitability in no time. But recently, she has again ignited the wrath of trolls after tweeting about Michael Pineda's near-perfect game in the Yankees' 8-1 rout of the Rays. Yankee fans on social media chided her for jinxing one of the best trips of Pineda's career.

1 Lamar Odom

Tragedy has followed Lamar Odom all his life. Even after a rough childhood, he had made his way into becoming an unparalleled basketball star and one of the finest talents in the NBA. Odom went on to win the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011 and the NBA Championships in 2009 and 2010 with the Los Angeles Lakers - but that did not prevent his life from spiralling out of control once he was hit by substance abuse. It took away his basketball career and led to the demise of his marriage with Khloe Kardashian. As his personal tragedies mounted, including the death of his six-month old son to SIDS, his addiction got the better of him. In 2014, he was found unconscious in front of a brothel, three days before which, he had reportedly consumed 10 tablets of a herbal performance enhancer and substantial amount of (substance).