Why Are You Famous Again? The Demise of Celebrity Reputations

Famous for her singing career and for being the “other blonde girl” that wasn’t Britney Spears, her reputation has already shifted from young superstar to weight fluctuating bimbo. The beginning of the end of her serious singing career was perhaps her chicken-of-the-sea comments on reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

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Britney may have managed a respectable comeback in recent years, but can you ever truly “come back” from shaving your head and showing the paparazzi your hoo-ha. One might argue those incidences are more famous than some of her songs.

Once upon a time, Lilo was Lindsay Lohan, a fresh-faced up-and-coming star with real acting chops. Now we mostly just read about her various court appearances and wonder how many compacts of bronzer she goes through each day. The last actual “work” she did was posing for Playboy. Oh, how far she’s fallen.

We once loved Chris Brown for his awesome beats that could make you start grooving in your seat. He was also one half of a power couple that could have dethroned Beyonce and Jay Z—That is until he beat up Rihanna and later complained about his ruined reputation.Yeah, domestic abuse can do that.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air may have started as a rapper, but now Will Smith is more widely known for his action movies and romantic comedies.More recently, however, Will Smith has been a constant in the media for his scientology beliefs and potentially rocky relationship with wife Jada Pinkett, who allegedly hooked up with Marc Anthony.

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The first thing you think of when you hear Tom Cruise is not Risky Business,Top Gun, or Mission Impossible. The image of a couch jumping, psycho scientologist, probably comes to mind. It’s sad, really—the days of hot Tom Cruise in a white button up and tube socks are forever gone.

Once upon a time, she was TV’s sweetheart. But Friends hasn’t been a show in almost ten years and she has yet to come out with a movie that did well. Still, she’s our favorite Miss Lonely Heart and so a constant in the tabloids. Aniston is undoubtedly legitimately famous, but her love life often eclipses her career.

If you think for a minute, you might remember that Mel Gibson starred in Braveheart, but chances are the first things that spring to mind are anti-Semitic rants and threatening phone calls , riddled with swearing and heavy breathing to the mother of his child.

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