10 Celebrities Who Faced Justice

Top 10 Celebrities Who Faced Justice

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Celebrities Who Faced Justice.

For this list, we’ll be looking at celebrities who faced legal, social, and financial consequences for their actions.

Did any celebrity scandals slip the list? Let us know in the comments below!

#10: Lori Loughlin

The college admissions scandal rocked the nation in 2019. ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ uncovered a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy among a number of American colleges. Admissions officers were paid bribes by rich parents through a third party to get their kids into good schools. More than half were granted admission into USC alone. Two of those kids were the daughters of “Full House” star Lori Loughlin. Loughlin and her husband were both found guilty. She was sentenced to two months in prison. That prison sentence cost her a lucrative deal with Hallmark. Ironically, the scandal was foreshadowed decades earlier in an episode of “Full House.”

#9: Julie & Todd Chrisley

“Chrisley Knows Best” was a USA Network reality TV show following Georgia real estate agent Todd Chrisley and his family. The show was a hit, running for several years, thanks to Todd’s big personality and his family’s lavish lifestyle. In 2022, the show had to be canceled. As it turns out, the Chrisleys didn’t come by their wealth honestly. Julie and Todd Chrisley were both arrested and convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion. In January 2023, Julie went to federal prison in Kentucky for a seven-year sentence. Shortly after, Todd began his twelve-year sentence in Florida.

#8: Will Smith

The 2022 Oscars blew up thanks to a slap heard ‘round the world. Chris Rock cracked wise about Will Smith’s wife, Jada. The “Red Table Talk” host suffers from alopecia, causing her to lose her hair. Will then proceeded to approach the stage, wind up, and smack the heck out of the comedian. The crowd was shocked, and the situation was all over the online discourse for days. Though Smith has since apologized, that didn’t stop Rock from making the incident the centerpiece of his 2023 Netflix special. The Academy, too, decided that Will Smith would be banned from the Oscars for the next decade.

#7: Martha Stewart

In the 1990s, Martha Stewart created a home decor and home cooking media empire. Like most wealthy people, Stewart invested her money. Unfortunately, in the early 2000s, those investments found the famous homemaker in hot water. Stewart was investigated by the FBI for insider trading. She sold thousands of shares of ImClone stock just one day before the pharma company’s stock price dropped like a rock. Martha Stewart faced decades of potential prison time until the judge tossed out the fraud charges. She was only convicted of obstruction of justice for lying to the FBI and went to prison for five months in 2004 and 2005.

#6: DMX

You would be hard-pressed to find a bigger rap star in the late 90s than DMX. He released three albums in two years, the last of which went sextuple platinum. Unfortunately, the rapper was plagued with legal problems his entire adult life. DMX was arrested for everything under the sun across half a dozen states over three decades. He faced jail and prison time for drugs, DUIs, weapons charges, parole violations, and at least one charge of impersonating a federal agent. It all culminated in a federal tax fraud conviction in 2017. After a drug relapse, he was sentenced to a year in prison and to pay back over two million dollars.

#5: Robert Downey Jr.

Before launching the MCU as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. had a reputation as a Hollywood bad boy. Downey splashed onto the scene as part of the ‘Brat Pack’ in the 1980s. His career exploded in the late 80s and early 90s until his addiction issues set him back. Downey had many drug and alcohol-fueled run-ins with the law during the 1990s. In 1996, he was arrested for drug possession while speeding with an unloaded magnum. He went to jail in 1997, and again two years later for missing court-mandated drug tests. He was fired from “Ally McBeal” after another arrest in 2001. After years of rehab, Downey was able to get his life and career back on track in the mid-2000s.

#4: Wesley Snipes

There were fewer action stars in the 80s and 90s bigger than Wesley Snipes. His combination of quick wit and quicker fists made him a hit with audiences around the world. It all came crashing down in 2006 when Snipes was arrested for tax fraud. The action star didn't pay taxes for six years straight. He went the ‘sovereign citizen’ route in his defense, claiming to be a ‘non-resident citizen’ of the United States. That excuse didn’t fly, and in 2008 he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. His sentence started in 2010 and after his release in 2013, Snipes spent years fighting restitution. Ultimately, the courts ruled that a federal tax lien of over $23 million should stay in place.

#3: Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby was at one point the most famous comedian in America. Considered to be “America’s Dad,” Cosby was famous for pushing ‘respectability culture.’ Despite this persona, his own bad behavior was an open secret for decades. He’d been making jokes about Spanish Fly since 1969. In 2014, the story finally broke through to the mainstream media: Cosby had allegedly assaulted dozens of women for decades. After several trials, Cosby was convicted on three counts of sexual assault in 2018. He was sentenced to a decade in prison. After years of appeals, his conviction was overturned on a technicality and he was released. Still, Cosby’s legacy and reputation are forever tainted by his actions.

#2: Kevin Spacey

In 2017, the #MeeToo movement uncovered a lot of criminal behavior under a lot of rocks. Actor Anthony Rapp joined the movement with accusations against Kevin Spacey. Rapp accused Spacey of physically “trying to seduce” him in 1986 when he was underage. Rapp’s accusation got the ball rolling, and allegations soon came out of the woodwork. Spacey was replaced in the movie “All the Money in the World” and his scenes were reshot. He has struggled to find mainstream work ever since. In 2018, Spacey was arrested for sexual assault in Massachusetts though the charges were dropped. Rapp lost his lawsuit in 2022. Spacey still faces a criminal trial in June 2023 in the UK. Whatever awaits, Spacey’s star has officially faded.

#1: R. Kelly

For almost thirty years, R. Kelly was the King of R&B. With multiple gold and platinum records under his belt, he could musically do no wrong. The same could not be said for his personal behavior. Allegations and investigations swirled around him for years. He was accused of sexual abuse and running a cult. Nothing stuck. Then, in 2018, the BBC ran a documentary about the allegations. Boycotts and recriminations of industry complicity spread like wildfire. The dam broke, and dozens of state and federal indictments followed. In 2021, Kelly was convicted on 9 counts of racketeering and trafficking. In 2022, he was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Six months later, he was sentenced to another twenty.