Another Top 10 Celebrity Meltdowns

It might seem fun to tour and travel all over the world, but in reality it can be completely exhausting. That exhaustion can wear a performer down, and for Billy Joel, being on the road for 11 months made him a powder keg waiting to explode. In 1987, Joel toured the Soviet Union, even spending over two million dollars of his own money to cover production costs. But when the film crew turned their lights on the audience instead of the singer/songwriter, he found his breaking point and completely lost it ... although the show very much went on.

He might do anything for love but he draws the line at letting anyone get away with stealing his art supplies. In the realm of reality television, we expect plenty of drama, but this explosive confrontation still managed to catch everyone off guard. Maybe it’s because they’re celebrities, and we kinda expect them to try and keep their cool in front of the camera... even if this entire list proves otherwise. Hey, it’s not everyday that you can say that you dropped so many f-bombs that you had to be held back by Mark McGrath and Lil Jon.

Puberty can be rough, but it’s even worse when the entire world is watching you. Since becoming a teen idol in the late 2000s, Bieber has been met with equal parts undying love from his fans and venomous vitriol from his critics, and it’s clearly taken a toll on the young Canadian. In addition to being arrested for alleged drunk driving, resisting arrest, and drug possession, the Biebs also refused to finish a concert in Norway in 2015 after some water was spilled on stage. His behavior was so bad that China banned him from performing in their country, as they feared he’d corrupt their youth.

A cheeseburger. Alcohol. A concerned daughter and a video camera. These things all came together for form a recipe for pure WTF, so much so that even “The Hoff” has poked fun at himself about it. As you watch the former Baywatch star at his absolute worst, you can hear his daughter pleading with him to stop drinking as he clumsily eats a burger while sprawled out on the floor. Deeply undignified, the video was a form of tough love, as Hasselhoff was a recovering alcoholic caught mid-relapse during what ended up being one hell of a meme-worthy wake up call.

We expect directors to push the cast to their absolute best... but some take things a bit too far. Case in point: David O. Russell. Nearly every movie he directs gives rise to a story about his terrible behavior toward the cast, but it was “I Heart Huckabees” that led to the mother of all meltdowns. Actress Lily Tomlin took Russell’s explosive blowup in stride... probably because Russell had pushed all of her buttons in an earlier car scene. In the end, both sides later claimed to have great respect and love for each other, saying the situation was similar to a familial fight.

If you're going to be a comedian, you're going to get some hecklers. Some comedians daydream about heckling the heckler at their job; others have a series of no-comeback slams locked and loaded. And then there's Michael Richards. Perhaps attempting to be ironic, perhaps attempting to take a re-heckle to the extreme, Richards instead ended up being unforgivably offensive. Spitting out the n-word towards a group of African Americans, TV's Kramer also hurled a series of misguided racially charged jokes that probably didn't have the effect he was going for. Instead of shocking audiences into uneasy laughter or silence, he basically wrote off his career.

They say that breaking up is hard to do, but some people do it better than others. Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres started dating in 1997, but the couple broke up about three years later. This led to a bizarre weekend meltdown where Heche ended up at a rural house near Fresno, rambling about going to a spaceship and being a divine entity called Celestia. Her reps said it was exhaustion and dehydration while tabloids cited drugs, but in later interviews Heche revealed her dark childhood trauma and how she’d created a fantasy world to escape reality.

We know, we know, this one is pretty obvious. In fact, it’s kind of a staple whenever you talk about celebrity meltdowns. We could show a montage of uncomfortable interviews where Kanye goes completely off kilter, makes odd statements where you’re left scratching your head, rants through his own concerts for nearly twenty minutes, and makes political campaign promises for the year 2020. Honestly, it’s at the point where there are so many random Yeezy moments that it’s hard to figure out when he wants us to laugh at his antics or take him seriously.

His is hailed as one of the biggest comeback stories in Hollywood, because, yes, there was a time where RDJ was not seen as the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist that he is today. While the reckless Tony Stark lifestyle is seen as pure entertainment in the MCU, it pales in comparison to Downey's memories of the 1990s. RDJ’s drug related behavior was so bad that he got fired from acting gigs, was arrested on numerous occasions, and went to rehab for his drug use. While he’s since made a full, stable recovery, it's still a bit of a sore spot, so it's best not to blindside him about it.

Oh Louis Stevens, what happened to you? There are a plethora of stories about child stars who lose themselves in the craziness of Hollywood, but there’s something almost mystifying about Shia LaBeouf, who screams at us to just do it, wears paper bags, and streams video of himself watching his own movies. It’s generally harmless behavior... until you get into his numerous arrests and outrageous outbursts. Each time, he seems to learn his lesson… until he gets in trouble for the same disorderly conduct, going through the cycle of meltdown, apologize, and repeat once again. It makes you hope that the worst is over, but what if it's yet to come?