Top 10 British Celebs Forced to 'Fess Up

We’re kicking things off with something perhaps a little bit fresher in our memories. When stand-up Walsh became a contestant on “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2018, many would have expected humour, but few also anticipated scandal! Things went national after he was spotted and recorded sharing a kiss in the street with dance partner, Katya, who was married at the time. The pair were forced to apologise on spin-off show, “It Takes Two,” but their apology was widely criticised as being unsatisfactory.

For years, the former Spice Girl denied like crazy ever having a boob job, after images were published of her looking somewhat more . . . pronounced. During an interview with “Vogue”, she was asked about it, and stated that she had, in her own words, “No torpedo bazookas”. However, in 2014, she fessed up to the fashion magazine in a letter to her younger self, saying that she regretted ever having messed with her body and that she’d had her implants removed.

In an interview that drew in around 22.8 million viewers, the late Princess of Wales spoke candidly of her troubled relationship with Prince Charles and his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, in what is one of the BBC’s most-watched programmes. The royal pair separated in 1992, and after tons of media speculation about potential lovers and other such scandals, Princess Di spoke to Martin Bashir about everything. The interview was generally well received by the British public, who admired her bravery.

The man who not so lovingly became known as “Nasty Nick” was a true TV villain in the early noughties. During Big Brothers’ first year, he caused a tidal wave of controversy when he was caught cheating by passing on secret notes to influence the votes of other housemates. His sly tactics led to an awkward confrontation and grovelling post-eviction interview, with his fess-up dragging on all the way to 2010, when his past double-dealing became a topic of conversation in Ultimate Big Brother.

The former host of “This Morning” was made to look rather silly after having to sheepishly fess up live on air. For a long time leading up to her confession, Fern had insisted that her huge weight loss had been down to healthy eating and exercise, but in 2008 she was forced to admit that it was in fact down to a gastric band operation, something which she denied time and again to have had done. Fans were left fuming by her deception and she later stepped down from the show.

There have been allegations of cheating aimed at various British athletes down the years, but it’s rare that cases are quite as clear cut as this. Representing rugby union side Harlequins against Leinster in 2009, Tom Williams used fake blood capsules to feign an injury, to in turn force a tactical substitution. The ‘Quins backroom staff then tried to cover up by actually cutting Williams’ mouth post-game, but the act had already been caught on TV cameras. Williams had little choice but to accept a lengthy ban, and apologise.

"We are only in our 20s and we all do stupid things at this age." No, this isn’t Liam Payne talking about joining One Direction, but rather, that was his apology on behalf of band mates Zayn and Louis, after a video of the two smoking a joint did the rounds online. His tweeted apology was well received and delicately worded, also stating that they’d grown up in extreme circumstances and that they were bound to fall short at some point. OK, so he’s not exactly owning up for himself, but he is taking one for the team.

Back in the mid-noughties, the famous supermodel and former face of Rimmel London was forced to apologise after images of her appearing to take cocaine were shown in the Daily Mirror. With her illustrious million-pound career suddenly at risk, she issued a rather generic public statement saying that she was sorry for anyone that she had let down. As a result, the clothing giant H&M, to which she was affiliated at the time, decided to keep her on board.

The quick-witted face of Channel 4 comedy was caught red-handed by the tax people after he used an avoidance scheme. When owning up, he said that he had made a poor error in judgement, but his actions even got him called out by David Cameron, the prime minister at the time, who deemed the situation ‘morally wrong’ - which in hindsight is pretty pot kettle. Rather deservedly, he was the butt of many jokes on his panel shows, but in fairness to Jimmy, he handled it pretty well.

The floppy haired, quintessentially British 90s heartthrob was caught, shall we say, with his trousers down, on Hollywood Boulevard. He was arrested by LA police after getting into his car with Hollywood prostitute, Divine Brown, resulting in one of the most memorable celebrity mugshots. However, the British are great at apologising, and his on Leno was met with respect by many. His upright honesty in admitting he did a bad thing might have made for an uncomfortable watch, but it’s up there with the best fess ups!