These celebs have familial skeletons in their closets. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most notable celebrities with family members who have a criminal past that’s somewhat known but not extensively discussed.
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00:00You rack your brain, you know, you take it personally in the beginning, you start blaming yourself.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most notable celebrities with family members
00:11who have a criminal past that's somewhat known, but not extensively discussed.
00:14He likes working with his hands.
00:16Yeah, he's a craftsman.
00:18That's where you got that from, huh?
00:20Oh yeah.
00:21Keanu Reeves
00:23I had a man around. He used to wake me up in the morning by flicking lit cigarettes at my head.
00:28Hollywood action star Keanu Reeves was only three years old when his father,
00:32Samuel Reeves Jr., walked out on the family.
00:34The two barely spoke afterwards and last met in person when Reeves was 13.
00:38As the actor's career began to flourish, his father's life went on a downward spiral.
00:42But then I had to play with my conception of 40, which was sort of older, right?
00:45You look at a 40-year-old and go, you're old.
00:47In the early 90s, Reeves Jr. was arrested for possession of narcotics
00:51and received a 10-year prison sentence.
00:53His subsequent attempts to reestablish a connection with Reeves were unsuccessful,
00:57as the actor chose to remain estranged from his father and rarely ever acknowledged him in public.
01:01Reeves Jr. passed away in 2018,
01:03and reports indicate that neither Reeves nor his sister Kim attended the funeral.
01:08I mean, it affected me, didn't it affect you?
01:11Julia Fox
01:12I'm so crazy about you.
01:14Yes, you do. I love you.
01:17Actress Julia Fox gained fame for her breakout performance in the crime thriller Uncut Gems,
01:22but it seems her ties to criminals extend far beyond the 2019 film.
01:25In 2023, Fox's brother Christopher and their father Thomas
01:29were arrested from their Manhattan apartment after police found ghost guns,
01:33narcotics, and explosive materials in the residence.
01:35Although it appears Thomas was spared of criminal charges,
01:38Christopher was brought up on a variety of offenses,
01:41including criminal possession of a controlled substance,
01:43manufacture of a machine gun, and criminal possession of a firearm.
01:46Fox initially avoided addressing the issue in public,
01:48but she later admitted to feeling embarrassed by the whole situation.
01:51What do you want for yourself going forward?
01:54I hope that one day I can kind of just fade off into obscurity.
01:59Kamora Lee Simmons
02:01Go and do something for someone else. You have members of your family,
02:03members of your community that don't feel well. Take someone something.
02:06They're sick. They're suffering. And right away like that, it brings you out.
02:10In many ways, Kamora Lee Simmons' life mirrored that of her father,
02:13Vernon Whitlock Jr. Both distinguished themselves early in their respective careers.
02:17Simmons rose to the top of the fashion industry,
02:20becoming one of the first women of color to head a major label.
02:22Meanwhile, her father excelled in law enforcement,
02:25and was the first African-American deputy federal marshal in St. Louis, Missouri.
02:29I mean, I always say that I don't care, and I really don't give a damn,
02:33because that's the kind of person I am. But they always are talking,
02:36and sometimes I do believe, well, as long as they're talking, you know,
02:39my dad said it's, at least they're talking about you.
02:42Right.
02:42However, things took a troubling turn for Whitlock Jr.
02:45after he left law enforcement to become a bail bondsman.
02:48He was discovered to have traded bonds for jewelry or sexual favors,
02:51and also dealt drugs. Whitlock Jr. was sentenced to 24 years in prison,
02:55but was released after three years upon agreeing to turn on his supplier.
02:58And so they know, like, every little bit, you know, use your voice,
03:02use your creativity, chase your passion. I think it's so, so important.
03:06Michael Douglas
03:12He may have garnered acclaim for playing fictional criminals,
03:15but in real life, it's Michael Douglas' son, Cameron, who has a criminal past.
03:19Cameron's first run-in with the law was in 2007,
03:21when he faced charges for possession of a controlled substance.
03:24Then, in 2010, while under house arrest for a previous offense,
03:28Cameron was found with drugs his girlfriend had smuggled to him
03:30for personal use and distribution.
03:32How close were you to die?
03:34Probably pretty close.
03:36This earned him a five-year prison sentence, which was later extended by 54 months.
03:40Thankfully, since his release in 2016, Cameron has achieved sobriety
03:44and appears to be getting his life back on track.
03:46He shared his journey in the 2019 memoir,
03:48Long Way Home, recounting his time behind bars.
03:51And you said, don't you love me anymore, Dad?
03:54You know, so the words, those words were heartbreaking to me.
04:00Paris Hilton
04:01It's been extremely healing, obviously extremely traumatizing as well,
04:07because I think when you go through trauma in life, you don't want to remember it.
04:11Since emerging into the public eye, Paris Hilton has had several
04:14run-ins with the law that wouldn't necessarily be news to anyone at this point.
04:17Back in 2007, she infamously served time in jail for a probation violation.
04:22You have to understand, when we break the law here, there are consequences.
04:26But while Hilton's legal issues are well known,
04:28those of her younger brother, Conrad, have largely flown under the radar.
04:31Over the years, Conrad has been arrested for several offenses,
04:35including threatening crew members on a flight
04:37and allegedly breaking into his ex-girlfriend's home.
04:39In 2016, Conrad was sentenced to two months in prison for violating the terms of his parole
04:44by engaging in illicit drug use.
04:46While his family found the news of his sentence disappointing, it wasn't all that surprising.
04:50After this, the judge set his bail at $10,000 for the 2015 arrest
04:55and $40,000 for the most recent one.
04:58Justin Bieber
04:59We have a better relationship now than ever.
05:02He just got off tour. I brought the Littles with him.
05:05Justin Bieber's rise to fame was plagued by several controversies and legal troubles,
05:09but he's not the only one in the family who has faced such challenges.
05:12His father, Jeremy, has also seen his fair share of arrests and jail time.
05:16Back in 1997, Jeremy was sentenced to 90 days in jail along with two years of probation
05:21for the crime of assault causing bodily harm.
05:23After regaining his freedom, he violated his probation, which led to even more jail time.
05:28Even as Bieber soared to global pop stardom during his teenage years,
05:31Jeremy didn't seem to set a positive example,
05:33as he consistently made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
05:49Long before he became a big name in Hollywood,
05:51Tobey Maguire endured a tough upbringing, marked by years of poverty.
05:55Compounding the family's struggles, Maguire's father, Vincent,
05:58faced a terrifying health diagnosis, which led him to commit a drastic act, robbing a bank.
06:03Shockingly, Vincent targeted the branch just across the street from his house in Reseda,
06:14California.
06:15Even worse, he decided to carry out the robbery in broad daylight, without any form of disguise.
06:20Needless to say, it didn't take long before he was caught.
06:23Vincent ended up pleading guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison.
06:26Although he hasn't mentioned the incident in an interview,
06:28Maguire has refrained from discussing it in depth.
06:33Marlon Brando
06:49Throughout his life, the great Marlon Brando was romantically involved with several women,
06:53fathering 11 children with them.
06:55Among his offspring, only the first, Christian Brando, gained notoriety.
06:59That's because on May 16th, 1990, Christian shot and killed Dag Drolet,
07:03the partner of his half-sister Cheyenne, who was eight months pregnant at the time.
07:07Christian claimed the shooting was accidental, stating that he only intended to intimidate
07:11Drolet after learning of his violent behavior towards Cheyenne.
07:14Initially arraigned on first-degree murder, Christian eventually reached a deal with
07:17prosecutors, pleading guilty to manslaughter and receiving a prison sentence of five years.
07:21The incident was a huge scandal for Brando, who admitted feeling like he had failed as a father.
07:29Billy Bob Thornton
07:37Between 1978 and 1980, after Billy Bob Thornton was married to Melissa Gatlin,
07:42with whom he had one daughter, Amanda Brumfield.
07:44After Thornton and Gatlin separated, he and Brumfield remained estranged,
07:48but by 2005, they had reconnected and seemed to have a good relationship.
07:52In 2008, however, Brumfield was arrested for the murder of her friend's daughter,
08:01who was left in her care. She initially said it was an accident,
08:04but prosecutors argued that the girl's injury suggested otherwise.
08:07Consequently, Brumfield was convicted of aggravated manslaughter and sentenced to
08:1120 years in prison. Later on, evidence emerged suggesting Brumfield might not have been guilty.
08:16In 2020, she reached a deal with prosecutors, resulting in her release,
08:20although her conviction was not overturned.
08:42Woody Harrelson
08:50After Woody Harrelson's parents couldn't have been more starkly different. While his mother,
08:58Diane, worked as a secretary, his father, Charles, pursued a darker profession as a hitman.
09:03Charles' most notorious crime occurred in 1979, when he was hired by a drug dealer to
09:07kill U.S. District Judge John H. Wood Jr. This was the first time a federal judge was
09:16assassinated in the 20th century, and it earned Charles two life sentences. Prior to this,
09:21Charles had already served five years in prison for another murder. He later made unverified claims
09:25of his involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination, though there is little evidence
09:29supporting this. In 2007, he died in prison of a heart attack. What other convicted criminals
09:41from famous families do you know of? Let us know in the comments below.