These celebrity "comebacks" crashed and burned. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most unsuccessful rebound attempts by celebrities.
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00:00First, let's say Grace. Jackie, would you like to take a knee?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:09unsuccessful rebound attempts by celebrities.
00:12To keep this list from getting too long, we'll be excluding athletes.
00:16Charlie, I'm scared.
00:18Lindsay, sweetie, there's nothing to be afraid of.
00:23Number 30, Justin Timberlake.
00:25Despite being a part of an infamous wardrobe malfunction
00:28and an even more infamous relationship,
00:31this NSYNC star managed to dodge controversy throughout most of the 2000s.
00:36But eventually, it all caught up to him, and it had Timberlake fans saying bye-bye-bye for good.
00:45The sentiment is reflected in his newest music,
00:48none of which has connected the way you'd expect from such a named talent.
00:51In fact, the only time Timberlake's made headlines the past few years
01:01is when he got pulled over for allegedly drinking and driving,
01:05spawning a whole internet meme about his world tour.
01:14Number 29, Shane Dawson.
01:16This YouTuber has always been marred with controversy.
01:20From tasteless jokes to questionable company, Shane Dawson's never been in the clear.
01:25Yeah, there's been a lot in the last year.
01:27Does everyone know?
01:29Wait, what?
01:31But up until a few years ago, it didn't matter.
01:34His compelling docuseries and thorough conspiracy videos
01:37put him at the very top of the YouTube hierarchy.
01:40I mean, just look at some of these. It's crazy.
01:43Then it all came crashing down.
01:46Dawson's work with contentious figure Jeffree Star broke the camel's back,
01:50opening him up to all the controversies he'd been brushing to the side.
02:00Since then, Dawson's issued a few apologies and kept on making videos,
02:04but it's clear from the views that most of his audience has already jumped ship.
02:09Number 28, David Hasselhoff.
02:12Sorry, David, no matter how iconic it may be,
02:15no one can make a whole career out of slow-mo running on the beach.
02:18You bought a blank poster?
02:19You'll hate it.
02:20I can decide for myself. I like it.
02:23After Baywatch ended in 2001,
02:25the actor's time in Hollywood was left without a life preserver.
02:29Despite incredible name recognition,
02:31it seemed like people just weren't interested in Hasselhoff unless he was the butt of the joke.
02:36Who are you?
02:37I'm David Hasselhoff.
02:39Hooray!
02:41He tried to turn things around with a Kardashian-like reality show,
02:45but it was embarrassingly canceled after just two low-rated episodes.
02:49Since then, Hasselhoff has paid the bills with cameos, music, and stints in theater,
02:54but nothing near the caliber of his earlier work.
03:03Number 27, Maya.
03:06You've got to respect any artist with the tenacity to start their own label.
03:10Then again, Maya's fall from grace is a perfect example of why it's so difficult.
03:21Once a certified triple threat,
03:23Maya's time on her own has turned her career prospects from bad to worse.
03:27Instead of a major event, her new releases feel like a drop in the bucket.
03:36For what it's worth, Maya tried to rejuvenate interest in her brand with the debut of her
03:42alter ego, Maya Lansky. But at this point, there just aren't enough people still listening to care.
03:54Number 26, Farrah Abraham.
03:57The novelty of Teen Mom is that they're, well, teenagers.
04:00So when MTV decided to phase out the aging original cast,
04:04Farrah Abraham was left without a very strong resume.
04:08Well, aren't you glad that's over with?
04:11Yeah, mom.
04:12Yeah, me too.
04:13She attempted to pivot her image with a New York Times best-selling memoir
04:17and a strange accompanying album.
04:25And then, nothing.
04:27Abraham simply couldn't springboard Teen Mom into any kind of long-lasting success.
04:32And it's not for a lack of trying.
04:34For a while, it felt like she was boarding every reality show that would have her.
04:38These days, when you hear about Farrah Abraham, it's usually not for a good reason.
04:45Number 25, Limp Bizkit.
04:48Ironically, Limp Bizkit's new metal sound inspired many of the bands that would replace them.
05:00You can blame it on any number of reasons.
05:02The infamous bandmate feuds, the diminishing music quality,
05:06or the failure to adapt to the times.
05:08Either way, the fact of the matter is that Limp Bizkit faded hard and fast.
05:12They tried to rebound in 2011 with the buzzy album Gold Cobra.
05:21But by then, they were too old school for new fans and too different for veterans.
05:26While Limp Bizkit has continued to throw new songs at the wall,
05:29something tells us nothing will be sticking anytime soon.
05:39Arguably one of the most prominent rappers of the 2000s,
05:4350 Cent's work in the 2010s left a lot to be desired.
05:51Paired with a series of highly publicized lawsuits,
05:54and the artist's time in the limelight seemed to fizzle out for good.
05:58You don't just have to take our word for it though, the numbers don't lie.
06:02The year after his supposed comeback album bombed, 50 Cent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
06:15He spent the last several years slowly rebuilding his brand.
06:18But considering how poorly his first attempted revival went, we aren't holding our breath.
06:29Number 23. Kirk Cameron.
06:31This guy went from teen heartthrob to divisive has-been in record time.
06:36Well, not exactly Miami Vice now, are we?
06:41Even though growing pains made Kirk Cameron an overnight sensation,
06:45his extreme religious views limited the kinds of roles he'd accept.
06:48It stalled his career for years, and unfortunately,
06:52the projects he did board weren't exactly winners either.
06:552014's Saving Christmas was supposed to kickstart his second wind in evangelical media.
07:02Instead, it's often considered one of the worst movies ever made, period.
07:06You're all wrong.
07:15About what?
07:17About everything you just said.
07:18That, along with some very aggressive political views,
07:21have kept Cameron off screens for years now.
07:24He'll need more than a Christmas miracle to get back on track now.
07:28Number 22. Kanye West.
07:31It's genuinely shocking to live in a world where Kanye West
07:34just released a new single, and no one seems to care.
07:41To be fair though, this is a mess of his own making.
07:44While West has never shied away from taboo topics,
07:47his anti-Semitic remarks in 2022 proved to be several steps too far.
07:52His inflammatory comments cost him sponsorships,
07:55friends, and just about every shred of audience goodwill he had left.
07:59This is what Adidas is saying about terminating the partnership immediately now.
08:03Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other sort of hate speech.
08:07His recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous.
08:10Later, West tried to shove it all under the rug with a new lead single, Vultures.
08:15Based on the lukewarm reception, he won't be reaching his peak again anytime soon.
08:20Number 21. Chevy Chase.
08:29Once an undisputed king of comedy, what happened to this actor's career is no laughing matter.
08:39Chevy Chase burnt his capital starring in one too many flops,
08:42and by the time the late 2000s rolled around, he was in dire need of a hit.
08:48Thankfully, he got one in Community.
08:50Chase's turn as the egotistical Pierce Hawthorne put him back in everyone's good graces.
08:55Jeff, it's a pleasure. My name is Pierce Hawthorne, and yes,
08:58that is Hawthorne as in Hawthorne wipes the award-winning moist towelette.
09:02I was just gonna ask.
09:03At least until we got wind of his on-set behavior.
09:07Chase's behind-the-scenes antics were so abhorrent,
09:10Community killed his character off-screen in the middle of Season 5.
09:14Fittingly, it also ended any chance Chase had at a real career resurgence.
09:19I was never one to hold a grudge, Jeffrey. My father held grudges. I'll always hate him for that.
09:25Did you get along with your father?
09:26Number 20. Bill Cosby.
09:29Bill Cosby spent most of the 70s and 80s playing good, honest men on TV screens everywhere.
09:35After all, you don't get a name like America's Dad for nothing.
09:39Just like toast. I'm telling you, all I had to do was just sit there in the
09:42crouch just like Johnny Bench again.
09:45But just when he was starting to do the same in the 2010s, the other shoe dropped.
09:50Over 60 different women stepped forward accusing
09:52Cosby of gross sexual indecency across his career.
09:56It's me saying something about Bill Cosby who's like a god to everybody in the world.
10:03To say audiences were blindsided would be an understatement.
10:07Immediately, several of his awards were revoked,
10:10and reruns of his programs, including The Cosby Show, were pulled from syndication.
10:16Forget a comeback. Bill Cosby doesn't even have a legacy anymore.
10:20Number 19. Steven Seagal.
10:23No one is above the law. Even an actor who starred in a movie literally called
10:27above the law. While Steven Seagal's martial arts fight scenes turned him into a bona fide
10:33action hero, a series of personal stumbles dimmed the shine on his Hollywood star.
10:38Alongside diminishing returns on the action front.
10:41And it's no surprise Seagal has spent the last 25 years working almost exclusively
10:48in low-budget direct-to-DVD flicks.
10:50Yeah, who are you?
10:52Girl Scouts of America.
10:56None of them have broken into the mainstream.
10:58But that hasn't stopped Seagal from making them.
11:00He hasn't had time to do much else on account of all the lawsuits, allegations, and scandals anyways.
11:09Number 18. Ray J.
11:15This rapper hit his peak in the mid-2000s.
11:18His fourth studio album, All I Feel, reached number seven on the Billboard 200 chart,
11:23and its lead single, Sexy Can I, reached number three and went platinum.
11:30Every one of his subsequent singles have failed to chart on the Hot 100,
11:34with the exception of I Hit It First, which reached number 51 in 2013.
11:39The song makes reference to the adult film, Kim Kardashian's Superstar,
11:44featuring his ex and himself, and released in March of 2007.
11:53The 2010s has seen Ray J. hosting Oxygen's Bad Girls All-Star Battle,
11:58and competing on both My Kitchen Rules and Celebrity Big Brother.
12:02The latter stint only lasted a week, as he left the show after blacking out from tooth pain.
12:09Number 17. Denise Richards
12:12This ex-fashion model was quite a big name in the late 90s and early 2000s.
12:17She starred in the likes of Starship Troopers and The World Is Not Enough,
12:20before marrying Charlie Sheen.
12:26They were married from 2002 to 2006,
12:29and their messy divorce kept Richards in the spotlight.
12:32Despite some valiant efforts, Richards hasn't been able to reclaim her past glory.
12:37She has starred in many B-movies and a few short-lived TV shows,
12:41as well as being a regular on Soap Opera, The Bold and The Beautiful.
12:45No wonder he was looking for something better.
12:49What the hell is wrong with you?
12:51Like many attempting a comeback, she's also transitioned into reality TV,
12:55joining the main cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
12:59I've never experienced this with you.
13:01Number 16. Ciara
13:04This R&B artist was huge throughout the 2000s and early 2010s,
13:08with four of her first five albums peaking in the top five.
13:11Her second, Ciara The Evolution, reached number one in 2006.
13:16Her singles also performed well.
13:18Goodies peaked at number one in 2004, and both One Two Step and O reached number two.
13:24Following Love, Sex, Magic in 2009, none of her singles have breached the top ten.
13:33She's remained in the spotlight thanks to public relationships with rapper Future
13:37and NFL player Russell Wilson, but her music career isn't what it once was.
13:42Her last two albums, Jackie and Beauty Marks,
13:44reached number 17 and number 87 respectively on the Billboard 200.
13:49Okay, I've got to change something up here.
13:52Number 15. Misha Barton
13:54Entertainment Weekly named Misha Barton the It Girl of 2003,
13:59owing to her work as Marissa Cooper on The O.C.
14:02The show ran for four seasons between 2003 and 2007.
14:06Barton starred in the first three before her character was killed off in the third season finale.
14:14Ever since then, Barton has struggled to retain her It Girl status.
14:18She's appeared in many independent films and competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2016.
14:26However, she was just the second person eliminated.
14:29She too eventually went the reality TV route and joined the cast of The Hills' New Beginnings in
14:342019.
14:39Number 14. Iggy Azalea
14:42This Australian singer burst onto the scene in history-making fashion,
14:46literally. She became just the second artist in history to hold the top two
14:50spots on the Billboard Hot 100 with their debut entries on the chart in 2014.
14:55The Beatles did it in 1964 with I Wanna Hold Your Hand and She Loves You,
15:00and Azalea poetically matched it 50 years later with Fancy and Problem.
15:06She was a guest artist on the latter, but the record still counted.
15:10Unfortunately, her star has since fallen from grace.
15:13In My Defense reached number 50, a far cry from the new classic's peak at number three.
15:18Her last single to peak in the top five was Black Widow in 2014,
15:22with none of the singles from In My Defense even breaching the top 50.
15:30Number 13. Jennifer Lopez
15:32Careers can live or die based on a comeback album. Sadly, J.Lo swung and missed bad.
15:39Her attempted return to form, called This Is Me Now,
15:42marked the lowest debut of any of Lopez's studio albums, ever.
15:52To make matters worse, the songs were supposed to tie into a multimedia project,
15:56including a feature film and a nationwide tour. At least the movie came out.
16:02I learned the hard way.
16:05Not all love stories have a happy ending.
16:08That's more than we can say for the tour, which was quietly cancelled.
16:12It's a good thing Lopez has been consistently starring in Netflix films,
16:15because on the music front, she's all but dead in the water.
16:22Number 12. Ashley Simpson
16:25The younger sister of Jessica Simpson made some waves in the mid-2000s,
16:29with her albums Autobiography and I Am Me. Both reached number one on the Billboard 200,
16:35both were certified platinum, with Autobiography going three times platinum,
16:39and Pieces of Me proved a big hit, peaking at number five on the Hot 100.
16:50Unfortunately, Simpson hasn't released any music as a solo artist since 2008,
16:54aside from a non-album single in 2012 that failed to chart.
16:59She's now part of a duo called Ashley and Evan with her husband Evan Ross,
17:03and they released an EP in 2018 that failed to generate much discussion.
17:11They also launched an E! reality show, but that only lasted for six episodes.
17:16Basically, the solution was in front of me the whole time.
17:20Number 11. Fergie
17:22Like many on this list, Fergie was huge in the 2000s.
17:25She was obviously a big part of the Black Eyed Peas,
17:28but she also saw success as a solo artist with The Duchess.
17:32Released in 2006, The Duchess reached number two on the Billboard 200,
17:36and was certified five times platinum. The album also spawned three number one singles,
17:42London Bridge, Glamorous, and Big Girls Don't Cry, and won number two with Fergalicious.
17:51After about a decade away, aside from a song on the Great Gatsby soundtrack,
17:55Fergie returned with Double Duchess. It wasn't nearly as successful.
17:59It only reached number 19 and failed to generate any successful singles.
18:04The most successful, L.A. Love, La La, peaked at number 27.
18:13Number 10. Paris Hilton
18:15Despite coming from an uber-successful and unfathomably rich family,
18:19Paris Hilton made a name for herself through modeling and reality TV.
18:25She notably starred on The Simple Life alongside Nicole Richie from 2003 to 2007.
18:31While her dumb blonde, spoiled persona was obviously played up for the camera,
18:36the show made her insanely famous. Most of that fame came at her own expense,
18:41but she clearly didn't care. And while she's still making bank through her numerous business
18:45ventures today, Hilton's public spotlight has faded. She's dabbled in DJing in recent years,
18:51and went back to reality TV with Viceland's Hollywood Love Story. But that came and went.
18:57She was also the subject of a YouTube original documentary titled This Is Paris in 2020.
19:05Number 9. Vanilla Ice
19:07Vanilla Ice became a worldwide megastar with Ice Ice Baby. The song was an enormous hit,
19:12peaking at number one in eight different countries, including the United States and Zimbabwe.
19:18In fact, it made history by becoming the first hip-hop single to reach the top of the Billboard
19:22Hot 100. Ice took a break from music in 1993, but when he returned, his subsequent records received
19:32little fanfare. He did find success with his DIY network show The Vanilla Ice Project,
19:38thanks to his experience in home improvement. In 2011, he released his comeback
19:48WTF album, Wisdom, Tenacity, and Focus. It was not a success, and Vanilla Ice hasn't charted on
19:54the Hot 100 as a lead artist since Cool as Ice hit number 81 in 1991.
20:01Number 8. Katherine Heigl
20:03Another big 2000s star, Katherine Heigl first gained some fame in 1999,
20:08starring as Isabel Evans on The WB's Roswell. She rode this role to greater success,
20:14including her Emmy-winning performance on Grey's Anatomy and movies like Knocked Up and 27 Dresses.
20:20That time would prove the height of her career. She's since starred in many movies,
20:25but none of them were very popular or that good. Most of Heigl's work can be found on
20:29television. The mid-to-late 2010s saw her star in State of Affairs, Doubt, and Suits.
20:35The first two were cancelled after just one season, and her role in Suits lasted two.
20:44Heigl is still receiving steady work,
20:47but the recent TV comeback fails to match her Grey's Anatomy heights.
20:57Number 7. Guns N' Roses
20:59This hard rock band was once one of the biggest in the world, with their first four studio albums
21:04reaching either number one or number two and selling over 5 million copies each in the United
21:10States alone. Things slowed down with 1993's The Spaghetti Incident as it only reached number four
21:20and ended the band's multi-platinum run. It would be 15 years until the band returned,
21:25and the results were underwhelming. On November 23, 2008, the world finally received Chinese
21:32Democracy, which received middling reviews and sold only 1 million copies. The long-awaited
21:37comeback was completely dead in the water. Luckily, both Slash and Duff McKagan saved
21:43the band by touring with Axl and company on the incredibly successful Not In This Lifetime tour.
21:49Number 6. Lil' Kim
21:51This New York rapper got her start through the notorious B.I.G by joining his group,
21:56Junior Mafia. This led to a highly successful solo career throughout the late 90s and 2000s,
22:02which included three top ten albums. 2001 also saw her singing Lady Marmalade,
22:08the highly successful single from Moulin Rouge! But like Guns N' Roses, Lil' Kim took a major
22:13hiatus. There was a 14-year break between 2005's The Naked Truth and 2019's Nine,
22:21and the wait was not really worth it according to most accounts. The album received mixed reviews
22:26from critics and performed poorly, failing to land on any major charts or generate any
22:32notable singles. Number 5. Tara Reid
22:36This American actress had quite a respectable movie career throughout the late 90s and early
22:402000s. She appeared as Bunny in The Big Lebowski and went on to star as Vicky in the American Pie
22:46franchise. Rounding out her filmography were works like Josie and the Pussycats, My Boss' Daughter,
22:55Van Wilder, and A Stint on Scrubs. Something happened around 2005, and Reid just disappeared.
23:07Not completely, as she was still in things, but the hits had certainly dried up.
23:12Reid then tried her hand at reality TV, including celebrity Big Brother and her own show,
23:18Paradise, before settling on the B-movie turned cult shark, NATO series.
23:26Number 4. Ellen DeGeneres
23:28There was once a time when Ellen DeGeneres was the biggest name in entertainment. Her historic
23:34coming out as a lesbian both paved trails and ignited controversy, and her follow-up talk show
23:39proved enormously successful. While coming out nearly tanked her career, it was the talk show
23:46that ultimately did. In 2020, BuzzFeed reported through anonymous employees that working for
23:51Ellen was akin to hell on earth, complete with harassment and racist comments. While her show
24:04wasn't cancelled, the 18th season premiere faced significant backlash. Outlets criticized her
24:10opening monologue, and the YouTube video's like-to-dislike ratio skews heavily towards
24:15the latter. It was also reported that the show's premiere week viewership was down 30% from last
24:21year. Number 3. Ja Rule
24:28This rapper released a string of successful albums throughout the late 90s and early 2000s,
24:32six of which peaked within the top 10 on the Billboard 200. These include Rule 336 and Pain
24:39is Love, both of which reached number one, and both of which were certified multi-platinum.
24:44However, Ja Rule has subsequently faced numerous legal issues throughout his career,
24:48including a two-year prison sentence in 2010 and another 28-month sentence the following year.
25:00He was released in 2013, and just three years later, started the infamous Fire Media Inc.
25:06It could have been a huge business and public comeback, but the Fyre Festival proved so
25:10disastrous that he faced a $100 million class-action lawsuit instead.
25:23Number 2. Charlie Sheen
25:25By 2010, Two and a Half Men was proving so popular that Charlie Sheen was earning nearly
25:30two million dollars per episode. However, his personal life wasn't nearly as triumphant.
25:35Sheen was well-known for his substance abuse and reckless behavior, especially with the latter
25:40allegedly aimed towards his then-wife, Brooke Muller, and the trashing of a hotel suite.
25:50He was eventually dismissed from Two and a Half Men, and while the resulting press put him in the
25:54news, the termination effectively killed his career. Sheen attempted a comeback with roles
25:59in Scary Movie 5 and a show called Anger Management, and while the latter ran for
26:03a hundred episodes, it received poor reviews. The comeback was a fail, and Sheen hasn't been
26:09seen in movies or TV since 2017. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
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26:32Number 1. Roseanne Barr
26:35Few comebacks have crashed and burned like this one. Barr's sitcom Roseanne was a huge
26:39hit throughout the 90s, remaining a top-four show for six of its nine seasons. It came to
26:50a controversial end in 1997 with a divisive series finale. Luckily for fans, it was revived by ABC,
26:57and brought back for a tenth season in 2018. It was actually a huge success,
27:02with the premiere episode generating nearly 20 million viewers. It lasted all of two months.
27:10Barr made a racist comment on Twitter, which she proceeded to blame on Ambien. The show was
27:16immediately canceled amidst the controversy, as was Barr herself. She once again faded into
27:21irrelevancy, and everyone else moved on to the Conners without her.
27:25I thought the bitch was white! God damn it!
27:30Did we miss any celebrity comeback flops? Let us know in the comments.
27:51And as always, thanks for watching!