It's not all glitz and glam on the small screen. Off set, some of your favorite actors have led lives of profound pain, with some having stories that took a long time to come out in the public eye.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00It's not all glitz and glam on the small screen. Off-set, some of your favorite actors have led
00:05lives of profound pain, with some having stories that took a long time to come out in the public
00:09eye. Meester was born in April 1986, while her mom, Constance, was living in a Texas halfway
00:16house and serving a prison sentence for smuggling drugs from Jamaica into the U.S.
00:20She and her mother lived in the halfway house for three months, according to Marie Claire.
00:24Meester's grandmother then raised her until Constance was released 16 months later.
00:28But that wasn't the extent of the family's troubles with the law. Meester's mom had
00:32reportedly been smuggling drugs in conjunction with Meester's dad, grandfather, and aunt.
00:37Everyone was busted, and Meester's aunt became the first woman placed on the U.S.
00:41Marshals' 15 Most Wanted after she escaped from prison.
00:45By 2011, Meester had reportedly been sending her unemployed mother $7,500 a month to help
00:51care for her little brother, Lex. But according to TMZ, instead of using the money on her brother,
00:56Meester accused her mom of blowing the cash on,
00:58"...plastic surgery, Botox, and hair extensions."
01:01When Meester cut her mom off, the outlet reported her mother tried to convince
01:05Meester that they had an oral contract requiring her to pay, quote,
01:09"...$10,000 a month for life."
01:12Her mom also reportedly threatened to file a lawsuit against her daughter unless Meester
01:15continued to pay. But Meester fought back with a lawsuit of her own.
01:19In June 2012, a judge ruled there was no existing contract and told Meester she
01:24didn't have to pay her mother another dime. In the lawsuit against her mom,
01:27Radar Online reported Meester also asked for custody of brother Lex,
01:31who had been experiencing serious health issues. While it didn't appear Lex moved
01:35out of his mother's home at the time, Constance told In Touch in 2014,
01:39"...I only have $26 left. If something doesn't happen soon, we'll be homeless by the holidays."
01:44But Meester's mom wasn't done.
01:47After Meester filed the suit against her mom, Constance filed a $3 million
01:51countersuit to get the money she felt Meester owed her. But she also alleged that things had
01:55gotten physical between them during a heated argument. According to ABC News,
01:59Constance accused Meester of repeatedly hitting her with a bottle in December 2010,
02:04alleging things got so bad, Meester's brother had to pull them apart.
02:08Constance finally dropped her countersuit in late 2011.
02:12She may be a superstar, but given her tough family history,
02:15it's no surprise Meester sometimes has her darker moments. In October 2014,
02:19after performing at the Apple Store in New York City, she opened up about her song,
02:23L.A. Meester said the song reflected her life in her 20s, sharing,
02:27"...it's about living in L.A. and being like, oh look, I'm an adult. I have material things.
02:32I have a home and friends and I'm a grown-up. But I'm just desperately lonely."
02:37She described the song as being very personal,
02:39and hoped that other people might be able to relate to the painful times she lived through.
02:43Here's hoping this talented star continues to rise — and shine.
02:47Mariska Hargitay
02:48Mariska Hargitay was born in Santa Monica, California, on January 23, 1964.
02:54Her mother was curvaceous bombshell actress Jane Mansfield, who was typecast in dumb girl
02:59roles like in The Girl Can't Help It, despite reportedly having a genius IQ.
03:03Can you tell me where I can find 341?
03:05341? Second branch, old man.
03:08Thanks, honey.
03:10Mariska's father was Mickey Hargitay, a bodybuilder, actor, and former Mr. Universe.
03:16The couple met in 1956 when Mickey was in Mae West's nightclub act as Eye Candy,
03:20and Jane was in the audience. Supposedly, according to The New York Times,
03:25the actress told a server when placing her supper order,
03:27"...I'll have a steak and the man on the left."
03:30Despite that fun-filled beginning, it was a rocky marriage,
03:33and Mariska's parents split up shortly after her birth. Then, in 1967, tragedy struck.
03:38Mansfield was killed in a car accident when the Buick she was riding in hit
03:42the back of a tractor trailer, spraying mosquito fog in the middle of the night.
03:46A bulletin has just been handed to me. Hollywood star,
03:49the buxom and beautiful Jane Mansfield, is dead.
03:52The three adults in the front of the car all died in the crash. Three-year-old Hargitay and
03:56her two older brothers Mickey and Zoltan were in the backseat sleeping, all survived.
04:01We got pulled out and then we're on the way. They went back and they said, oh gee,
04:06there's another person in the car. So they went back and they got her and she was stuck underneath
04:10the seat.
04:11She told Redbook in 2009,
04:13"...losing my mother at such an early age is the scar of my soul,
04:16but I feel like it ultimately made me into the person I am today.
04:20I understand the journey of life. I had to go through what I did to be here."
04:24When children lose a parent, especially if the child was young at the time,
04:28they may want to at least hold on to some of their mom's or dad's treasured possessions.
04:31For a long time, Hargitay didn't get that chance. Mansfield's home was
04:35burglarized after her death. Most of her personal items were stolen and sold to collectors.
04:40Hargitay told James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio in 2014 that, many years later,
04:46collectors approached her and asked her if she wanted to buy any of her mother's items.
04:50She did, and now wears her mother's bracelet, which had a charm with her name on it.
04:54"...with a little ballerina holding a pearl, and it's so beautiful."
04:58No one wants to relive the death of a loved one, but Hargitay was forced to do just that
05:03while dealing with a gruesome rumor about the way her mother died.
05:06Mansfield was remembered for decades after her death, but in a macabre way.
05:10Her tragic death became a joke as rumors spread that she was decapitated.
05:14But the real story is that it was her wig, not her head, by the side of the road.
05:19But even today, the urban legend persists.
05:22According to Good Housekeeping, Hargitay struggled with anxiety and low self-esteem,
05:26reporting that, in her late teens and early 20s,
05:29Hargitay acutely felt the pain of not really having known her world-famous mother.
05:34She would even skip fun events like parties. She told the magazine,
05:37I thought, what's the point? They won't even notice that I'm not there.
05:40But later she admitted,
05:41I realized that you have to show up for your life."
05:44Hargitay's dad married flight attendant Ellen Siano when the actress was 3 years old.
05:49The couple stayed together until Mickey's death in 2006.
05:53Hargitay said in her E! True Hollywood story that Siano was a great stepmother
05:57and helped raise her after her mother's passing.
06:00Hargitay told Good Housekeeping in 2012,
06:02I called Ellen mom. We were blessed that she really embraced us and loved us so quickly.
06:07And I was very fortunate to have a maternal figure in my life after such a horrific accident."
06:11But the family had a big scare in 1973,
06:14when a plane her stepmother was flying in hit terrible turbulence. According to her
06:18E! True Hollywood story, one passenger was killed and four other people were hospitalized,
06:23including Ellen.
06:24It wasn't good. And that was really, really hard.
06:28She really got beaten up.
06:30The incident was eerily familiar for Hargitay and her siblings,
06:34making it that much more difficult for the family to cope.
06:36Those are tough emotions for kids to deal with, to have that, you know,
06:41almost happen twice. And it was really scary for us.
06:44According to that interview, in response to the tragedy,
06:46Mariska threw herself into school and became an overachiever.
06:50According to E! True Hollywood's story, Hargitay was a sorority girl at UCLA,
06:55studying acting, going to auditions, and working as a waitress
06:58when she landed a role in Ronnie Millsap's music video, She Loves My Car.
07:02Hargitay said,
07:03I was so excited, even though I got arrested that night.
07:06Wait, what?
07:07Jennifer Barker, her college roommate, explained,
07:10Apparently, Hargitay got a lot of parking tickets and didn't pay them.
07:13They put her in the back of the car and took her to jail.
07:16Mariska was wearing her sexy music video wardrobe when she got tossed in the clink.
07:20Her roommate said,
07:21She was in there with all of the ladies of the night, and she was fitting right in.
07:26Hargitay didn't land Law & Order SVU until she was 35.
07:30But because she didn't have a steady paycheck up until then,
07:32she told Good Housekeeping that she racked up six-figure debts.
07:36She said,
07:36I had a house and car I didn't want to lose, and I had a lot of credit card debt.
07:40At one point, her boyfriend was paying her expenses, and she said,
07:43When we broke up, I owed him 60 grand.
07:46I'm a payer-backer.
07:47So, as soon as I could, I paid him off.
07:50Today, she's much more careful with her money, saying,
07:52I have learned to hang on to it.
07:54I have a nest egg, and I don't buy above my means.
07:58Not only did Hargitay land her starring role in Law & Order SVU in her mid-30s,
08:02but she also married later as well.
08:04Hargitay met future husband, actor Peter Herman, on the set of her show in 2001.
08:09They fell in love, got married in 2004 when she was 40,
08:12and had their first child together, August, in June 2006 when she was 42.
08:17Hargitay was also nominated for an Emmy for the third time for her dramatic role on the show in
08:212006. She should have been on top of the world. But just when she was about to give birth to her
08:26child at Cedars-Sinai, her father, Mickey, was admitted to the hospital at the very same time,
08:31having just been diagnosed with cancer. He was able to get wheeled to the maternity
08:35ward to see his new grandson, but the cancer was very aggressive, and he died by that September.
08:40Just before he died, Mariska won her first Emmy,
08:43giving a tearful acceptance speech and dedicating it to her father.
08:47Hargitay suffered a big health scare that began on set in 2008.
08:51She told Redbook she was doing a stunt chasing a bad guy and landed wrong.
08:55It turned out that a microscopic bleed began in her lung tissue.
08:59Three months later, she wasn't feeling well and was worried she was having a heart attack.
09:03She said,
09:03"...I had a procedure hoping to stave off more serious surgery, but it didn't work,
09:07and I ended up in surgery about two weeks later."
09:10Shortly after, she says,
09:11"...it happened again. I was one out of 1,000 statistically."
09:15These days, she and her lungs are doing just fine.
09:18She said,
09:19"...I have so many blessings, and I've learned from all of my experiences and my losses.
09:23I think you can learn to feel grateful when you are exposed at such a young age to the
09:27fact that bad things can happen."
09:29After having her first child in 2006, Hargitay and her husband wanted to expand their family.
09:35She told Good Housekeeping in 2012,
09:37"...August wanted siblings, and Peter and I both envisioned this big family.
09:41I was really letting the chips fall as they might, because I do think so much is up to God.
09:46I really did think that down the line, Peter and I would adopt a child.
09:49That was always part of the plan."
09:51"...I love talking about adoption, because I think it's the greatest thing on the planet."
09:57The couple eventually were able to adopt two children a few months apart in 2011,
10:02welcoming daughter Amaya and son Andrew into their happy home.
10:05But before that, there were major setbacks.
10:08The parents had tried multiple times to adopt a child without success.
10:12The worst was in 2010, when the birth mother gave her child to Hargitay and Herman,
10:17and then changed her mind two days later.
10:19Hargitay remembered,
10:20"...It was nothing short of devastating, but this is what I've come to understand about life.
10:25It was probably the greatest, happiest ending. I mean, it was so painful for us,
10:29but it was deeply joyful and deeply right for the mother."
10:35"...My life is exactly the way I wanted it. It was my dream, you know?"
10:41Hargitay has a very life-affirming personality now, thanks in no small part to her father.
10:46She says,
10:47"...The message I got from my father was that life is hard, but you don't just quit.
10:51I am grateful that I didn't let fear get the best of me. It only holds you back from
10:55possibilities and greatness. You've got to kick fear to the side, because the payoff is huge."
11:01She also said,
11:02"...I don't focus on what I can't control. If I can't control it, let's move on.
11:06I think that we have all been swallowed up in shoulda, woulda, coulda.
11:09You figure it out, and you walk tall and go through it. Some days it's chicken,
11:13and some days it's feathers."
11:14And if you needed any more proof that Hargitay still got it,
11:17she brought the justice to Taylor Swift's bad blood.
11:20"...Just so awesome, and it makes me feel super badass."
11:24Pauly Perrette advocates for victims of assault, stalking, and domestic violence,
11:28issues that, sadly, have also personally touched her. But that's not even the full
11:32story on her dark past. Here are the tragic details that have come out about the former NCIS star.
11:38What about a love life?
11:40Nope. Tried it. Not for me.
11:42No?
11:43Not at all. Yeah, no. Not at all."
11:46Perrette's only marriage to musician and DJ Francis Coyote Shivers ended dramatically in
11:512004 when the couple split. According to Fox News, Perrette obtained a restraining order
11:56against Shivers when they finally divorced in 2006. Perrette, along with another ex-wife of
12:01Shivers, told Fox that he,
12:03"...stalked them and inflicted upon each of them endless mental distress
12:06and terrorized them during their respective relationships."
12:10Shivers, who has been arrested on multiple occasions for violating Perrette's longstanding
12:14restraining order, even filed his own lawsuit against her in 2014. In it, Shivers claimed
12:19Perrette was harassing him, but the court ultimately dismissed the suit.
12:23"...Probably the best decision I ever made in my life was, I don't have to have a boyfriend,
12:27or a husband, or a girlfriend, or anything, you know?"
12:30In 2015, Perrette suffered a violent physical assault outside her home in the Hollywood Hills.
12:35Perrette tweeted that a homeless man allegedly,
12:38"...grabbed me so forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose and forehead,
12:42repeatedly telling me he was going to kill me."
12:44"...I was praying and praying and praying my heart out, and he kept saying to me,
12:49my name is William, I'm going to kill you. My name is William, I'm going to kill you."
12:53The accused, 45-year-old David Merck, was charged with felony counts of making a criminal threat
12:58and false imprisonment by violence, but was later found incompetent to stand trial,
13:02according to the L.A. Independent. Yet even after having nearly lost her life,
13:06Perrette continues to advocate for the homeless.
13:09"...He breaks my heart. I hate that people are that mentally ill in this country or anywhere,
13:14with no help."
13:16After her exit from the show, Perrette shocked NCIS fans a second time when she implied that
13:21the reason she left was, in part, due to, quote, "...multiple physical assaults."
13:26While Perrette didn't exactly name the show in the series of cryptic 2018 tweets,
13:30the network responded anyway. According to USA Today, CBS issued a statement two days later,
13:35which read,
13:36"...over a year ago, Polly came to us with a workplace concern.
13:39We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution.
13:42We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows."
13:45"...it makes me sad to imagine a world without Abby in it. It really makes me sad."
13:50But another of Perrette's tweets left many questions unanswered. She wrote,
13:54"...there is a machine keeping me silent and feeding false stories about me,
13:58a very rich, very powerful publicity machine. No morals, no obligation to truth,
14:04and I'm just left here, reading the lies, trying to protect my crew, trying to remain calm.
14:09He did it."
14:09"...I am an ally and supporter of equality for everyone,
14:13and I'm here to help make coming out of the closet a safer place to be."
14:18Perrette advocates for multiple platforms, but in a move of solidarity with petitioners
14:23looking to block Mike Tyson from appearing on a 2013 episode of Law & Order SVU,
14:27Perrette revealed that she is herself an assault and domestic violence survivor.
14:31Perrette shared via Twitter how she was assaulted in high school when she was just 15.
14:36The trauma reportedly led her to a series of abusive relationships,
14:39as well as self-esteem issues, and a lifelong battle with bullying. She wrote,
14:43"...these awful assault revelations are not only common in the entertainment industry,
14:47but everywhere. These predators must be stopped and we must start respecting each other's humanity
14:52and dismissing the illusion of power that makes abusers think they are untouchable."
14:56"...the whole point is to get more people and more people aware and to save lives."
15:03In 2017, Perrette revealed her decade-long ordeal with a stalker. Without giving specific details
15:08about her case, Perrette said she, quote, "...100 percent believes her life is in danger."
15:13According to CBS, it was only after the tragic shooting death of singer Christina
15:17Grimmie that she could overcome her fear and finally speak out.
15:20"...stalking is such a cruel crime. It's a theft."
15:28Along with California Congressman Adam Schiff, Perrette now works to strengthen the existing
15:32laws related to stalking, as well as to combat new ways that stalkers are harassing their victims.
15:37Perrette told CBS,
15:38"...stalking laws had not been updated in 20 years. In that 20 years,
15:42so much has happened, mainly the internet."
15:45"...I will always be grateful for just the incredible honor of playing Abby."
15:51Perrette is arguably best known for her NCIS character's signature black hair,
15:55but the actress is actually a natural blonde. For years, Perrette dyed her hair black to
16:00maintain her character's look, but in 2014, Perrette revealed to Extra that she had developed
16:05an allergy to the hair dye. She shared just how bad the reaction had become, tweeting,
16:09"...I almost died from black hair dye allergy."
16:12The solution ended up being Ellumin, which Perrette tweeted about, describing it as, quote,
16:16"...ionic infusion of color, not dye."
16:18So why didn't producers just write it into the show that her character becomes a blonde?
16:23At the time, Perrette told Queen Latifah,
16:25"...I don't think the world is ready for a blonde Abby. I'm not ready for a blonde Abby."
16:30Growing up as the youngest of four kids, McCormick suffered from anxiety due to her
16:34tumultuous family life. In a piece written for Newsweek, the child star revealed,
16:39"...in the early 70s, my older brother was battling a heroin addiction,
16:42and my father was having an affair, both of which devastated my family."
16:46According to the actress' memoir, Here's the Story,
16:48Surviving Marsha Brady and Finding My True Voice, her father had also been abusive. Her real life
16:54was obviously in direct contrast to her TV life, and that caused McCormick to feel like she was
16:58hiding a deep, dark secret. She wrote,
17:00"...as a teenager, I had no idea that few people are everything they present to the outside world.
17:05Yet there I was, hiding the reality of my life behind the unreal perfection of Marsha Brady."
17:11Speaking with The Today Show, McCormick revealed that her grandmother had gone insane and later
17:15passed away in a mental hospital from syphilis. Her mother had also contracted the STD while in
17:20utero.
17:20"...I thought that I had syphilis and that I was gonna die in a mental institution, too."
17:25While detailing her life story to Newsweek, the actress said that the mere thought of
17:29contracting the highly contagious infection helped her in an unusual way while filming
17:33The Brady Bunch. She explained,
17:35"...when I was doing those crying scenes in the show, that's what I was thinking about."
17:38McCormick told The Today Show that behind the scenes,
17:41she and Eve Plum, who'd played Jan Brady, were actually best friends.
17:45Sadly, that all changed when McCormick appeared on a late-night talk show called
17:48Vibe and revealed she had shared a kiss with Plum — on the cheek — and Plum was reportedly ticked
17:54off. McCormick told Today,
17:56"...I was having fun, something I was joking with, and Eve didn't take it that way."
18:00When asked if there was any chance for a reconciliation, McCormick replied,
18:03"...I've reached out to her. I called her for years and would never get a phone call back.
18:07Finally, after doing that for so long, I thought, she'll call me when she wants to,
18:11and hopefully she will."
18:13In her memoir, McCormick opened up about battling drug addiction several years after The Brady
18:17Bunch came to an end. She told People magazine,
18:20"...I got into it through a boyfriend, who was friends with people who did drugs.
18:23I have a very addictive personality, I know that now."
18:26The actress said she soon watched in horror as her vice tore apart those closest to her.
18:31"...Well, I remember my father saying that he was gonna turn me into the police."
18:36In the end, McCormick went to therapy and relied on her faith to guide her down a path
18:40toward sobriety. Speaking with People magazine, McCormick recalled her 10-year battle with
18:44bulimia, which started after she enrolled into a public high school at the age of 17. She revealed,
18:50"...I was with some girls, we had a gallon of ice cream, and someone mentioned how we could
18:53eat it all and not gain weight. It seemed ideal. Once I started purging, it was hard to stop."
18:58It didn't help that she was required to wear bathing suits for guest appearances
19:02on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, which she claims made her especially self-conscious.
19:06McCormick finally decided it was time to face her eating disorder by competing on Celebrity Fit
19:11Club. She ended up winning the competition and losing 38 pounds in a healthy way.
19:16McCormick kicked her severe cocaine habit after marrying her husband in 1985,
19:21but the side effects of her drug use threatened to claim her life. The actress stated in her
19:25autobiography that the lingering anxiety and paranoia wreaked havoc on her life and marriage.
19:30She wrote,
19:30"...I walked out onto the balcony and screamed that I was going to jump.
19:34I desperately wanted relief, and I saw it down below, on the pavement."
19:38It took a depression diagnosis and a prescription for antidepressants to help her life do a complete
19:43180. Back in her days of using drugs, McCormick reportedly stayed awake for several days while
19:48on a drug binge, and blew her audition for Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark,
19:53according to her memoir.
19:54I destroyed certain jobs. There were some where I was really high, and it was bad. It was really bad."
20:02Even while filming The Brady Brides, the actress' drug use was taking control of her life.
20:07She told Newsweek,
20:08"...I was supposed to be at Paramount Studios film testing one of my husbands,
20:11but where was I? Locked up in my apartment, doing cocaine and playing solitaire in my closet."
20:16These days, she's committed to inspiring those who may face the same battles she dealt with.
20:20She told ET,
20:21"...So many people today are still just incredibly embarrassed about talking about it,
20:25as if it's a weakness. That's what we're all here for on this earth, right? To help each
20:29other and to talk about our experiences, because that's how we all heal and get better."
20:34Growing up in Oklahoma, McIntyre was the third-born of four children.
20:37"...Oklahoma's a great place to grow up. It was a family community,
20:41and you didn't get away with much."
20:42As a middle child, she told The Washington Post she constantly had to, quote,
20:46"...fight for attention." That is, until the age of five, when she realized she could sing.
20:50Her mother remembered,
20:51"...A way and a manger was what she sang the first time."
20:55McIntyre said she and her siblings began singing just for fun,
20:58but things got serious for the college co-ed when she was discovered while
21:02singing the national anthem at the Las Vegas Nationals Finals Rodeo.
21:06"...Eleven months later, I had a Polygram Mercury records contract."
21:09But an old problem quickly began to resurface — lack of attention.
21:13According to the Post, McIntyre's music flew under the radar for years. Her first
21:18number-one hit, Can't Even Get the Blues, was reportedly released a whopping
21:22seven years after she signed her contract.
21:24In 1975, before things really took off, McIntyre met the man who would become her first husband,
21:30Charles Battles. According to The Washington Post, he had been a world champion steer wrestler who
21:35was a decade older, with a wife and two kids. Battles divorced his wife, and McIntyre married
21:40him when she was 21. She told the Post,
21:43"...my singing was always taken very lightly until Charlie came along."
21:46Battles signed on as Reba's manager,
21:48but that dynamic changed in the 80s as McIntyre's career began to skyrocket.
21:52After winning her first Grammy in 1986, she was ready to take the country world by storm,
21:57but her husband reportedly wanted her to slow things down. She told E! News,
22:01"...I guess I chose my career over my marriage."
22:05After filing for divorce in 87, McIntyre rebounded with Narvel Blackstock, a guitarist in her band.
22:11"...big change of events in my personal life, but it also catapulted my career."
22:17They tied the knot in 1988, but instead of receiving well wishes and support,
22:21McIntyre was heavily criticized. She told People magazine,
22:24"...I have talked so much about my private life in the past that when I got this divorce,
22:28I got lambasted. My fans didn't understand."
22:31"...I do trust Narvel explicitly. That's why I married him. I love him and I trust him very much."
22:36According to the outlet, fans weren't on board with a wholesome country star who had
22:41real troubles at home. McIntyre and Blackstock were together nearly three decades before their
22:45divorce in 2015.
22:47"...26 years of marriage, you miss anything about it?"
22:50"...Oh sure, I miss everything about it."
22:52In 1991, McIntyre had wrapped up a show in San Diego when she and her band and crew members
22:57booked two charter flights, but tragically, one of the planes wouldn't make it to its destination.
23:03"...The tip of the wing of the airplane hit a rock on the side of Otay Mountain,
23:08and it killed everyone on the plane."
23:10According to the Associated Press, all 10 people on board were killed in the crash,
23:14including seven members of McIntyre's band and her road manager.
23:17A spokesperson for the singer said in a statement,
23:20"...Needless to say, Reba is very upset. They all had been with her a long time.
23:24They were like family. She's lost eight family members."
23:27"...Nobody could replace the ones that we love so much that we lost.
23:31And that's one of the questions I'll ask God when I get up there."
23:34Less than a month later, McIntyre put on a brave face and headed back out on the road.
23:38She later told The Washington Post,
23:40"...I can't stop working when something like that happens. I needed it,
23:43we all needed it, to keep going or I would have wallowed in sorrow."
23:47"...It's been 20 years. It's just like, I don't guess it ever quits hurting."
23:54When a performer conquers one music genre,
23:56it's not unheard of to branch out into different markets. Justin Bieber and
24:00Beyoncé have both successfully tried their hands at singing in Spanish,
24:04and McIntyre herself decided to expand her discography by venturing into the
24:08pop and blues sectors. Sadly, some of her followers haven't supported her pursuits.
24:13After performing renditions of Aretha Franklin's Respect and Etta James'
24:16Sunday Kind of Love, McIntyre told People magazine her fans weren't happy, revealing,
24:21"...They said I was leaving my roots. Lord knows I'm country.
24:24Given who I am and where I come from, no matter what I do, it will be country."
24:29McIntyre thought it was ridiculous, and even offensive, for people to think she
24:32was leaving her fan base behind. She said,
24:34"...I don't sing country songs, I don't sing pop, I sing Reba songs."
24:38"...I guess the three bones you gotta have, the wishbone, funny bone, and the backbone."
24:43McIntyre and fellow musician Kelly Clarkson have shared an unbreakable bond ever since
24:48Clarkson won American Idol in 2002. Their friendship came full circle when Clarkson
24:52announced on Twitter in 2012 that she was engaged to McIntyre's stepson, Brandon Blackstock.
24:58McIntyre was thrilled, but the claws came out. The country star told Entertainment Tonight,
25:02"...I was very protective of Kelly. I did not want her to get her heart broken
25:06because she wears her heart on her sleeve. What you see is what you get with Kelly.
25:09I would have clobbered Brandon if he had hurt her in any way."
25:12"...I know we're friends and we're family, but you're always like that hero to me,
25:16especially musically, like you're just a beast."
25:19Clarkson and Blackstock tied the knot in October 2013,
25:22but McIntyre's difficult divorce from Narvel made her friendship with Clarkson trickier than ever.
25:27Even so, the country superstar didn't want her family to have to choose sides.
25:31A friend told Closer Weekly,
25:32"...Reba didn't want to tear the family apart,
25:35so she leaned on others who weren't family for support."
25:37Even though she has endured devastating tragedy and sorrow,
25:40it's clear that Reba McIntyre can take what comes her way with grace and grit — and keep on truckin'.
25:46"...I've been happy poor and I've been happy rich. I just like to keep that part consistent."
25:51Laura Prepon, who played Donna Pinciotti on That 70s Show,
25:54went through a very difficult period early in her life. When she was 13,
25:59her father died unexpectedly as a result of a drastic medical error.
26:03Prepon wrote in her memoir, You and I as Mothers? A Raw and Honest Guide to Motherhood,
26:08"...we had been told that layers of fat were attacking his heart,
26:11making it difficult for the vital organ to pump blood. While he was on the operating table,
26:15the doctors, thinking they were removing layers of fat,
26:18were actually peeling away layers of his enlarged heart. They had misdiagnosed him."
26:22Prepon went on to explain that her mother's reaction to this death was to not cry — or
26:27at least not in front of her daughter — and it conditioned Prepon to avoid showing her emotions
26:31well into adulthood. She wrote,
26:33"...it took me a while, and many talks with my husband, to realize that crying didn't
26:38equal weakness."
26:39Her mother was also instrumental in Prepon developing bulimia when she was younger.
26:44She revealed to People,
26:45"...if there's someone out there who's silently struggling with dysfunctional
26:48eating or struggling with their parents, and if I helped a single person, I'd be happy."
26:53Remember that time Mila Kunis expertly shut down a Russian journalist, all in Russian?
26:58"...but it's late."
27:02If you're wondering why the actor who played Jackie Burkhardt on That 70s Show speaks the
27:06language so fluently, it's because she was actually born in Ukraine, while it was still
27:10part of the USSR. Kunis' family left the country when she and her brother were still kids.
27:15Kunis told The Telegraph,
27:16"...my parents thought that my brother and I would have no future there,
27:19though so we moved to the United States."
27:22Saying that they arrived with only $250, she explained,
27:25"...that was all we were allowed to take with us. My parents had given up good jobs and degrees,
27:30which were not transferable."
27:32She also noted she's always been, quote,
27:34"...aware of what a dollar is worth."
27:36Okay, did I win? Did I win? Did I win?
27:38Not even close.
27:39Oh. Well, I don't care. I don't work, so money doesn't really mean anything to me.
27:44Kunis' family is Jewish, which added a layer of difficulty when it came to building a good
27:48life in Russia. She told WhatCulture in 2011,
27:51"...there was a bit of anti-Semitism in Russia."
27:54In an interview with The Sun, she remembered,
27:56"...when I was in school, you would still see anti-Semitic signs."
28:00According to The Hollywood Reporter, in 2012, a Ukrainian politician directed a
28:04slur at the actor, which was heavily condemned by the Jewish community.
28:08Kurtwood Smith played strict father Red Foreman on That 70s Show. Sadly, he didn't get to
28:14experience life with his own father, George A. Smith, who died in March 1945, fighting in World
28:19War II. In 2017, Smith posted a photo of himself posing next to his father's grave on Twitter.
28:25He wrote,
28:26"...Veteran's Day at my father's grave, in the Netherlands American Cemetery, near Margreton.
28:31Though I never knew him, I always remember him."
28:34The 70s Show alum also played a father in the film Dead Poets Society, in which his son dies,
28:39a role that was emotional for him both as a parent and as a performer.
28:43He told Collider in 2018,
28:45"...I've had multiple people tell me that that movie changed their relationship with their father.
28:49To be part of something that changed people's lives is great. It's really special."
28:54Ashton Kusher, who plays goofy jock Michael Kelso on That 70s Show,
28:58has a twin brother named Michael. Michael was born underweight and with breathing issues,
29:02and although he survived, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. At age 13,
29:07he was diagnosed with heart failure and told he had just three to four weeks to live.
29:11But thankfully, Michael defeated the odds and successfully received a life-saving heart
29:16transplant. In 2003, though That 70s Show star revealed in an interview that his brother had
29:21cerebral palsy, which initially hurt Michael deeply, but Michael has since changed his stance.
29:26He told Today in 2021,
29:28"...Ashton did me the biggest favor he's ever done because he allowed me to be myself."
29:32Michael is a fierce advocate for disability and organ donation,
29:36helping people across the country cope with their health issues.
29:39Ashton Kusher has seen a fair share of horror in his lifetime. In 2001, he was set to go on a first
29:45date with a woman named Ashley Ellerin, a fashion design student. Kusher spoke to Ellerin on the
29:50phone beforehand to let her know he would be slightly late, but when he made it to her house
29:54and knocked on the door, there was no answer. A prosecutor said during the trial in 2019,
29:59"...Mr. Kusher looked in the window and saw what he thought was spilled wine on the floor.
30:03We believe now the evidence will show that was actually blood."
30:06Kusher left thinking Ellerin was angry that he was late and had gone out. He was never a
30:11suspect in the case but did testify in court. In August 2019, Michael Gargiulo, an air conditioning
30:17repairman, was found guilty of murdering Ellerin and a second woman, as well as attempt to murder
30:22a third. Gargiulo, dubbed as the Hollywood Ripper, reportedly stabbed Ellerin a total of 47 times.
30:28Michelle Murphy, the woman who survived Gargiulo's attack, testified in the trial. She said,
30:34"...to this day, spending the night alone creates a world of fear in me."
30:37"...how is it fair that one person's actions can destroy the lives of so many?"
30:42Gargiulo was given a death sentence in July 2021.
30:46Tanya Roberts, who played Midge Pinciotti on That 70s Show, sadly passed away in early 2021.
30:52Roberts collapsed on Christmas Eve 2020 and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,
30:58according to ABC News. Her partner, Lance O'Brien, wasn't allowed to visit her due to
31:02COVID restrictions, although he was ultimately permitted to say goodbye. Roberts died from
31:07complications related to a urinary tract infection, although there was confusion
31:11as to the time of her death. On January 4, 2021, O'Brien believed Roberts to be dead
31:17and communicated this to the press. But during an interview with Inside Edition that day,
31:22O'Brien received a call from the hospital.
31:24"...now you're telling me that she's alive? Oh, thank the Lord."
31:28But Roberts sadly passed the next day. O'Brien said,
31:31"...she was my soulmate. She was my best friend. We haven't been apart for two days."
31:35The actor, who was 65, left O'Brien the entirety of her estate.
31:40Tommy Chong played the hippie Leo Chincoague on That 70s Show, and as anyone of a certain age
31:46knows, the character wasn't too far off from the actor's real life. He even credits it for
31:50the success of his comic duo with Richard Cheech Marin, Cheech and Chong. Chong told The Guardian,
31:56"...it was my job as a writer and performer to deliver the goods,
31:59so if that meant being stoned, I gladly did it."
32:02And cannabis also landed him a nine-month prison sentence. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2003
32:08that he was sent to jail for selling drug paraphernalia and was fined $20,000. Chong's
32:13character was absent from Seasons 5 and 6 of That 70s Show due to his prison sentence,
32:18but returned in time for Season 8. Chong evidently found a silver lining. He became
32:23more at peace with himself while incarcerated, according to The Guardian.
32:26The actor is now at the helm of his own cannabis brand, Tommy Chong's Cannabis.
32:31Lisa Robyn Kelly portrayed Lori Foreman on That 70s Show until the sixth season,
32:36when she was replaced by Christina Moore. Kelly led a difficult life after being replaced on the
32:40show and was arrested several times throughout the 2010s. In November 2010, Kelly pleaded guilty
32:46to a DUI while in North Carolina and was arrested on suspicion of a second DUI in June 2013.
32:52She was also arrested for spousal abuse in April 2012,
32:56but told TMZ that her male roommate was trying to frame her. She said,
33:01"'He must have scratched himself or done something to himself. I am clean and sober
33:05and I have made a lot of progress. I am completely innocent. I weigh 105 pounds.
33:10I could never hurt him. I just want to start working again.'"
33:13She was arrested for assault in November 2012.
33:16He's saying that you assaulted him. He's saying that I assaulted him.
33:19Did you do that to him? And then, no, absolutely not.
33:23Kelly struggled with addiction and checked herself into rehab in 2013.
33:27She tragically passed away in her sleep while staying at the facility. She was 43 years old.
33:32Her agent, Craig Wyckoff, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times,
33:36"'I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident,
33:39looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night, she lost the battle.'"
33:44In 2014, a coroner confirmed that Kelly died of multiple drug intoxication, per The Wrap.
33:50Her estranged husband, Robert Gilliam,
33:52sued the rehab facility for negligence in 2014, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
33:58When Stephen was just 10 years old, his family faced the unthinkable. His father,
34:02James, and teenage brothers Paul and Peter were killed when their plane crashed in 1974.
34:07Colbert opened up about the devastating loss, telling Oprah,
34:11For years, I sort of thought that that was my secret name, that that loss was my name.
34:20He explained,
34:21That's a name that no one can ever really pronounce, you know, because it's who you are.
34:26He then added,
34:28There's a magic to your secret name. And that was my secret name,
34:33the loss of my father and my brothers.
34:36Colbert admitted in an interview with Howard Stern that lightening up his mother's spirits
34:40after such a dark time was what first drew him to comedy. He explained,
34:44I think there's no doubt that I do what I do because I wanted to make her happy.
34:48He went on to reveal that their relationship was closer than most kids are with their parents.
34:52He remembered,
34:53I was there with my mom, she was there for me, and I sort of kept her going. Mom and I used
34:57to joke that I raised my mom because at a certain point it had changed her completely,
35:02and it changed me completely.
35:05Although he was just 10 when his father and brothers were killed,
35:07Colbert was almost twice that age before the profundity of their deaths would really hit him.
35:12He admitted to Oprah,
35:14I didn't really feel the loss until I was in college. Then, oh, then I was in bad shape.
35:20He went on to reveal,
35:21I went into college at about 185 pounds. By the end of my freshman year, I was 135.
35:26Colbert theorized that his sudden deep sadness may have had something to do with the fact that
35:31he was no longer living at home, and that he finally found himself alone with his grief.
35:35He said of the lapse in his reaction,
35:38It seems like a long time at the time, but now at age 48, it seems like the blink of an eye.
35:45These days, Colbert is a devout Catholic, but there was a time when he almost gave up on his
35:50faith for good. In a discussion with Faith in Focus, he revealed that shortly after graduating
35:54college, he'd given up on the idea of God. Then, he had a chance encounter with a stranger.
35:59He remembered that he,
36:00had lost my faith in God, to my own great grief,
36:04that I was sort of convinced that I had been wrong all this time.
36:09He continued,
36:10I was walking down the street, and someone handed me a little green,
36:13I still have it someplace, a little green New Testament Proverbs and Psalms.
36:17When he opened it, he found an index of verses to turn to during challenging times,
36:22and when he looked to the suggestions for anxiety, he found exactly what he needed.
36:26I was absolutely, immediately, um, uh, lightened.
36:33He said that he finally understood what people mean when they say something speaks to them, adding,
36:39I stood on that street corner in the cold and read the sermon.
36:42That's beautiful.
36:43My life has never been the same.
36:45In 2013, Colbert's mother, Lorna, died at 92.
36:49My mother, Lorna Tuck Colbert, died, and I want to thank everybody who offered their thoughts
36:57and prayers.
36:58Stephen had taken time off from shooting The Colbert Report to be with her in her final days,
37:03and when he returned, he delivered a funny and touching monologue in tribute to her.
37:07When you watch the show, if you also like me, that's because of my mom.
37:13He went on to share a little about his mother, remembering,
37:16She had trained to be an actress when she was younger, and she would teach us
37:19how to do stage falls by pretending to faint on the kitchen floor.
37:24He then added,
37:25We were the light of her life, and she let us know it till the end.
37:30And that's it.
37:33Thank you for listening.
37:34In 1968, when Grammer was just 13 years old, a man broke into his father's home and shot him to
37:41death. Grammer told E!,
37:42The assailant lit a ring of fire around his house, and as my father came down to investigate
37:47what was going on, he shot him several times, and Dad died.
37:52Unfortunately, there would be little justice for the family.
37:55According to People magazine, the killer was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
38:00Grammer later found a father figure in his TV dad, Martin Crane,
38:04played by English actor John Mahoney.
38:06At home, you're coming with us. Wouldn't be any fun without you.
38:10Oh, really, Dad? I was so hoping that you would say that. The last thing I wanted to do…
38:15Even years after Frasier wrapped, the two remained friends, until Mahoney's passing
38:20in 2018. Grammer mourned the loss, tweeting, quote,
38:24He was my father. I loved him.
38:26In 1975, Grammer's 18-year-old sister Karen was kidnapped,
38:31assaulted, and brutally murdered by killer Freddie Glenn and two accomplices,
38:35according to the Daily Mail. She was later found dead with 42 stab wounds, per the New York Post,
38:41and it was a then-20-year-old Grammer who had to identify his sister's brutalized body.
38:46By Grammer's own admission, the tragedy plunged him into an abyss of self-destructive behavior
38:52and addiction. He revealed in a conversation with Oprah,
38:55I miss her in my bones. I was her big brother.
38:58I was supposed to protect her. I could not. It very nearly destroyed me.
39:02Then, in 1980, just five years after his sister's death, a freak accident took the lives of
39:08Grammer's half-brothers, Stephen and Billy, who perished while scuba diving off the coast of St.
39:13Thomas. In the years since his sister's death, Grammer has continued to honor his sister's
39:18memory by actively working to keep her killers in prison.
39:22When my father's killer was released, I found out through the National Enquirer.
39:26In my sister's case, I have been allowed a voice in the parole hearings of her killers.
39:30Grammer spoke out against Glenn's bid for parole in 2014, saying that letting him go
39:35free would be a, quote, "...betrayal of his sister's life." The plea worked.
39:40Grammer began drinking heavily and abusing drugs,
39:43particularly cocaine, to cope with his sister's loss. He told Oprah,
39:48My love affair with cocaine, which was my drug of choice, was
39:53motivated by a few other things, I think, about not really deserving whatever I'd gotten.
39:58He added,
39:59Also, I liked it.
40:00But his habits culminated in a series of arrests for drugs and drunk driving.
40:05According to the L.A. Times, Grammer even flipped his car while driving under the influence in 1996.
40:11The incident prompted the actor to check into rehab. He told Oprah,
40:16It just eventually becomes something you can't keep doing.
40:18Grammer went on to reveal,
40:20I finally quit blow in 1996. That's when I was done.
40:24It's a fond memory, but it's no longer a friend.
40:27Grammer married Leanne Suhaini in 1992. But after a brief and abusive marriage,
40:33per Grammer's book So Far, the relationship ended when Suhaini made an attempt on her own life
40:38while pregnant. Doctors were able to save her, but not their unborn child, according to People magazine.
40:44Grammer released a heartfelt statement saying he was deeply saddened over the death of their child,
40:50adding,
40:50I had dreamed of raising the baby in a stable and loving environment.
40:54Grammer went on to father children with four different women. But when he married his fourth
40:58wife, Katie Walsh, in 2011, they initially had some trouble growing their family. Grammer admitted
41:04to iNews,
41:05Katie and I had a couple of miscarriages before we had our first child. That was devastating.
41:10These things are hard.
41:12These days, however, Grammer is reveling in parental bliss with his seven children as of mid-2019.
41:19Are you happy?
41:21Yes.
41:24In 2008, the sitcom TV star was ready for a much-needed break,
41:28so he set off for vacation in Hawaii. But just when things were getting started,
41:33he suffered a near-fatal heart attack.
41:36You know, it's one of those things, I stood up and I felt a little funny,
41:38and then I realized, oh, s**t, I'm having a heart attack.
41:40Though his representatives later downplayed the news to the media,
41:43claiming Grammer had only had a, quote,
41:45"...mild attack, it was far from the truth."
41:48In actuality, Grammer had almost died. He revealed to Entertainment Tonight,
41:53"...they had to blast me twice and get me started all over again."
41:57Though he nearly lost his life, Grammer later told Oprah that he was thankful for the health scare,
42:02saying,
42:02"...it was a good thing in my life. It was a good event in my life. It was the physical
42:07manifestation of whatever lesson was being taught to me, which was, you better fix your life now.
42:12It took me another couple of years, but I did get it, and it was time to change a few patterns."
42:18I said a little prayer, let's get this over with, let's get this resolved,
42:21and I've got things I gotta do.