Celebrities are known for their glamorous lives, but sometimes they can't help but spin a web of lies. Join us as we uncover the most outrageous and jaw-dropping moments when famous personalities were caught red-handed in their fabrications, from fake backstories to staged events.
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00:00Did you feel betrayed by it? I felt humiliated.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most outrageous lies
00:12celebrities tried to pass off that were eventually sniffed out by the public.
00:15And it's so unfortunate. Your very name has become an adverb for lying.
00:21Number 30. SZA.
00:23If people already love you for your music, there's no need to lie just to impress them.
00:27R&B singer SZA told fans that she had never owned a TV, only for a picture to emerge of
00:32her supposedly with one she owned. Then she said her freckles were natural, they weren't,
00:37and that she wasn't, quote, a cake or pie person, but had been photographed enjoying a birthday
00:42cake. That all paled in comparison to her claim of earning a degree in marine biology from an
00:47Ivy League school. In reality, she had enrolled in Delaware State University for that program,
00:55but dropped out to pursue music. Considering how well that worked out,
00:58it's a mystery why she felt the need to tweak the story.
01:10Number 29. Dakota Johnson.
01:13Architectural Digest's Open Door series gives fans an inside look at their favorite
01:17celebrities' homes. In March 2020, viewers got a peek inside Dakota Johnson's stylishly
01:22private abode, complete with vintage sofas, a serene backyard oasis, and a gorgeous green
01:27kitchen with a bowl of limes. While giving the tour, Johnson pointed out the limes and
01:32professed her undying love for them. However, it turns out this was a bold-faced lie.
01:44Apparently the fruits had been placed there as set dressing without Johnson's knowledge,
01:47and because they were too hard to ignore, she just went along with it.
01:51In fact, not only does she not love limes, she's actually mildly allergic to them.
02:10Number 28. Victoria Beckham.
02:12Victoria Beckham reveals she had her breast implants removed in the upcoming issue of
02:17Allure magazine. After giving birth to her first son in 1999, fans noticed something had changed
02:22about Victoria Beckham. Her bust size had gotten dramatically bigger. Sure, motherhood comes with
02:27a myriad of physical changes, but this one seemed a little too enhanced. Back then, Beckham shut down
02:33rumors of cosmetic surgery, insisting that she was, quote, completely natural. According to the
02:38former Spice Girl, her increased bust size was a result of support tape and push-up bras. The
02:43denials continued until 2005, when her lawyers let it slip that she had actually undergone breast
02:48augmentation. But it would take until 2014 for Beckham to finally confess herself, revealing
02:54that she had removed the implants and regretted ever having them in the first place.
03:02Number 27. Olivia Jade.
03:04Getting into a prestigious university can be tough. Unless, of course, your wealthy,
03:08well-connected parents are willing to grease a few palms. The daughter of fashion designer
03:12Mossimo Giannulli and actress Lori Loughlin, Olivia Jade was at the center of a scandal in
03:172019 due to her parents paying to get her admitted into the University of Southern California.
03:22This morning, Olivia Jade Giannulli is at the center of a new twist in a college admissions
03:27scandal. A scandal that has already engulfed her parents, actress Lori Loughlin and fashion
03:34designer Mossimo Giannulli, who were fighting charges they paid $500,000 in bribes to get
03:40their daughters into USC. Prosecutors charged them with fraud and bribery and uncovered a
03:45fake athletic profile that painted Jade as a champion rower, despite never having played
03:50the sport. The deception also included staged pictures of Jade and her sister Isabella posing
03:55on rowing machines. Although both girls initially secured spots at USC, their enrollment didn't last
04:01long once the truth emerged. Olivia Jade, not to try to take one of those legitimate spots
04:08of another athlete, I just think is deplorable, and she didn't address that.
04:1326. Hasan Minhaj
04:15This former Daily Show correspondent was a shoo-in to take over as host until The New Yorker
04:20published an article accusing him of embellishing the stories in his stand-up routines. In Minhaj's
04:25special The King's Jester, he recounted receiving an envelope of white powder he initially believed
04:30was anthrax. The powder then spilled on his daughter, and he rushed her to the hospital
04:34only to learn it was harmless. He detailed another story about an FBI informant infiltrating
04:39his mosque and physically assaulting him. It was kind of storytelling, and it turns out that he
04:45made a lot of it up and said, he kept on using the phrase with me,
04:48there was an emotional truth to it. And I think what he means by that is,
04:52he's right, people after 9-11 who are Muslim did feel a sense of danger,
04:57but again, things didn't happen to him. The New Yorker claimed that both stories
05:01were exaggerated, which Minhaj more or less acknowledged. However, in a YouTube video,
05:07he called the article, quote, needlessly misleading, insisting that his embellishments
05:11weren't deception, but only a storytelling technique. But this New Yorker article definitely
05:16makes me look like one. It was so needlessly misleading, not just about my stand-up,
05:21but also me as a person. The truth is, racism, FBI surveillance, and threats to my family
05:31happened.
05:31Number 25. Hilaria Baldwin
05:34How's married life? Married life is really nice.
05:37Born Hilary Lynn Hayward-Thomas in Boston, Massachusetts, this yoga instructor and
05:42entrepreneur eventually reinvented herself as Hilaria. In 2020, after noticing that Hilaria
05:47Baldwin had been misrepresenting herself as Spanish, one Twitter user compiled a thread
05:52exposing her. This included a clip from the Today Show where Baldwin appeared to forget
05:56the English word for cucumber, and various interviews of her speaking in a Spanish accent.
06:00We have, um, how do you say anything? Cucumber?
06:04Cucumbers.
06:04This thread unleashed a wave of more inconsistencies, like her agency's website
06:09falsely listing her birthplace as Mallorca, and her willingness to let people believe
06:13she was half Spanish. Baldwin eventually apologized for the falsehoods, explaining
06:17that though she was raised with both American and Spanish cultures, she should have been
06:22clearer about her actual roots.
06:24There's been some questions about where I'm born. I'm born in Boston,
06:30and then I spent some of my childhood in Boston, some of my childhood in Spain.
06:34But her biography on her agency's website states, Baldwin was born in Mallorca, Spain.
06:39Number 24. Hulk Hogan
06:41Hulk Hogan may be a wrestling legend, but he's also a master at rewriting history to
06:46make himself look cooler. Perhaps his most outrageous tale involved the king of rock
06:50and roll, Elvis Presley. According to Hogan's WWE-produced autobiography, Presley was a
06:56diehard fan of his who would swing by to watch him wrestle live in Memphis.
06:59But when I started wrestling in Memphis, he used to ride a Harley and put a helmet
07:05on at night. He'd go out at night and ride his Harley around. And then he'd come to
07:08the Mid-South Coliseum and sit way up in the top of the building and watch wrestling.
07:12Sounds impressive, until you realize that Presley passed away in 1977,
07:18two full years before Hogan even set foot in a Memphis ring. That was far from his only lie.
07:23Hogan also claimed that both the Rolling Stones and Metallica wanted him as their bassist,
07:28and that he was Darren Aronofsky's first pick for the lead role in The Wrestler.
07:32Both claims have since been debunked.
07:3423. Tonya Harding
07:54In arguably the most notorious scandal in figure skating,
07:57Olympian Nancy Kerrigan was ambushed in January 1994,
08:01leaving her with a bruised leg and her career in jeopardy.
08:04The attack was meant to sideline her from competing, and was eventually
08:08traced to Jeff Gillooly, the then-husband of Kerrigan's rival Tonya Harding.
08:12Naturally, suspicion fell on Harding. Although she denied prior knowledge of the attack,
08:17Harding later pleaded guilty to covering it up, and earned a lifetime ban from the
08:21U.S. Figure Skating Association. Tonya Harding always denied any involvement in the attack,
08:26but she was fined $100,000 and banned for life from competitive skating.
08:32For decades she stuck to the story, until 2018 when she finally admitted in an ABC special
08:38that she knew about the plot beforehand. But of course,
08:40she maintained that she had nothing to do with actually carrying it out.
08:5722. Prince Andrew
09:03Prince Andrew shared a close friendship with disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey
09:07Epstein for years. During this period, he was accused of engaging in unlawful activities with
09:12Virginia Giuffre, allegedly with Epstein's help. Following Epstein's death in 2019,
09:18Andrew sat for a disastrous interview with BBC's Newsnight, where he denied having sex with Giuffre
09:24and claimed to have only met Epstein once after his 2008 conviction to sever ties.
09:29That, however, turned out to be a lie.
09:31Court documents have revealed that may not be the case. One email sent to Giuffre Epstein
09:37from a member of the British royal family in February 2011 said,
09:42keeping close touch, and we'll play some more soon.
09:46Court papers from a separate civil case revealed emails showing that Andrew arranged a meeting
09:50with Epstein in February 2011, despite his claims that their last encounter was in December 2010.
09:57Although he denied Giuffre's allegations, he later settled with her for a reported £5 million.
10:1821. James Fry
10:20In this corner, there's Oprah. In this corner, we've got James Fry to defend himself.
10:24I don't know why he's there, but he's there trying to defend himself.
10:27Back when The Oprah Winfrey Show ruled daytime TV, every author dreamed of making it onto Oprah's
10:33book club. In September 2005, James Fry hit the jackpot when his memoir A Million Little
10:38Pieces got the coveted nod, turning it into a cultural phenomenon. The book detailed Fry's
10:44experience with substance use disorder and journey to sobriety. However, a few months later,
10:48an investigative website accused Fry of fabricating multiple details in the book.
10:53Winfrey initially stood by Fry, but as the evidence mounted,
10:57she brought him onto her show and grilled him about the memoir's authenticity.
11:00I was defending my turf and defending, uh, every single viewer who had bought that book.
11:08I am standing here on behalf of the reader who's pissed off.
11:12Fry ultimately admitted to embellishing parts of the story,
11:15leaving Winfrey and her audience disappointed. As a result,
11:19subsequent editions of the book included a disclaimer.
11:22If this came as clear as, you know, as if it were being spoken to me,
11:26uh, is that what people saw was my lack of compassion.
11:32Number 20, Tiger Woods. Needless to say, a successful marriage hinges on openness and
11:38honesty among all parties involved. Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren were once the picture-perfect
11:43couple, the golf great and his model wife. Hence, it's understandable why professional golfer Tiger
11:50Woods and Elin Nordegren's marriage fell apart when it was revealed that he engaged in extramarital
11:55affairs and lied about them. This shocking revelation came in 2009 after Woods crashed
12:01his car just outside his Florida home, triggering media scrutiny into his personal life. Subsequently,
12:06several women came forward alleging that they had had affairs with the golfer.
12:10Woods eventually owned up to the claims, admitting that he had lied to a lot of people,
12:15including himself.
12:17I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.
12:23The fallout from the scandal not only cost him his marriage,
12:26it also had significant consequences for his career.
12:30Number 19, Star Jones. The long-running daytime talk show The View was designed as a platform for
12:36women to engage in candid discussions about various topical issues. But it turns out one
12:41of its original panelists, Star Jones, wasn't so candid about her personal life.
12:46I was struggling with my weight since I was 18 years old.
12:50Fitness wasn't important to me, nutrition wasn't important to me.
12:55Food was my vice and my comfort.
12:58In 2003, Jones, who was once diagnosed as morbidly obese,
13:02began to lose weight in a rather dramatic fashion. According to her,
13:06this was the result of a strict dieting and exercise regimen.
13:09She also vaguely alluded to receiving a, quote,
13:12medical intervention. However, rumors persisted that seemed to suggest otherwise.
13:18Finally, in 2007, Jones confirmed the speculations,
13:22disclosing that she had indeed undergone gastric bypass surgery to help with her weight loss.
13:26In 2003, I took control and underwent gastric bypass surgery.
13:31I went from 307 pounds to, at the lowest, 142 pounds.
13:37Number 18. Rick Ross
13:39In 2008, a photograph emerged in the media showing Rick Ross dressed as a correctional officer.
13:45The rapper took offense to its publication,
13:48insisting that his face had been digitally manipulated onto someone else's body by,
13:52quote, online hackers.
13:53It's a lot of people that don't understand and I don't blame them.
13:56In fact, he took things a step further by challenging anyone to provide
14:00solid proof that he ever worked in the prison system.
14:03Well, investigative website The Smoking Gun decided to take him up on the challenge.
14:08They unearthed his personal record with the Department of Corrections,
14:11complete with his social security number and copies of his birth certificate.
14:16Faced with the overwhelming evidence,
14:18Ross confessed to his past job as a corrections officer in Florida between 1995 and 1997.
14:24What made you want to do that?
14:26One of my big homies. One of my big homies had just got in trouble and
14:30a lot of people, a lot of things were going on and he just suggested it.
14:34Number 17. Rebel Wilson
14:36The film industry is often seen as a realm of smoke and mirrors,
14:39a reputation that was certainly not helped by Australian actress Rebel Wilson.
14:44Back in 2015, an Australian magazine alleged that Wilson had fabricated
14:48several aspects of her personal history.
14:50People were calling me a liar and a fake, and for someone like me who prides herself
14:56on being very candid and authentic, it was just probably the most devastating
15:01thing they could have said to me.
15:03The actress had claimed to be 29 years old that year,
15:06and asserted that Rebel was her birth name. However, a former classmate countered this,
15:11stating that she was actually 36 at the time,
15:14and official records revealed her birth name as Melanie Elizabeth Bounds.
15:18I pity her and I feel really sad for her that she would do that,
15:22because now she would have that on her conscience and I feel like that's kind of,
15:28probably karma enough for her.
15:31In addition, Wilson's claim of a rough upbringing in the quote-unquote
15:35ghetto of Sydney was debunked, as evidence pointed to a quote,
15:39very normal upper middle class background.
15:42Number 16. Bow Wow
15:44Sometimes, celebrities tell lies that seem understandable. Other times, such as in the
15:49case of Bow Wow, their fabrications are so ridiculous and unnecessary they leave you wondering,
15:54why? In 2017, Bow Wow shared a picture of a private jet on his Instagram,
15:59claiming he was flying to New York with the aircraft. Yet shortly after,
16:04a fan spotted him seated in economy class on a New York-bound commercial flight.
16:08Oh, you just posted a picture you like.
16:09Yeah.
16:10What the hell's the problem?
16:12Because the way it looked, it looked as if I was taking the big boy jet going to New York,
16:16and really I was on Delta.
16:18A quick reverse image search revealed that the original picture Bow Wow posted was actually
16:22a stock photo from the website of a private transport service. This led to social media
16:27users ridiculing the rapper, sparking the Hashtag Bow Wow Challenge, in which they
16:31shared side-by-side pictures depicting a glamorous falsehood, alongside their mundane reality.
16:37If I fly a commercial, no lie, this is real shit.
16:38But you know a private jet means it's just for you,
16:41not for other people to buy tickets to.
16:42No.
16:43Well, they got this thing called Jet Smarter.
16:44Yeah, Jet Smarter.
16:46Number 15. Ryan Lochte. All eyes were on decorated swimmer Ryan Lochte at the
16:512016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. However, Lochte misused that attention and
16:57effectively derailed his career after falsely claiming to have been robbed at gunpoint by
17:01individuals impersonating police officers.
17:04These guys came out with a badge, a police badge. No lights, no nothing, just a police badge.
17:11They pulled us over. They pulled out their guns. They told the other swimmers to get
17:17down on the ground.
17:18The incident generated international attention. But as more details emerged, it became apparent
17:23that Lochte and three other swimmers allegedly vandalized a gas station bathroom and were made
17:28to pay for the damages. Lochte eventually apologized for over-exaggerating his story,
17:34and was charged in Brazil with falsely reporting a crime.
17:37I did lie about that one part, and I take full responsibility. I'm human. I made a mistake,
17:43a very big mistake, and it's something that I learned from, and I know that that will never
17:49happen again.
17:50Although the charges were later dropped, the repercussions to his career were severe. He
17:55lost multiple endorsements and received a 10-month suspension from competitive swimming.
18:00Number 14. Brandy. In 2002, then-23-year-old singer Brandy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey
18:06Show, where she announced that she was expecting her first child with music producer Robert Smith.
18:11We recently learned that she got married and is...
18:17She's married now.
18:19And is expecting a baby girl this summer.
18:23But that wasn't her only big announcement. She also revealed that she and Smith had gotten
18:27married in a secret ceremony months earlier. However, it turns out only one of those statements
18:33was true. After their relationship ended, Smith admitted that they had actually never
18:37gotten married. This claim was later confirmed by Brandy to none other than Oprah herself.
18:42I felt the pressure of, again, having to be perfect, and I was scared.
18:51According to the singer, they had fabricated the marriage story to protect her innocent image,
18:56as she desired to maintain the perception of not having a child out of wedlock.
19:01Number 13. The White Stripes. When Jack and Meg White first started gaining traction in the
19:06Detroit music scene as the indie rock duo The White Stripes, they made everyone believe they
19:10were siblings. This image persisted, even as the two rose to international fame. However, in 2002,
19:24a local Detroit paper did some digging and uncovered the truth. Jack and Meg were once
19:28married. They tied the knot in 1996, shortly before forming the band, and divorced in 2000,
19:35just as they began gaining widespread attention. Despite this revelation, they maintained that
19:40they were siblings. It wasn't until 2005 that Jack publicly acknowledged the deception,
19:45stating that they had propagated the lie so as to be taken more seriously as musicians.
19:50And that ain't what you want to hear, but that's what I'll do.
19:55Number 12. Bill O'Reilly. Conservative journalist Bill O'Reilly has faced scrutiny
20:00over some of his exaggerated claims. In 2013, O'Reilly asserted in a book that he was present
20:06outside the home where George DeMorenchilt fatally shot himself and had heard the shotgun blast.
20:11That's what O'Reilly wrote in the book, plain and simple, right there. O'Reilly says he was
20:14outside the guy's house in Florida when he heard the fatal gunshot. And he said basically the
20:19same thing on Fox News while promoting his book. DeMorenchilt had gained notoriety for his
20:24association with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
20:28However, this was later debunked as false. Then, in 2015, Mother Jones magazine published an article
20:35which disputed O'Reilly's claims that he was on the Falkland Islands during the 1982 war.
20:40I was in a situation one time in a war zone in Argentina in the Falklands,
20:45where my photographer got run down.
20:48The controversy that ensued led O'Reilly to retract previous assertions that he had
20:52witnessed extreme violence during conflicts in El Salvador and Northern Ireland.
20:5711. Steven Seagal
20:59In addition to his roles in action films, Steven Seagal has also dabbled in reality TV,
21:04most notably the A&E series Steven Seagal Lawman.
21:07That's him in the white t-shirt, Joaquin. That's him.
21:11The show trailed him as a reserve deputy sheriff in Arizona and Louisiana.
21:15During his work on the series, Seagal claimed to be a licensed law enforcement officer in
21:19California. But when the LA Times did a little research, they found no evidence of such
21:24certification in either California or Louisiana. In fact, his role as a sheriff's deputy in
21:30Louisiana was purely ceremonial, handed to him by longtime sheriff Harry Lee.
21:34Seagal has also claimed that he once helped train CIA agents,
21:38but shockingly, there's no proof of that either.
21:41What do you think about this case?
21:43Well, I mean, unfortunately, I don't have all the details. I've been a police officer.
21:4710. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
21:50Though Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt would initially deny allegations of an affair,
21:55many did think it was a very big coincidence that the scandal broke out the same year that
21:59Pitt and then-wife Jennifer Aniston ultimately divorced.
22:02At least I read this in the Vanity Fair article where you were saying that
22:05maybe it's not, maybe two people, the nature of two people is not meant to be
22:10with each other forever.
22:12Well, I don't know. I'm not sure what I was talking about.
22:17But there's just so much pressure on that from day one.
22:20During the proceedings, Jolie would claim no infidelity took place
22:24and cited her father's cheating on her mother as ample deterrent.
22:27And yet just a few months after the divorce was finalized,
22:30Jolie announced her pregnancy with Pitt's child. So, did they or didn't they?
22:36Well, in 2008, both Jolie and Pitt would refer to Mr. and Mrs. Smith as the movie
22:40where they, quote, fell in love, in two separate articles. So, we guess that answers that.
22:55That's what Lil' Kim found out during a court proceeding in 2005.
22:58She told a federal grand jury that her co-manager Damian Butler and bodyguard Swift Jackson
23:04were not involved in a 2001 shootout in front of radio station Hot 97 in New York.
23:11She also claimed to have not been on the scene or to know one of the suspects.
23:24But Lil' Kim ran into big problems when security footage was released,
23:27showing that not only was Kim there, but so were Butler and Jackson.
23:31This misrecollection earned the rapper 366 days in prison,
23:3630 days house arrest, and three years probation.
23:40After serving jail time, Paris Hilton appeared on Larry King Live to talk about the experience.
23:57During the interview, King asked the heiress if she'd ever taken drugs,
24:01and twice she denied it, claiming all she's taken were meds for ADHD.
24:11I guess that's the only thing you do with attention deficit disorder.
24:15Yes.
24:16Photos began to pop up showing Hilton smoking the green stuff, though,
24:19and perpetrators of a 2008 robbery claim to have found other narcotics in her Hollywood mansion.
24:24However, what casts the most doubt on Paris' drug-free claims was when she was arrested
24:28on suspicion of drug possession in 2010, a suspicion cast due to .8 grams of the
24:34stuff being found in a handbag that also contained her credit cards, phone, and driver's license.
24:39Today, she admitted she lied.
24:41I was in possession, as well as telling the officer that the bag wasn't mine.
24:46Number 7, Beyoncé.
24:48In a 2008 interview with Marie Claire UK,
24:51Beyoncé appeared to imply that some of the lyrics to her 2006 single Irreplaceable weren't actually aimed at Jay-Z.
24:57Don't you ever for a second get to thinkin'
25:03You're irreplaceable
25:07Prompted by an on-stage claim that Bey wrote the song for her ladies,
25:10Ne-Yo came forward saying he had written the lyrics himself, for himself.
25:15Ne-Yo went so far as to express regret for giving the song up,
25:18although he acknowledged it was better suited to a female artist.
25:21The singer also confirmed that Beyoncé rewrote the song's harmony and melody lines,
25:26and thus did, in fact, earn her songwriting credit.
25:29Just not for the lyrics.
25:30For her to take the song and make it hers,
25:32I didn't mind her saying,
25:33I wrote this for my girls at a concert, or whatever the case may be,
25:36because in a way, technically, in a way, she did.
25:39You know, she put her spin on it.
25:40If you're gonna do it the exact same way I did it, you might as well let me keep it.
25:43Number 6, Steven Ranazzisi.
25:45Given the profound tragedy of the September 11th attacks,
25:48it's certainly not a good idea to falsely claim to be a survivor.
25:52If only someone had told that to Steven Ranazzisi beforehand.
25:55Did you out yourself, or did somebody bust you?
25:58The Times.
25:59The New York Times, yeah.
26:00New York Times figured this out.
26:01Did you figure out how they figured out that you were lying about your experience during 9-11?
26:06Did you ever figure out how they busted you?
26:07No, no, I don't.
26:08The comedian and actor had previously described working as an account manager
26:11at Merrill Lynch in the South Tower on that fateful day.
26:14He claimed to have narrowly escaped the building shortly before the second plane hit,
26:19citing the experience as his motivation to move to Los Angeles to pursue an entertainment career.
26:24However, a New York Times investigation proved that it was all a bold-faced lie.
26:29Not only did Ranazzisi never work for Merrill Lynch,
26:32the company didn't even have offices in either tower at the time.
26:36I truly, in all of my heart, wish that I had that voice that I feel like I have now
26:42that said, hey man, take a breath, relax.
26:45People are gonna like you.
26:46People are gonna understand who you are when they get to know you.
26:49You don't need to lie about that.
26:50Take that back.
26:51Number 5, Milli Vanilli.
26:53They certainly can't blame this one on the rain.
27:00Milli Vanilli was hot in the late 80s,
27:03but soon after, their lip-syncing facade began to crack.
27:06Charles Shaw, one of the actual singers, came forward in 1989
27:11and revealed he was one of three vocalists who recorded the tracks.
27:14As the vocals were attributed to Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, things got messy fast.
27:20Morvan and Pilatus had to ultimately relinquish their Grammy,
27:23and lawsuits were sprung on them and Arista Records,
27:27citing consumer fraud protection laws.
27:29While Morvan recovered from the humiliation, Pilatus did not,
27:33as he grappled with substance use disorder until his death in 1998.
27:37But with us, it went from one day to the next.
27:41We lost the fame.
27:42We were pushed aside, suddenly.
27:45And you had to live with that.
27:46Number 4, Kim Kardashian.
27:48In 2007, when Kim Kardashian was only semi-famous,
27:52rumors emerged about a sex tape made by her and her ex, Ray J.
27:56Whatever we did in our private time was our private time,
28:00and never once did we think that it would get out.
28:02In an interview with Complex Magazine, she publicly denied that any sex tape was made.
28:08Even worse, she denied it to her then-boyfriend, Nick Cannon.
28:11When the tape finally did get leaked, Nick called it quits,
28:15saying it was mostly the deception that pushed him away.
28:17Despite claiming she wouldn't release a sex tape for any amount of money,
28:21Kim is reported to have settled for a $5 million payout from Vivid Entertainment,
28:26and has long battled armchair speculation that she herself was directly involved in the leak.
28:31You know there are people who say that you put it out yourself, you know that.
28:34Yeah, and, you know, I think why would anyone put that humiliation on their family like that?
28:42Number 3, Jussie Smollett.
28:44One of the most confounding celebrity lies ever told remains that involving actor Jussie Smollett.
28:50In January 2019, Smollett made headlines after claiming to have been the victim of a hate crime in Chicago.
28:56I was just jumped, and then I looked down and I see that there's a rope around my neck, which I hadn't...
29:01You hadn't noticed it before?
29:03No, because it was so fast, you know what I'm saying? It was so fast.
29:05How long did this all take?
29:07It felt like minutes, but it probably was like 30 seconds.
29:10Smollett alleged that he was attacked by two individuals who hurled homophobic and racial slurs,
29:15doused him with an unknown chemical substance, and placed a noose around his neck.
29:20The news sent shockwaves throughout the country, with many high-profile figures expressing their support.
29:25But as the Chicago PD investigated the incident, several inconsistencies in Smollett's story emerged.
29:31That was because it was all staged.
29:33Smollett was subsequently convicted of felony disorderly conduct for lying to the police,
29:38effectively derailing his career.
29:40This was planned. This was premeditated. Premeditated to the extreme.
29:45They idolized you, and they would have done anything for you, and you chose them because you knew that you could trust them,
29:50that they were loyal to you.
29:52Number 2, Brian Williams.
29:54In 2003, while on assignment in Iraq, Brian Williams was traveling on a military Chinook helicopter,
30:00when the chopper ahead was hit by RPG fire.
30:03On the ground, we learned the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky.
30:07That hole was made by a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG.
30:12Williams reported a story to this effect at the time.
30:15But as the years passed, the story morphed, until he was no longer a mere witness, but a victim of the attack.
30:22Williams chalked up the mistelling as a bungled attempt to thank a vet involved in the incident,
30:27an explanation that seemingly overlooked his past reimaginings of the event.
30:31I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire.
30:37I was instead in a following aircraft.
30:40The fallout was a six-month suspension from NBC Nightly News,
30:44and a serious blow to his professional reputation.
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31:03Number 1, Lance Armstrong.
31:06Cancer survivor and Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong always maintained that his legacy was drug-free.
31:11For seven straight years, he dominated arguably the hardest sporting event in the world.
31:16History in the making. Seven times a winner of the Tour de France.
31:19Around him grew an empire that included a powerful foundation dedicated to fighting cancer.
31:24But in 2012, after years of denying charges to the contrary, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency determined that was a lie.
31:32By October of that year, Armstrong had forfeited prizes and awards dating back to 1998.
31:38He was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles, and he was banned for life from Olympic sports.
31:44The IOC would later delete Armstrong's Olympic results and take back his bronze medal.
31:49I'd love to, we'd all love to go back in life and have a few do-overs.
31:53Um, never should have taken it on, especially knowing that most of what they said was true.
32:01Additionally, he was forced out of the foundation that once carried his name,
32:04lost multiple sponsorships, and even saw the episodes of Arthur he appeared in be banned.
32:09All due to this one massive, long-running lie.
32:13What other celebrity tales smell fishy to you? Let us know in the comments below.
32:17Your Honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this.
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