Celebrities That Fell from Grace

Respond to this Friday Faithfuls challenge by writing anything about celebrities that became unpopular, who you think was the worst of them, or you could write about whatever else you think might fit.  In 1902, boxer Robert Fitzsimmons said “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” just before he was going to fight the much heavier James J. Jeffries, who was known as “The Boilermaker” and he outweighed Fitzsimmons by forty pounds.  This was a rematch and Bob Fitzsimmons nicknamed “Ruby” won the first bout in 1899.  Bob was 47 years old at the time of this match, being 13 years older than his rival.  In the eighth round, Fitzsimmons was knocked out by Jeffries by a left hook.  It is thought that the more important or powerful a person is, the more difficult it will be for them, when they lose their power or importance.  Benjamin Franklin pointed out the paradox of fame in America saying, “We crave attention, yet hate it when others crave attention.  Yet even though we may crave stardom, it’s difficult to mask the underlying truth to our being.” Celebrities seem to have it all, fame, fortune and fans, but when one of the esteemed elites, falls out of favor with the public, people can’t seem to stop gawking at their inappropriate behavior.  Most people enjoy a rags-to-riches story, but they seem even more fascinated when someone goes from the limelight to the gutter.  Any time a celebrity falls from grace, it makes normal people feel better about themselves.

76. J. Simpson died on Wednesday from cancer at the age of 76. O. J. was a beloved athlete and an adored movie star who was accused of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman and then he went on the lam in the Bronco. He was acquitted of the charges, but many people thought he killed his wife and this ruined his career.  At age 61, Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and other felonies and he served nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison.  Bill Cosby came off as a wholesome father figure before he started drugging women and molesting them.  In the 1960s, I listened to Bill Cosby records and I thought he was a very funny comedian.  Cosby shared a lead role on the TV series I, Spy and he was considered very funny with his The Fat Albert Show, and eventually he was highly successful with the 80s family sitcom The Cosby Show.  The information about his behavior of taking advantage of women that he drugged had been around for 20 years or more, but a lot of the evidence was swept under the rug back then and dismissed as the woman must have been looking for it, so the law took a very long time to catch up to him.

Hollywood has long been a place where people in power make sexual demands on others without power, and these lesser people needed to trade on their sexual and visual appeal to get ahead in the business or get what they wanted.  Harvey Weinstein didn’t invent the casting couch, but he surely made good use of it.  Before he became despised many people were quite happy to rub shoulders with him as long as they found him useful.  Hollywood has always been a magnet for people to exploit others and many of the people there were willing to let it happen.  The convicted child rapist, and serial pedophile Roman Polanski, had his membership card taken away and everyone want to go back to it being business as usual, because they felt that was enough punishment.  Kevin Spacey was an elite actor and he went from being a megastar to a pariah.  It is thought that the two-time Oscar winner will never work again.

81-year-old Phil Spector died in jail three years ago, and he went from being a famed music producer to a convicted murderer.  Spector was known for creating the ‘Wall of Sound,’ and he scored hits with the quintessential girl groups of the 60s, the Crystals and the Ronettes and he produced the Righteous Brothers ‘Unchained Melody’ and Ike and Tina Turner’s ‘River Deep-Mountain High’.  Spector was one of the most influential figures in popular music.  His de facto house band, known as “The Wrecking Crew” were some of the best musicians in the world.  The breakup of the Beatles in 1970 gave him a brief second life.  Spector was asked to finish the Let It Be album, and this led to him collaborating with John Lennon and George Harrison.  Spector thought that he had devils inside of him and he confessed that he was his own worst enemy and he felt that he was probably insane.

Michael Jackson became the biggest star in the world during the 1980s, but accusations of inappropriate behavior toward minors overpowered his music.  His unsettling story was dark and uncomfortable for people to hear because he was a person that was admired for years.  Michael Jackson was the prime example of someone who was not meant to have a normal life.  People around him realized that he had commercial value and they kept on exploiting that, so he was never able to learn what was acceptable.  He was a worst-case scenario of what fame can create.  Fame destroyed Michael by making him into somebody that was worshiped in order for the public to kill him.

Lou Pearlman was an American talent manager and scam artist.  He was the person behind many successful 1990s boy bands, having formed and funded the Backstreet Boys.  After their massive success, he then developed NSYNC.  At one point, boy band impresario Lou Pearlman was, arguably, the most powerful and influential music industry mogul since Berry Gordy.  Pearlman was accused of inappropriate behavior involving some of the members in his groups, exposing himself, showing them pornography, taking them to strip clubs, and giving them sensual massages and openly propositioned them.  In 2006, he was accused of running one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in United States history, leaving more than $300 million in debts.  He attempted to evade capture, but was apprehended in Bali, Indonesia in June 2007.  He pled guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during bankruptcy proceedings.  In 2008, Pearlman was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison, and he died in federal custody in 2016.