These Celebrities Tried To Hide Their Family Secrets From The Public
Every family has ghosts, but when you're a celebrity, those secrets are on display for the entire world. It's hard to hide the dark parts of your past when you have super fans who know what you eat for breakfast and your grandma's blood type.
These celebrities tried their best to keep it all under wraps, but their biggest family secrets came out and now there's no turning back. From infidelity to not knowing your father is one of the biggest rock stars in the world, these celebrities have some seriously juicy family secrets.
The Woman Jack Nicholson Thought Was His Sister Was Really His Mom
When Nicholson's mother June became pregnant at 17, her parents decided to raise the child as their own. Nicholson grew up believing his mother was his sister. The worst part is, no one ever told him! He found out about it when a reporter for TIME broke the news.
Nicholson never even got to learn the identity of his father, because both his mother and grandmother had passed when he found out.
Mariah Carey's Older Sister Wants Her Help
Mariah Carey's older sister Alison has been nothing but a pain in her side. Alison has lived with a tragic situation of being both HIV positive and battling drug addiction for years. Alison is a former prostitute who claims she's asked Mimi for help and never received it.
Mariah completely disregards all questions about Alison. It seems like some truly bad blood.
Charlize Theron Watched Her Mom Shoot Her Dad
Seeing any death can be traumatic enough, but when Theron was only a teenager, she witnessed her mother shoot her alcoholic father in self-defense. No charges were laid, but the experience still left an emotional scar.
Theron rarely talks about the situation but has admitted that the traumatic experience has changed the way she plays certain roles.
Joaquin Phoenix Was Born Into A Cult
Joaquin was originally born in Puerto Rico with the name Joaquin Rafael Bottom. His parents were a part of The Children of God, which is a notorious cult that had more tha a hundred communities worldwide.
When Phoenix was only four, his parents fled the cult and moved to America.
Oddly Enough, So Was Rose McGowan
Yes, Rose McGowan was born into the same cult as Joaquin Phoenix, except in a different community. Rose's parents were heavily involved in The Children of God.
It was actually Rose who chose to flee the cult forever when she started to see women being mistreated and forced to act as servants to the men in the community.
Kevin Spacey's Father Was A Neo-Nazi
Kevin is now a disgraced actor thanks to the recent scandal that broke about his sexual abuse of a child actor, but his dad wasn't much better. Kevin's brother Randall revealed that their father was a member of the American Nazi Party and frequently abused his kids.
Kevin always kept quiet about the allegations.
Liv Tyler Didn't Know Steven Tyler Was Her Dad
Yes, we're talking about Steven Tyler from The Rolling Stones. Liv originally believed that musician Todd Rundgren was her father. When she was eight, she had a chance to meet with Steven Tyler and he pointed out their similarities.
Eventually, her mother Bebe confessed that Steven was the real father, and she kept it a secret because Steven had a heavy addiction during the relationship. Hey, two rockstar dads are better than one.
Both Of Sofia Vergara's Brothers Have Bad History
It seems Sofia is the only normal one in her family. One of her brothers was murdered in a botched kidnapping attempt when she was just a young girl living in Columbia.
The family moved to America after this, but her other remaining brother ended up struggling with addiction, which got him deported back to Columbia in 2011.
Richard Pryor Was Raised In A Brothel
The legendary actor and comedian had a rough life that included seven marriages and lighting himself on fire once. His rough life was thanks to a rough upbringing.
Pryor was born to his mother, Gertrude, who was a prostitute working in a brothel owned by his grandmother Marie.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Hated His Abusive Dad
Growing up in Austria with a former army serviceman for a dad wasn't easy, but the abuse that Gustav put on Arnold didn't help. Gustav apparently hated his son and believed he was gay because he had posters of male bodybuilders all over the walls.
Gustav would even deny Arnold was his biological son.
It Was Robert Downey Jr.'s Father That Kicked Off His Drug Addiction
Today, RDJ is clean and living life as one of the most popular actors in the world, but that comes after a lifetime of addiction. His struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction began when he was only 8-years-old thanks to his father.
RDJ actually said that drugs were the way he and his father bonded for most of his life.
LaToya Jackson Claimed Her Father Beat The Children
The Jackson family seems to hold a lot of secrets, but one was made very public. In 1991, LaToya claimed in her autobiography that her father Joe Jackson beat them all mercilessly. Everyone else in the family denounced the claim.
Years later, her family announced they thought it was LaToya's ex-husband, Jack Gordon, who made her lie and make the claims. To this day, no one knows if it was really a lie.
Jason Sudekis Learned On Live TV That His Grandfather Lived A Double Life
On an episode of Who Do You Think You Are, the actor was shocked to find out his grandfather had two separate families.
A 1920 census proved that he was living two entirely different lives and no one know about it. That would have been a shocker, especially on live TV.
Dylan McDermott Was The Key Witness For His Mother's Death
McDermott's mother died from a shot in the head when he was just five years old. The shooting was classified as accidental for 45 years until Dylan had the case reopened.
Once they began to reinvestigate, Dylan put the pieces together that his mom was murdered by her then-boyfriend, John Spoza.
Woody Harrelson's Father Was A Legitimate Assassin
Woody has played some pretty notorious characters over the years, but nothing was as dark as what his father did in real life. Charles Harrelson was a hitman who will go down in infamy as being the first to assassinate a federal judge in the 20th century.
You'd think this would make Woody want to cut all ties, but apparently, he regularly visited his dad in prison for years.
Jackie Chan's Family Ran The Streets In Communist China
Both of Jackie's parents have a secret and unforgivable past. His father, Charles, was a secret agent and had to flee Communist China in 1949. His mother, Lee-Lee, lived in extreme poverty and had to sell drugs to survive. The two actually met when Charles busted Lee-Lee for drugs.
It's no surprise why Jackie didn't like to talk about his parents' past.
RiRi Has Three Secret Siblings
At the peak of her stardom, Rihanna learned that her father was busy being quite the womanizer back in Barbados. He had become the father of not one, not two, but three other children, all with different mothers.
Rihanna has rekindled her relationship with her dad for the sake of her new siblings.
Tobey Maguire's Dad Was A Bank Robber
When Toby was young, the Maguire family had to adopt several of his cousins when his aunt passed away. The bigger family put a strain on them financially and his father saw no other way out than robbing a bank.
The robbery failed and he spent time in prison, but Toby doesn't hold a grudge against his father for trying to support the family.
Kathy Griffin Called Out Her Abusive Brother In A Book
In her autobiography, "My Life On The D-List," Griffin spoke up and accused her brother of being sexually abusive to her when she was a child. Many people felt sympathy for her until she also revealed she sat by and watched her brother physically abuse his wife.
Thankfully, her brother went to prison for his crimes and has since passed away.
Gavin Rossdale's Paternity Suit Was Heavily Publicized
Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale seemed like a super couple until a nasty split in 2015. It came to light that the family fell apart after Gavin Rossdale admitted to having multiple bisexual affairs and even fathering another daughter.
The paternity suit was everywhere in the news and Stefani's family was torn by it.
