25 Hollywood Secrets and Scandals

Jack Nicholson found out in his adult life that his sister, June, was actually his mother. June became pregnant at a very young age and her parents agreed to raise Nicholson as their son. Time magazine uncovered the secret while looking into the actor's background in 1974. 

In November 1981, while off the coast of Catalina Island with husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood drowned. In 2012, Wood's cause of death was changed from "accidental drowning" to "drowning and other undetermined factors." 

In February 2018, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department named Wagner as a person of interest in Wood's death because he was the last person with her before she was found. Wagner has denied involvement in Wood's death, and wrote about the tragedy in his 2009 memoir. 

In 2012, Vanity Fair reported that in 2004, leaders in the Church of Scientology began a project to "find" Cruise a girlfriend through an intense audition process. The church has denied the claims. 

"There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the church to find a bride [via audition or otherwise] for any member of the church. Never," the Church of Scientology said in a statement. 

In 1987, while on vacation in Ireland with "Dirty Dancing" star Jennifer Grey (not pictured), a car driven by Broderick collided head-on with a Volvo. Broderick and Grey survived, but the two passengers in the other vehicle died. Broderick was faced with serving up to 10 years in prison for causing "death by dangerous driving." However, the actor was later fined just $175 and convicted of the lesser charge of "careless driving."

Broderick has said that he remains haunted by the accident.

Meester's mother was serving time in a Texas federal prison while pregnant with Meester. The "Gossip Girl" star was born in a hospital and then sent to live with her grandmother until her mother's release.

"My family has a crazy history," Meester told Marie Claire in 2012. "Probably the craziest I've heard of."

The Kardashian "momager" detailed her affair with animator Todd Waterman in her 2011 memoir.

Barrymore opened up to People magazine in 1989 about her struggle with drugs and alcohol at a very young age. 

"When I was 10 and a half, I was sitting in a room with a group of young adults who were smoking pot. I wanted to try some, and they said, 'Sure. Isn’t it cute? A little girl getting stoned,'" she said. 

Madison said she was unhappy living at the Playboy Mansion in her book, "Down the Rabbit Hole." She said she had to follow restrictive house rules (like a 9 p.m. curfew) and partake in strange bedtime sex rituals.

“There were days I woke up and just felt like falling to the floor because I felt so depressed," she wrote in her memoir.

Despite her squeaky clean image solidified by shows like "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," Hart wrote about how she experimented with drugs and partied hard in her memoir, "Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life."

Malik wrote in his 2016 autobiography that he battled an eating disorder as a member of One Direction. 

"I'd just go for days — sometimes two or three days straight — without eating anything at all. It got quite serious, although at the time I didn't recognize it for what it was," he wrote. 

While a guest on Howard Stern, Richards said that she'd once had a lesbian fling with a fellow actress. She refused to name names but told Stern that he would know who she was.

Lady Gaga said she sank every last dollar into building a stage for her Monster Ball tour. 

"I had $3 million in the bank to my name and I threw it all in to make my stage," the 27-year-old said in a clip for the EPIX documentary, "Who the F--k is Arthur Fogel?"

"So I was bankrupt during the show," she said. She didn't specify if she was legally bankrupt or simply cash-strapped. 

Radcliffe explained that he never drank on set, but his alcohol addiction became so intense that it affected his work and at times, he'd show up still drunk.

"I can honestly say I never drank at work on 'Harry Potter.' I went into work still drunk, but I never drank at work. I can point to many scenes where I'm just gone. Dead behind the eyes," he said in a 2012 interview with The Telegraph. He shared a similar story with the Daily Mail in 2014. 

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards told British music magazine NME. 

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," Richards continued. "It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

There are some strange Hollywood hook-ups out there, but Cher and Tom Cruise may take the cake.

While a guest on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" in 2013, Cher told host Andy Cohen that Cruise was in her top five best lovers, back in the '80s. She's also mentioned dating Cruise on "Oprah" and on "Good Morning America."

In an interview with Time, Kesha said that she scored a 1500 out of 1600 on the standardized test.

When Walken was 16, he spent a summer working for a circus as part of a theatrical bit where he was the lion tamer's son, he told Vanity Fair in 2012. So while he didn't actually tame the lions, he certainly got up close and personal with them.

Elvis' hair stylist, Larry Geller, told Yahoo! that the musical legend was actually a natural sandy blond.

R&B singer Brandy was involved in a fatal accident in Los Angeles when she rear-ended the car in front of her, resulting in the death of a 38-year-old woman. She claimed that another driver was at fault, and she had swerved to avoid another collision.  A subsequent investigation cleared Norwood of criminal charges.

"Being involved in something that tragic... I couldn’t believe it," Brandy told Oprah in 2014. "I don’t think that’s something I could ever get over or ever truly understand, but that was one of the worst times in my life."

Before she was the domestic goddess that we now know and love, Martha Stewart was a fashion model at 15 and continued modeling through college.

The Oscar-nominated actor's father was a contracted killer who died in prison in 2007, Harrelson told The Guardian in 2012.

Phoenix was born and raised in the Children of God religion before his parents made the decision to leave.

The host of "Inside the Actor's Studio" said he got involved in the prostitution business in Paris in the 1950s. 

“I did a roaring business, and I was able to live for a year... I was going through my rites of passage, no question about it. It was a great year of my life,” he told Vanity Fair in 2013.

But on "Today" in 2013, Lipton clarified that he didn't consider himself a pimp. 

"A 'pimp' is an American word," he said. He said, he was a "mec."

"A pimp exploits and often abuses his women. And it's just the reverse with a 'mec.' A 'mec' works for his women," he said. 

Renner once told Elle magazine that before he was in front of the camera in "The Hurt Locker" and "The Avengers" franchise, he worked as a makeup artist early in his career.

Before he was an A-list movie star, Tatum worked as an exotic dancer in Florida. Tatum told GQ, “I had wanted to tell people. I’m not ashamed of it." Tatum went on to produce and star in "Magic Mike," which was inspired by his past.