20. Demi hospitalised over ‘Party Drug’
Humiliated by the breakup of her six-year marriage to Ashton Kutcher, the year started badly for Demi Moore, when she was hospitalised in January following a severe reaction to inhaling a ‘party drug’ known as ‘whip-its’. The nitrous oxide-based drug caused the mum-of-three to begin convulsing in front of her eldest daughter, Rumer, with a friend’s emergency 911 call leaked on the internet. Said to have been “emotionally and physically exhausted” by her breakup with Ashton, the 50-year-old actress then checked into rehab, where her rep refused to reveal whether she was being treated for substance abuse or anorexia. Things worsened in October, when it was revealed she “couldn’t get over” news of Ashton dating Mila Kunis. While a fling with 26-yearold Vito Schnabel briefly put a smile on her face in November, things went south a couple of weeks back when the toyboy allegedly gave her the boot. Tough times.
19. Lindsay’s family drama
Lindsay Lohan spiralled further down the drain of fame when a leaked taped phone call with her father saw the actress accuse her mother of assault, taking Dh144,000 of her money and being “on cocaine”. The Lohan family feud continued when, just weeks later, Lindsay called the police on her father, Michael, after he attempted to stage an ‘intervention’ with the help of her manager and lawyers (and probably a few tipped-off paps). Then Lindsay, whose ‘comeback’ TV movie, Liz & Dick, was derided by critics, was dealt yet another blow when she was hit with four criminal charges on the same day following a brawl at a night club, which unearthed a string of previous offences relating to a car accident six months earlier. Last we heard the IRS was on her back and she was trying to flog her belongings at a vintage clothing store in LA.
18. Mallika and Antonio cosy up in Cannes
Bollywood and Hollywood tongues were set wagging during the Cannes Film Festival, after Mallika Sherawat and Antonio Banderas were spied dirty dancing and laughing together on Microsoft billionaire, Paul Allen’s yacht during the world-famous festival. The 52-year-old Black Gold actor and the 36-year-old Hisss star were outed by Mallika’s stylist pal, Ivan Bitton, who insisted that married Antonio was “very attracted” to the Bollywood beauty. Adding, “I could hear him telling her how beautiful she was.” Antonio, who has been married to actress Melanie Griffith for 15 years, sparked rumours the pair were heading for a split when the pics emerged of him dancing with Sherawat, causing the B-town star to take to Twitter to ask, “Really?!”
17. LeAnn Rimes’ random rehab retreat
Her affair with a married man, which destroyed both their marriages back in March 2009, might be seen by some as the action of a woman who thinks only of herself, but during her stint in rehab back in September LeAnn Rimes insisted her actions were that of a woman who “[has] always taken care of everyone else”. Checking into rehab just one day after her 30th birthday, the country singer revealed it was a time to “emotionally check out for a second and take care of myself”, after it was also revealed she was embroiled in a lawsuit with two women she claims have been cyber-bullying her on social networking sites. This month she found herself in another virtual quarrel – this time with Brandi Glanville, the ex wife of her hubby Eddie Cibrian – after she tweeted about her stepsons, describing them as “my boys”. Mama Glanville spat back, "Someone is trying to get under my skin by calling my children ‘her boys’ So transparent!"
16. SRK’s Cricket ban
Bollywood rallied behind their boy back in May, after Shah Rukh Khan was handed a five-year ban from Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, five years after a row with staff at an IPL cricket match. Karan Johar, Sameera Reddy and Celina Jaitley among others, all took to Twitter to blast officials at the match, after the 47-year-old legend was accused of hurling abuse at staff – and “reeking of alcohol” – after they reportedly tried to prevent him from walking onto the pitch, but the Ra.One actor, who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders, insisted he became angry after security “manhandled” children who were accompanying him. “They were extremely aggressive. Some of the things they said I don’t even want to repeat,” said Khan at an impromptu press conference outside his Mumbai home the following day. “And yes I got angry.” The late MCA president, Vilasrao Deshmukh, hit back, “The rules apply to all… No one is above them.”
15. Kim and Beyonce: NBF shocker
With one star at the very top of the AAA-list, and the other largely ridiculed for being a no-talent reality TV starlet, Beyonce is finally letting Kim Kardashian into her coveted inner circle. This shocked fans – and her superstar pals – around the world. Snapped together in Birmingham, UK, at Kanye West and Jay-Z’s Watch The Throne tour, insiders revealed that Kim had been trying for months to infiltrate B’s gang but up until her romance with Kanye there was no way in. Fortunately, some pleading from Kanye opened doors. “Kim wanted to travel everywhere with Kanye to do whatever she could to get close to Beyonce,” spilled an insider. “Kanye basically told Jay and Beyonce that Kim makes him happy, so they should be happy for him. They were fine because they love him.”
14. Shia Strips
Known for speaking his mind, Shia LaBeouf loosened his trousers along with his mouth by spending a good part of the end of the year naked! The 26-year-old shocked fans by stripping off and going full frontal in a video for hipster Icelandic band Sigur Rós’s track Fjögur Píanó – a video he also choreographed. But it was his admission that he will have actual sex in his upcoming flick, Nymphomaniac, that was blamed as the reason behind a very public and tearful fight with his girlfriend, Karolyn Pho, in an LA street. “I sent [director Lars Von Trier] videotapes of me and my girlfriend having sex and that’s how I got the job,” Shia told talkshow host, Chelsea Handler. “There’s a disclaimer at the top of the script that basically says we’re doing it for real. Everything that is illegal, we’ll shoot in blurred images. Other than that, everything is happening.”
13 Posh Spice returns
The look on her face in the other Spices’ Twitter pics said it all – Victoria Beckham clearly did not want to be there. But after pressure mounted for the Spice Girls to perform at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, VB was persuaded to don an LBD and lip-sync for what she declared will be the last-ever time she’ll ‘sing’ (erm, hooray!). Spotted standing apart from the two Mels, Geri and Emma in all the snaps, rumours swirled that the only way organisers could get Vic to join the others on stage was to include her clothes in a fashion show retrospective celebrating Britain’s best designers, and Mel C also revealed, “We have no plans to get together again.” But that turned out to be a big fat fib because earlier this month the gang reunited again at the curtain call at Viva Forever at The Piccadilly Theatre. It goes without saying that Posh looked sullen throughout, but props to her for showing up.
12. Bebo’s fat attack
Never one to hold back when it comes to voicing an opinion, Kareena Kapoor took aim at the current crop of curvy actresses – with insiders spilling she was hinting at Vidya Balan and Sonakshi Sinha – when she blasted the recent trend for curvaceous bodies back in September. Having herself seen her weight go up and down, the 32-year-old, who slimmed down again for Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine, hit out at the new curvier stars, slamming, “Being fat is not sexy! Anyone who says that is talking ****.” Adding, “Any woman who says she doesn’t want to be thin is talking nonsense.” Having admitted she was on a “strict diet” for Heroine, which involved twice daily workouts and a diet of salad, strawberries and olives, Bebo dissed the new shape, as epitomised by Balan in The Dirty Picture, insisting, “It may be a trend now with some actresses, but I definitely don’t want to look plump or fat.”
11. Johnny and Vanessa call it quits
After months of denials on both sides, the strain of their collapsing relationship finally proved too much for one of Hollywood’s favourite couples, as Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis announced their split in June after 14 years together. And pretty soon rumours started swirling linking 49-year-old Depp to his 26-yearold Rum Diary co-star, Amber Heard, as well as tales that Vanessa had never settled in LA and wished to return home to France. Despite having insisted, “The rumours are not true. They are absolutely not true. No matter what I say, people believe the opposite. I can’t say enough about it not being over,” a month before his publicist announced the split, Depp is said to have begun drifting away from Vanessa once they moved back to the States, and was frequently spotted out partying with pals including rocker Marilyn Manson. But Vanessa, who walked away with Dh540 million, half the couples’ fortune – didn’t appear to spend too much time licking her wounds, admitting of her next man, “Well, my type is obviously creative. Creative, with burning eyes and a pretty mouth.”
10. John Travolta – the shocking allegations
It was a year John Travolta will be glad to see the back of, after the actor faced down wave after wave of allegations that he had cheated on his wife, Kelly Preston, with a series of partners. Accused of sexually assaulting a masseur, a Dh7.2 million-lawsuit accused the 58-year-old star of inflicting “emotional distress”, which prompted another masseur to make similar claims in a different Dh7.2-million “sexual battery” suit. “Defendant started to apologise for his behaviour and tried to imply that ‘we must have gotten our signals crossed’ and that he thought the plaintiff ‘wanted the same thing he did’,” read the second accuser’s court documents. “Plaintiff explained he did not [sleep] with his clients. Defendant then tried to act like it was a simple misunderstanding.” Calling the initial lawsuit “complete fiction and fabrication”, Travolta’s heavyweight lawyer insisted, “Not one penny has been paid, nor do we have any intention to pay any money.” And the Grease actor’s troubles sparked rumours Nicole Kidman reached out to Travolta’s wife, Kelly Preston, with Star reporting, “Nicole is worried that Kelly is going to become dependent on alcohol again.”
9. The Jackson family meltdown
The gloves finally came off for the troubled Jackson family earlier this year when Michael’s daughter, Paris, went head-tohead with her once-favourite aunt, Janet, over the management of the late singer’s estate, access to her grandmother, Katherine, and the teen’s tweets to her followers. The fight is said to have been sparked by Jackson siblings Janet, Rebbie, Jermaine and Randy’s desire to contest Michael’s will. His estate – now valued at Dh3.6 billion! – was to be split three ways; 40 per cent for his three children, 40 per cent to Katherine and 20 per cent to charity, with nothing for the late star’s bothers and sisters. Janet was snapped snatching Paris’s mobile phone and reportedly calling her a “spoilt little *****”. And after the three kids were apparently denied access to their legal guardian, Katherine, for 11 days, Prince took to Twitter to declare, “I’m really angry and hurt” – with the trio later assigned a new co-guardian in the form of their older cousin, TJ. This lot put the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional.
8. Rihanna goes public with Chris Brown
Rumours have swirled for years that Rihanna has never stopped loving the man who brutally beat her back in 2009, and the Umbrella singer confirmed it in a shockingly frank interview with Oprah Winfrey in August. Telling the chat-show queen, “We love each other and we probably always will,” the Bajan star admitted that as soon as Brown’s restraining order was dropped in February 2011, the pair “maintained a very close friendship. I think he was the love of my life,” she added. “He was the first love and I see that he loved me the same way. I truly love him.” And defiant Rihanna soon stepped out with the singer, with the pair spotted smooching at a Jay-Z concert and in nightclubs across New York, after Brown dumped his model girlfriend, Karrueche Tran, insisting he didn’t “want to see her hurt over my friendship with Rihanna.” Nice of him...
7. Miley’s drastic makeover
Just weeks after she got that much-longed-for ring on her engagement finger, courtesy of boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, Miley Cyrus embarked on yet another shock tactic – one of the biggest makeovers Hollywood has ever seen. Lopping off, then dying her locks and partially shaving her head, the 20-year-old swapped her dresses and girly attire for slashed T-shirts, which covered little, super-short shorts teamed with chunky ‘bovver’ boots and ripped tights, in a clear bid to show the industry that she was no longer ‘little Hannah Montana’. And with her career in a rut after her movie, Lol, failed to find an audience at the box office – while Liam has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand stars – the actress and singer, who insists she’s “never felt more me” thanks to her new look, has also seen her actions compared to those of a pre-meltdown Britney Spears.
6 Jen gets her man
After Justin Theroux popped the question (on August 10, the same weekend Brad and Angelina’s mythical French wedding failed to materialise), Jen Aniston once more became a proud fiancée, seven years after her divorce from Brad Pitt. Having said in the past that she wants to start a family, insiders whispered that the 43-year-old actress had finally found a man who was “willing and able” to “play the [fame] game just as much as she does”. Despite having dated his previous girlfriend for 14 years without popping the question or having kids, Justin called himself the “happiest man in the world”. In addition to planning her dream wedding, the rumour mill is going into overdrive about whether Jen is expecting (for what seems like the millionth time). This time we think it might be the real deal.
5. Kate’s topless scandal
Kate Middleton was left devastated back in September when topless photos of her relaxing on holiday at a French chateau with William were published in magazines and hit the internet while she was in the middle of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour. Hot on the heels of Harry’s naked Vegas pics, a furious William allowed the Palace to voice one of its most strongly worded statements ever, condemning the publication of the pics as “reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales”. Kate was snapped on the balcony of the Château D’Autet in Provence – lent to the couple by the Queen’s nephew, Viscount Linley – with the pics published in Ireland, Italy and France, leading one defiant tabloid editor to insist, “The Duchess would be no different to any other celeb pics we would get in, for example Rihanna or Lady Gaga.”
4. Aishwarya’s post-baby weight war
As she slid into the back seat of a car in Mumbai in May, little did the 39-year-old Bollywood star know that she would spark an international weight debate, after she failed to drop her baby weight in super-fast celeb style following the November 2011 birth of her daughter, Aaradhya. The photo of Ash with a triple chin saw the star slammed as an “elephant”, and told it was her “duty” to whittle down to a size two ASAP. Refusing to acknowledge the furore, the first-time mum took the criticism in her stride, preferring to focus on her baby, telling reporters at Cannes, “[Motherhood] is wonderful. You ask the question and I beam. It’s splendid... It’s inexplicable. The joy, the bliss, is wonderful. A smile from my daughter and that’s it! She’s good. She’s great.”
3. Prince Harry’s naked scandal
They were the naked pics seen around the world (viewed by 40 million people and counting…) as the third in line to the throne was snapped clutching his own, ahem, crown jewels at a party in a hotel penthouse during a boys’ trip to party-capital Las Vegas back in August. The 28-year-old hit up America’s playground with his upperclass friends after carrying out his royal duties at the Olympics, and was spied partying with gold medallist Ryan Lochte in the pool at the MGM Grand, before his entourage “handpicked” a selection of girls to attend a private party in his suite at the plush and pricey Encore Wynn. “It was just crazy, he actually looked delirious,” beautician Carrie Reichert told The Mirror – adding that she spent 20 minutes alone kissing the “wasted” Prince. And jetting home to a stern talking to from his father, brother and grandmother, Harry found himself a public hero, gaining massive support online; and from female fans. Prince Legend!
2. Kristen cheats on Robert
Twilight fans went into meltdown back in July when photos of Kristen Stewart kissing and cuddling her married Snow White And The Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders, in a parked car were published, leaving her boyfriend-offour-years, Robert Pattinson heartbroken and humiliated. Issuing a public apology days later, Kristen declared, “This momentary indiscretion has jeopardised the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I’m so sorry.” The 22-year-old star was dealt a barrage of criticism as R-Patz fans dubbed her a “trampire”, and her married, 41-year-old lover was left trying desperately to save his marriage to British model Liberty Ross, with whom he has two children. And although Rob had previously insisted, “There’s this thing I’ve never got; why do people cheat? I’m not the casual affair kind of guy,” the besotted actor took Kristen back just a few weeks later, with a pal saying, “He never stopped loving her.”
1. Katie divorces Tom
The world experienced a collective jaw drop when Katie Holmes walked out on her five-year marriage to Tom Cruise back in June, and proceeded to win public favour and her freedom by playing an exquisite publicity game in a bid to save their daughter, Suri, from the clutches of Tom’s ‘cult’, Scientology. The 34-year-old actress “completely blindsided” Tom, who was filming his movie, Oblivion, in Iceland at the time, by switching her mobile phones, renting an apartment in the Big Apple he knew nothing about, swapping her Scientology security detail for new bodyguards and filing for divorce in New York – all in a bid to prevent the actor from enlisting Suri in a host of Scientology classes, courses and schools and all other manner of weirdness. “She stopped taking [Tom’s] calls two days before she filed for divorce,” spilled a source, with the actor later admitting he was “saddened” by the very public end of his marriage. Dubbed the “biggest nightmare” in Scientology’s rather chequered history, Katie kept her mouth shut about her private life with Tom, in exchange for a super-fast 10-day divorce, which saw her turn down alimony, in exchange for Dh1.4 million a year in child support for Suri. “Katie had to make some decisions regarding the battles she wanted to fight,” said a New York insider. “She clearly decided to forgo the money to win in other areas.”
