Seeing our fave actresses play heroic, wholesome characters on screen can make it hard to believe that they would do anything untoward in real life. Of course, there have been plenty of stars who have proven that just because you play a part doesn’t mean you’re anything like that when the camera stops rolling.
Amber Heard
Amber Heard was on her way to major success in Hollywood. She was a leading lady in one of the biggest DC movies of the past decade (Aquaman) and was set to appear in the 2023 follow-up. But the whole world knows what happened next. Heard went through a very public, high-profile legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp that brought up all sorts of facts the world wasn’t ready to hear (we won’t go into the poop incident). Ultimately, the bad publicity sank her career.
Allison Mack
Allison Mack went from being a fan favourite on one of the most popular superhero shows of the 2000s to somehow recruiting women as sex slaves for the NXIVM cult. The Smallville actress initially faced up to 17 years in prison, but she was able to get her sentence lowered to just three years by helping prosecutors strengthen their case against the cult’s leader, Keith Raniere. We think it’s safe to assume we won’t be seeing her at any future show reunions.
Amy Locane
You might remember Amy Locane from the cult hit Cry Baby, or maybe you know her unusual drunk-driving conviction story. The actress was involved in two car collisions in one night back in 2010, including one that ended the life of a passenger in the other vehicle. Locane served almost three years in prison for the incident, but was released on parole. Then, after five years of freedom, she was re-sentenced to another eight years in prison as a judge ruled that her first sentence was too lenient.
Felicity Huffman
Felicity Huffman was a household name thanks to her role as Lynette Scavo on Desperate Housewives. But in real life, Huffman became a ‘desperate mother’ ready to spend $15,000 USD to boost her daughter’s SAT scores when it came time for college admissions. In 2019, the actress was charged with conspiring to use bribes and fraud to get her child into a prestigious college. The actress ultimately only spent 11 days in prison.
Jen Shah
Jen Shah is only one of a few Real Housewives cast members who have found themselves in trouble with the law. That said, her offences certainly feel among the worst. The reality TV star and so-called ‘businesswoman’ was part of a telemarketing scheme that targeted the elderly for money. Shah is currently serving time at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan after being convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Lori Loughlin
Lori Loughlin was part of one of the most wholesome shows on Netflix (Fuller House) and also had an ongoing working relationship with the Hallmark Channel before a college admissions scandal tanked her career. Loughlin and her husband were accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as fake rowing-team recruits. The actress spent two months in prison for her crimes and is now also going through a messy divorce.
Michelle Rodriguez
Fast and Furious alum Michelle Rodriguez is apparently just as reckless on the road as her on-screen character. The actress has been charged with a number of speeding and traffic violations over the years, which include hit-and-run, driving with a suspended licence, and DUI charges. While some might learn from the experience, Rodriguez made matters worse by breaching her probation terms (yup, she drank while wearing her monitoring bracelet). She landed herself another 180-day jail sentence for the added shenanigans.
Patty Hearst
The story of Patty Hearst is quite a wild one. In fact, she only played the villain role for a short while. The actress (who also happened to star in Cry Baby alongside Amy Locane) was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). They were a group of armed radicals who wanted to start a guerrilla war against the US government back in the ’70s. Hearst must have suffered from Stockholm syndrome as she actually joined the SLA cause herself and even took part in one of their bank robberies. When Hearst was finally caught by the FBI, she was tried as part of the group and faced a seven-year sentence. However, she served only two years before being pardoned of the charges.
Shannon Richardson
While Shannon Richardson has racked up a string of minor roles on successful TV shows (think series like The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries), she’s probably best known for trying to frame her estranged husband for a crime that sounds like it could be from a Breaking Bad spinoff. Richardson cooked up her own ricin and laced letters to President Obama, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and gun control advocate Mark Glaze with the toxin. She went to the police to report her husband, but ended up being caught for the crimes in the process.
Zara Phythian
Zara Phythian was building what seemed to be a promising career in Hollywood. She was both a stuntwoman and an actress before she faced charges for child sex offences. Pythian and her husband Victor Marke were convicted of grooming and sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl for years. She was sentenced to eight years in prison.
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