These days, humiliating or harmful videos are often the first step in a
celebrity controversy. Famous individuals are frequently caught on tape engaging in questionable behavior by ubiquitous surveillance and mobile phone cameras. Celebrities must long for the simpler times when they weren't always followed by photographers or filmed covertly by fans.
Unfortunately, we now reside in a digital era. Stars can never be sure they aren't being videotaped, even in private settings. A video of pop diva Ariana Grande eating donuts at a donut shop went viral, but Grande is far from the first celebrity to have done something bizarre (and we do mean bizarre) while being filmed.
1. Winona Ryder
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Winona Ryder, star of such films as "Reality Bites" and "Edward Scissorhands," was caught on video in 2001 stealing more than $5,000 worth of goods from the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue. Ryder was found guilty despite her defense that she was doing research for a part.
2. Jay-Z
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In 2014, security footage in an elevator recorded Solange Knowles violently beating her brother-in-law,
Jay-Z, in an elevator at the Standard Hotel in New York City. Although they never explained what led to the argument, Solange has reassured followers that everything is OK at home.
Beyoncé, her older sister, made a sly allusion to the incident in a rework of her song "Flawless."
3. Ariana Grande
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Ariana Grande and her boyfriend Ricky Alvarez were in Lake Elsinore, California, when they decided to play a game of truth or dare, in which they challenged one other to lick doughnuts (after a full make-out session). The star was caught on film, and the repercussions haven't been kind to her.
4. Reese Witherspoon
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An Atlanta police officer pulled over Reese Witherspoon and her husband, Jim Toth, on suspicion of DUI. Body camera footage shows Witherspoon acting aggressively toward the officer. She tried to play the celebrity card, shouting, "I'm an American citizen!" but to no avail. Both were taken into custody, and Witherspoon expressed "great embarrassment" in her subsequent public apology.
5. Kate Moss
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Kate Moss, the supermodel, had appeared on several magazine covers before 2005. Still, the images of her sniffing cocaine that appeared on the front page of a London newspaper were something else entirely. Hidden cameras in the music studio where Moss's husband, Pete Doherty, was working provided the images. As a result of the pixelated footage, several major fashion houses dropped her from their advertisements, including Chanel, Burberry, and H&M.
6. David Hasselhoff'
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David Hasselhoff's daughter released a video showing her drunken father stumbling about the house and eating a cheeseburger off the floor in 2007. Originally, the audio was not supposed to be heard by the public, but after it caused a stir, the former Baywatch star admitted his addiction and battle.
7. Miley Cyrus
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The guests at Miley Cyrus's 18th birthday bash reportedly lit up bongs full of Salvia, a legal and naturally hallucinogenic weed. Disbelief and fury spread after a friend's video was released. Of course, this was 2010, when Cyrus was more linked with her squeaky clean
Disney image, back before she started smoking joints onstage. Longing for the simpler days of yesteryear.
8. Jamie Lynn Spears
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Surveillance footage from a pita restaurant in Hammond, Louisiana, in 2015 captured Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's sister, using a knife to stop a brawl. The knife was seven inches long. After seeing the video, we all learned to never get into a fight with one of the Spears sisters.