16 Times The Press Was Wayyyy Too Invasive And Revealed Personal Secrets Celebs Didn't Even Know About Themselves
Celebrities often have to deal with their secrets or other details of their private lives being leaked to the press. Sometimes, however, the headlines reveal things they didn't even know about themselves.
Here are 16 times celebs found out secrets and news about themselves from the media:
1.When a Time magazine researcher called Jack Nicholson to fact-check a profile in 1974, he learned two things: His older sister June was actually his birth mother, and his bio dad was still alive.
After asking the magazine to leave those details out of the story, he called his aunt and uncle, who finally told him the truth.
He'd been raised by his grandmother because, when he was born, June was only 18 and his biological father was married to another woman.
2.In her memoir, Sorry Not Sorry, Naya Rivera said that she "learned that [she] was no longer getting married from the internet, and at the same time as the rest of the world" when her then-fiancé Big Sean's publicist released a breakup statement.
She wrote, "Not only were we no longer getting married, but apparently we weren’t even together anymore."
3.In 1998, Minnie Driver learned she was no longer in a relationship with her Good Will Hunting costar Matt Damon when he said he was single on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
For Minnie, seeing the tabloid coverage of their breakup was extremely difficult.
She later told Entertainment Tonight, "I don't care who you are, that is agony and it's like a strange, surreal dream. [...] It's funny now, when I think about walking down the magazine aisle in my local supermarket at midnight with my best friend, we were like, 'Are you seeing this? This is super weird.' My friend Alexandra was like, 'Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening, like, I feel like we're in a movie. I would totally watch this movie, even though I know you're super heartbroken, but this is really weird.'"
4.In 2011, Demi Moore found out that her then-husband, Ashton Kutcher, had cheated on her through a Google alert on her phone.
The notification alerted her to an interview that Sara Leal — the administrative assistant Ashton had an affair with — had done with US Weekly.
Demi immediately called Ashton, and he admitted it was true.
5.Kim Kardashian discovered that her sister Khloé's then-boyfriend, Tristan Thompson, had cheated and fathered a child with someone else when she read his statement regarding the situation online. She told Khloé right away — and the entire thing was captured on camera for The Kardashians.
On the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast, Khloé said that learning of Tristan's paternity scandal "with the rest of the world" was "the most offensive part."
6.Anthony Perkins, who famously played Norman Bates in Psycho, found out he was HIV positive from a story in the National Enquirer. His wife, Berry Berenson, believed that when he was being treated for a facial palsy, a hospital worker gave him a blood test without consent, then leaked the results.
After reading the headline, he decided to get tested, and the results confirmed the story.
7.Britney Spears learned that her then-16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn, was having a baby when she announced her pregnancy on the cover of OK! magazine in 2007.
In her memoir, Things I Should Have Said, Jamie Lynn wrote, "My team believed everyone outside of the inner circle was a potential threat. They went so far as hiding my pregnancy from my sister, claiming, 'It's too risky to tell Britney about the baby.' I needed [Britney] more than ever, and she wasn't able to help me in my most vulnerable time."
8.In 2011, Steve-O learned that Ryan Dunn, his friend and Jackass costar, had died when TMZ called him asking for a comment at 5 a.m.
He later told Graham Bensinger, "I mean, I can't fault that person because they had my number. It was their job ... I'm not mad at them, you know, for that, but I was at the time."
9.When Natasha Gregson Wagner was 11, she learned of her mother Natalie Wood's death on the radio at a friend's house while having a sleepover.
For decades after, her family was plagued by outside speculation about what happened the night her mother died. In 2020, Natasha released a documentary to share her side of the story.
She told OprahMag.com, "I feel that the night my mom died was an accident. And so I hope that that kind of media speculation ends with this documentary. The tragedy is that my sister and I lost our mom, and my dad lost his wife, and the world lost their beloved actress. That's the tragedy."
10.After reportedly catching her then-fiancé, Paul McCartney, in bed with another woman, actor and journalist Jane Asher ended their five-year relationship live on the talk show Dee Time. Paul wasn't aware he was getting dumped until she said, "I haven't broken it off, but it's finished."
She continued, "I know it sounds corny, but we still see each other and love each other, but it hasn't worked out. Perhaps we'll be childhood sweethearts and meet again and get married when we're about 70."
11.In 2019, Liam Hemsworth reportedly found out that his then-wife, Miley Cyrus, was leaving him through social media after her team released a statement about their split.
The statement said, "Liam and Miley have agreed to separate at this time. Ever-evolving, changing as partners and individuals, they have decided this is what's best while they both focus on themselves and careers. They still remain dedicated parents to all of their animals they share while lovingly taking this time apart. Please respect their process and privacy."
A few days later, Liam responded with his own statement on Instagram, writing, "Just a quick note to say that Miley and I have recently separated, and I wish her nothing but health and happiness going forward. This is a private matter, and I have not made, nor will I be making, any comments to any journalists or media outlets. Any reported quotes attributed to me are false."
12.Similarly, in 2011, Kris Humphries reportedly didn't know that Kim Kardashian was filing for divorce until the day the story broke.
In a statement to E! News, he said, "I love my wife and am devastated to learn she filed for divorce. I'm committed to this marriage and everything this covenant represents. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it work."
13.Ed O'Neill didn't know that Married... With Children — which he starred on — had been canceled until a newlywed couple he met at a bed-and-breakfast in his hometown told him they heard the news "all over the radio."
He told the couple he'd rather hear it from them.
On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I took them in, got them a bottle of champagne. That's how that went down. ... When [the network] called me ... it was like six weeks later: 'Someone dropped the ball, Ed, on this.' I said, 'I have a question for you guys. Eleven years we kept you in the black. No gifts for the cast?'"
14.Jared Padalecki found out that his Supernatural costar Jensen Ackles was working on a prequel series, The Winchesters, from a Deadline article that Jensen shared on Twitter.
Quoting Jensen's post, Jared added, "Dude. Happy for you. Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever."
15.After radio silence from Marvel following his screen tests as Spider-Man, Tom Holland assumed he didn't get the role. However, after seeing that Marvel had posted a picture of cartoon Spider-Man on Instagram, he got on his laptop and googled "Marvel," then he read the announcement: "We would like to introduce our new Spider-Man, Tom Holland."
He told Variety, "I broke my computer because I flipped it up in the air. It fell off my bed; my dog went nuts. I ran downstairs. I was telling my family, 'I got the part! I got the part!' And obviously, that was right about the time when Sony had got hacked, so my brother, Harry, who's quite tech savvy, was like, 'No. There's no way that's real. They would have called you. They've been hacked.' And then the studio called me and gave me the news. It was so bizarre how it happened."
16.And finally, in 1950, Lucille Ball reportedly began to experience nausea, but she initially linked it to anxiety following a hotel room robbery. However, after a few weeks, she signed in to the hospital for a pregnancy test under a fake name because radio host Walter Winchell told her "that he had spies in every big medical center in New York who provided him with inside tips about celebrities." Despite her precautions, Walter still got ahold of the results before she did, and she heard her own pregnancy announcement on the radio.
In her autobiography, Love, Lucy, Lucille wrote, "Desi was fast asleep, and I was knitting, listening to the radio. Walter Winchell came on the air and announced, 'After ten childless years of marriage, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are infanticipating.' I dropped my knitting, ran into Desi's dressing room, and woke him up. 'We're going to have a baby!'"
