10 Celebrities Who Thrived Despite Major Scandals

Welcome to MsMojo, and today were exploring the stars who overcame potential career-ending controversies and ended up more famous than ever.

Kristen Stewart

Fresh off the Twilight Saga and in the middle of a co-stars-turned-lovers romance with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart was one of the most famous actors around in 2012. Starring as Snow White in the action-fantasy reboot Snow White and the Huntsman, Stewart was looking to break away from the role that made her famous. Instead, she found herself splashed across gossip sites. Once pictures of her and director Rupert Sanders hit, exposing their affair, the media scrutiny was constant and merciless. Stewart recovered, although she would later confess to it being one of the hardest times of her life. But her career grew, leading to bigger and better opportunities.

Natasha Lyonne

She went from child actor to burgeoning indie star, and then, a series of legal and health troubles began that overshadowed the first half of her career. The raspy-voiced Natasha Lyonne has been upfront about her substance use disorder and the complications it caused her personal and professional life. Throughout the 2000s, she made headlines less for her work and more for her public scandals. It took a few years, but now, shes more famous and booked than ever. In high demand after Orange Is the New Black, Lyonne has become a must-cast performer, fronting at least two critically acclaimed series since.

Winona Ryder

She exemplified Gen X coolness. Winona Ryder starred in some of the most iconic movies of the 80s and 90s, but her career was almost completely derailed by her arrest for shoplifting. In 2001, Ryder was apprehended for theft from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills. She was subsequently tried and sentenced to probation and community service, and had to pay thousands in fines. Unfortunately, her legal and health issues at the time made it difficult for productions to insure her, and her work slowed down significantly. Although she continued to work, her career did eventually pick up again. Since landing a regular role on Stranger Things, shes had a deserved career renaissance.

Ellen DeGeneres

Coming out of the closet isnt always the taboo it once was. But things were different in 1997 when Ellen DeGeneres came out both in real life and in character as the lead of her own sitcom. Her characters coming out episode garnered even more publicity than DeGeneres own. And the pushback was wild. Constant moral outrage ensued, and the sitcom was canceled just one season later. But a few years after that, Ellen would return with a highly successful talk show that would last nearly two decades. Unfortunately, there were more scandals to come, and that show would end in 2022 amid accusations of DeGeneres fostering a toxic work atmosphere.

Hugh Grant

For many Americans, he represented the charm and panache of the ideal British man. In 1995, Hugh Grant was in the middle of a major career upswing when he was arrested for lewd conduct. Caught with a sex worker named Divine Brown, Grant faced public humiliation and scandal that put a strain on his relationship with actress Elizabeth Hurley. His respectable screen persona took a hit as a result of the story, but his career picked up again after a three-year hiatus. He returned to romantic comedies and has since branched out into more villainous, dramatic roles.

Madonna

From the beginning, the queen of pop has been a lightning rod of moral outrage. Her risqué song, Like a Virgin, and its performance at the very first VMA Awards was just the starting gun for a career built on scandal. It was the first of many singles and music videos to be banned in several markets. Her 1992 coffee table book, Sex, features Madonna and others in various states of undress and provocative poses. Just like the artist herself, the book was explosive and incendiary, and became a brilliant example of working a scandal to your advantage. Its what she would spend most of her career doing.

Matthew Broderick

In 1987, the Ferris Bueller actor was driving with co-star and then-partner, Jennifer Grey, in Northern Ireland when they crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with another car. Broderick and Grey suffered several injuries. The two women in the other car were killed on impact. Though he faced prison time, ultimately Broderick was only fined. However, the lingering trauma of the accident was hard on him, Grey, and the family of the victims. The Dirty Dancing star took a step away from Hollywood in the years after. Broderick recovered, and his career didnt appear to suffer too badly. He has worked fairly consistently in Hollywood and on Broadway ever since.

Vanessa Williams

Crowned Miss America 1984, she was the first Black woman to hold the title. Within a year, nude photos of Vanessa Williams were published in Penthouse magazine without her consent. Pressured to cede the title to the contests runner-up, Williams entertainment career might have been over. But that was only the beginning. Just four years later, she became a successful recording artist and made a transition to acting. This early scandal became merely a blip on her public record. For the 2016 pageant, she returned to Miss America as a judge, where the organization offered a formal apology for her treatment.

Jane Fonda

Though she was the daughter of Hollywoods all-American leading man, Jane Fonda experienced a political awakening in the late 1960s. It led her on a crusade to lend her money, fame, and efforts toward the Civil Rights Movement and ending the Vietnam War. But one snapshot from her trip to North Vietnam caused an uproar in her home country. A photo of her sitting on a gun that would ostensibly be used to shoot down American planes sparked a flame of intense controversy. Although she does not regret her activism, Fonda deeply regrets sitting on the gun. The pejorative nickname Hanoi Jane sticks with many even today. Her career didnt suffer too much. She became one of the most legendary movie stars of the era.

Elizabeth Taylor

Modern entertainment journalism was almost born off the back of this classic Hollywood goddess and her eight marriages. Her fourth, to singer Eddie Fisher, was embroiled in scandal from the start. Their romance began in 1958, while Taylor was still in mourning over her third husband, and Fisher was married to Taylors friend and colleague Debbie Reynolds. The fallout was immediate. Ironically, it was during this marriage that Taylor enjoyed what is arguably her longest and most consistent run of successful movies. Scrutiny only followed her when she began an affair with Cleopatra co-star Richard Burton, giving way to a whole new era of invasive celebrity gossip and tabloid stories.

Whose post-scandal comeback did you follow in real time? Let us know in the comments.