35 Times A Celebrity Disappeared From The Public Eye In A Strange Way

So many people dream of achieving riches and fame that it’s hard to imagine what could make someone walk away from that kind of wish fulfilment. Yet we’ve come to understand that the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side. Many celebrities have learned the hard way that money and popularity don’t guarantee happiness or the sense of a life well lived. According to one particular Reddit thread, some stars have stepped out of the spotlight for reasons ranging from family and religious callings to far more sinister motives—like escaping a stalker or even disappearing after being kidnapped. In response to Chrono_Convoy’s question, “Which celebrity had the most bizarre exit from the limelight?”, people shared all the sordid details. We’ve gathered some of the most fascinating stories of why these celebrities abandoned their superstar lives in the gallery below.

#1

Image source: BaguetteNinja, iamduffytv Duffy, the singer from Wales. Apparently she was abducted. Poor girl.

#2

Image source: ijustlovelipbalm, Jeremy Vine & Daytime on 5 Laurence Fox destroying his own career. Seemingly getting worse and worse every year. Especially as he is from acting royalty heritage.

#3

Image source: method__Dan, Saturday Night Live Rick Moranis. Made the decision to stop to be with family. Truly unique.

#4

Image source: zerbey, New Line Cinema Rip Torn. You probably know him as Zed from Men in Black but he was a well respected character actor. Then the weird incident happened with him breaking into a bank after a night of heavy drinking, catching multiple felonies. His explanation was he thought he lived there. His career pretty much ended after that, and sadly he died of Alzheimer's a few years later.

#5

Image source: MartinelliGold, Conan O'Brien Björk. Back in the nineties, she had a stalker named Ricardo López. He got angry when she started dating a black man, so he made an acid explosive (and filmed himself naked for 20+ hours while making it) then sent it to her in the mail. He painted himself red and green then ended himself in his apartment. Four days later his friends found him, saw what was on the tapes, and the police intercepted the package en-route. Björk kept making music, but she was so shaken by the incident that she stepped all the way out of public life.

#6

Image source: JerH1, King Creole trailer Dolores Hart. She was a actress in the late '50s and early '60s who played teen and young adult roles, most notable as the love interest in a couple of Elvis's movies and as one of the leads in Where The Boys Are. In 1963 she called off her engagement, sold all her possessions and joined a convent and became a nun.

#7

Image source: MidnightOrdinary896, London Records Brian Harvey from East 17 (pop band) gorged himself on 3 filled jacket potatoes at a cafe. On the way home he leaned out of the driver’s seat to vomit, fell out of the car and ran himself over.

#8

Image source: archaicsmile777 Linda Florentino. Men In Black actress. Became romantically involved with an FBI agent, Mark Rossini. Claiming she was researching for a role, she got him to access and give her files related to the felony case against a Holywood fixer, who she had been in a relationship with, which she then gave to his lawyers, intending to help him. She was apparently difficult to work with on set and it seems all if this basically got her blackballed from Hollywood.

#9

Image source: Malthus1, deezer Maybe “celebrity” is stretching it, but this is an odd one. One of the most promising young folk singers from my city of Toronto was Taylor Mitchell. She had been nominated as “young performer of the year”. She decided to drive out to the maritimes for a concert tour. She was an environmentalist and enjoyed nature walks, so with time off between concerts, she went for a walk in a provincial park. There she became the first person in Canadian history to be ended by coyotes: also the only known fatal coyote encounter of an adult anywhere. She passed at age 19. This was, needless to say, very unusual.

#10

Image source: HisRoyal_Badness Daniel Day Lewis quit acting to be a cobbler in Italy.

#11

Image source: Burgoonius, The Graham Norton Show Cuba Gooding Jr. he just kinda faded away. I don’t even know the last thing I saw him in, Snow Dogs? lol.

#12

Image source: PCTruffles, BBC News David Icke He used to be a sports presenter in the 80s in the UK. Then he started spouting about conspiracy theories on reptilian alien races and all kinds of weird stuff.

#13

Image source: pharmorjac, ABC News I didn’t see Jesse Smollet but faking your own beating for publicity is up there.

#14

Image source: discoguac Maybe not as bizarre but it always fascinates me how the Olsen twins managed to go from some of the most famous people in the world to private mythical beings. Good for them tho.

#15

Image source: dustinjh Angus T Jones. Made $20 Million from a sitcom as a kid, became a religious fanatic calling his own show demonic and satanic, then came back and withdrew those statements, but still pretty much disappeared from show business.

#16

Shelley Duvall disappearing from Hollywood for decades after being everywhere in the ’80s always felt abrupt and strange. Image source: Ok-Equal1581

#17

Mayim Bialik had a pretty sweet potentially lifelong gig as Jeopardy host and then almost immediately burned all her goodwill by dragging all of her controversial politics into the famously apolitical show. Now she's mostly hiding away on her YouTube channel where she can censor anyone who disagrees with her. One of the funniest things was how she was so bubbly and friendly to almost every contestant, but the moment she was dealing with somebody with an equal or higher education than hers she would suddenly become very cold. One time she had the audacity to imply to an anesthesiologist that she didn't think he was a real doctor. Image source: Regnes

#18

Image source: Snoo_79157, Billboard I think Sam Cooke deserves mentioning. The singer was found dead - shot I believe - outside of a cheap motel, wearing only a blazer and 1 shoe.

#19

Image source: celiacsunshine, NPR Music Cat Stevens. Became a strict Muslim in the late '70s and walked away from music and fame for literally decades.

#20

Image source: Lost_Taste_8181, Einyo Going WAY back here, but Peter Green.  Absolutely PHENOMENAL guitarist, was with the Yardbirds, John Mayall, and founder of Fleetwood Mac.  Early FM was a Brit-blues band and sounds nothing like their work with Buckingham and Nicks.  Once the band got successful, he wanted nothing to do with the money or celebrity.  He got to the point where he would refuse royalty checks.

#21

Image source: Baztion81, Discos Musart Honourable mention to Chalino Sanchez, Mexican singer who received a d*ath note from the cartel while on stage and carried on performing. He passed away shortly after the show.

#22

Image source: Trash_Panda-8888, TheEllenShow Amanda Bynes.

#23

Image source: GaidinBDJ, The Howard Stern Show Jewel. Going from Lilith Fair to MAGA was a swing. And then just the bonkers bad taste to do "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at a Trump Inauguration event.

#24

Image source: OMorain, Johnny B.Goode Bobby Fuller. Months after releasing the hit ‘I Fought the Law’, he was found, rigor mortis, parked in his car, with his lungs full of gasoline. His car hadn’t been there long.

#25

Image source: IrishLitFicGuy, ITV Michael Barrymore. Biggest tv star in the U.K. for a while and then they found a body in his pool….

#26

Image source: GeiCobra, PowerfulJRE All these comments and no one has mentioned Mel Gibson? It was nearly 20 years ago. This one is so fascinating to me for the simple fact that with the current political climate in America right now, if it had happened today, I dont believe it would have cost him his career and it would probably have been forgotten about in a week. Thats not me trying to excuse his behavior as much as it is my own opinion and rather an indictment on our culture for its ability to hold people to certain standards and demand some sort of accountability. Mel had well known issues with alcoholism. In 2006 he Gets pulled over for drunk driving and goes on a rant about jews and how they are responsible for wars and said some off handed remarks to the officers that pulled him over. This man had it all. He had a successful career as an actor and at the time of his arrest, he was peaking in his career. Braveheart won 5 oscars The Passion of the Christ (2004), directed by Mel Gibson, is the highest-grossing R-rated film domestically ($370.8M) and the highest-grossing religious/independent film globally ($612M+), shattering box office records with a $30M budget In 2006 he Directed Apocalypto. While it didn’t win any oscars, The film was shot entirely in the Yucatec Maya language and is still regarded by many fans as a masterpiece. Mel Gibson could write, he could act, he could direct and he could do it all very well. And then he was shunned.

#27

Image source: cadmachine, Movieclips Randy Quiad. I haven't closely followed the story but my dude was a really respected up and coming actor, had a bunch of success and was a household name after a few big movies then disappeared for a bit and then started a life of weird, probably unecessary crime, squatting in houses illegally, racking up thousands in hotel bills then bouncing on the bill. He then said Hollywood elites had been persecuting him for his political beliefs and said some absolutely crazy stuff. Hes been AWOL ever since I believe.

#28

Nobody's mentioned Sean Young yet. I really liked her in Blade Runner and think she had real promise in her career if she hadn't [been treated as] a stalker. Image source: Boring-Kangaroo-6222

#29

I mean she’s doing it now— Lana Del Rey. Marriage to some bizarre alligator tour guide in a sweaty trucker hat and in the middle of what appears to be a full blown breakdown. Running crying off stage to make out with this dude in the middle of a performance? Releasing a “country album” that’s MIA. Just announced that her husband is writing something on the next single…. “But she’s happy!” Say her fans! Is she though? Just really really strange. Image source: Zestyclose_Cold1455

#30

Image source: tangcameo, The Late Late Show with James Corden Zoe McLellan (dungeons and dragons, NCIS New Orleans, Designated Survivor) up and vanished in 2019 with her kid in the midst of a bitter custody dispute. Still missing.

#31

Image source: elwyn5150 John "Stumpy" Pepys, the Spinal Tap drummer that died from a bizarre gardening accident. And to a lesser extent, Jeff Porcaro, the drummer from Toto also died from a gardening problem.

#32

Image source: 3mta3jvq, Hit Parader magazine Syd Barrett. Disappeared due to bad LSD trips and when he turned up years later at Abbey Road where Pink Floyd was recording, they didn’t recognize him.

#33

Image source: RagnarokSleeps, Team Coco Russell Brand. Went from being Britain's most shaggable comedian, wrote a couple of books about his exploits & taking substances- My Booky Wook 1 & 2, wrote a fairly good book on recovery. Seemed to be fairly left wing, was involved in a campaign in the UK to help people keep their homes, went off to become enlightened & learn about philosophy, wrote a book about that & started a YouTube channel to bring his wisdom to the masses- don't get vaxxed & eat healthy, that sort of thing. Then the assault allegations surfaced & now of course he's an evangelical Christian that supports Maga. Somewhere in there he married Katy Perry & told her wanted a divorce over text just before she was due to perform. I think he actually has been charged, not sure what's happening there.

#34

Meg White, if she counts as a celebrity. White Stripes break up, she straight up peaced out. Never performed again, didn’t attend Rock n Roll HOF induction, just disappeared. Image source: Agile_Dragonfly_2559

#35

Image source: ontilein, PowerfulJRE Antonio brown, his fall from an elite nfl player to a complete mental case is quite the Story.