An arrest can ruin a star's life, but it can also add to its legend. His crime will test the moral criteria of his fans and the seconds before the flash will test his photogenicity. David Bowie came out in his sexier than any other human being with all possible filters. Justin Bieber irritated the whole planet when he posed smiling and then assured with an Instagram hashtag that, although he was glad he had been arrested with great hair, "# LaCárcelNoEsUnSitioGuay". And these twelve celebrities watched as their mugshot went around the world and was forever attached to their history. Everyone left that station more stars than they entered.
Jane Fonda (1970)
What was he accused of? From drug dealing. On his way back from a talk against the Vietnam War in Canada, the police found several pills in his suitcase. Despite insisting that they were vitamins, the actress and activist was arrested because President Nixon had set out to ruin her reputation. Spoiler : failed.
Why your photo is iconic. A raised fist, a challenging expression, and a haircut that every American barber shop would imitate until it became popular as "bad girl bangs." "At that time, women should only appear in public wearing makeup, respectably dressed, and with a girdle and suddenly that police photo seemed to say 'you can be different from what society has told you to be," analyzes the professor of Studies at the Kirsten Swinth woman.
What was the sentence. None, because they were indeed vitamins. Far from sinking her image, the arrest immortalized Fonda as a fighting, implacable and rebellious woman. The following year she won the Oscar for Klute (where she had the same hairstyle, which would define the feminine aesthetics of the 70s until Farrah Fawcett arrived) and today the actress sells merchandise with the photography through her official website: t-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs whose benefits go to an association of marginal adolescents.
Nick Nolte (2002)
What was he accused of? Of driving under the influence of substances. A traffic officer stopped him for going down the opposite lane doing eses and discovered that the actor was drooling at the wheel. Nolte would confess after taking GHB, an euphoria-causing drug that had been outlawed only two years earlier. He himself said that he had been taking it for four years to perform better in his workouts at the gym. That day, realizing that he had missed the dose, he chose to attend a meeting of anonymous addicts, but when he parked, he was not in a position to interact with people, so he returned home. It was then that they arrested him.
Why your photo is iconic. Driving under the influence is by far the most frequent crime among Hollywood stars. And in fact, Nolte had a more bizarre history in his background: in 1965, at the age of 24, he sold falsified documents and sentenced him to 45 years in prison; the sentence was suspended but prevented him from fighting in Vietnam and he has had the trauma of not feeling like a complete man since then. But his arrest in 2002 caused a sensation on social media because of the prisoner's picture, which he himself described as follows: “I was named the sexiest man in 1992 by People, but ten years later I reappeared as a psychopath: wild hair, the disturbing expression and that aspect of being a patient of a madhouse who has gone out to smoke a cigarette ”. The story of the portrait is, in fact, an act of generosity: a policeman asked him to take a photo and Nolte agreed, but only if the agent promised to share the money he earned by selling it with the rest of his colleagues at the police station.
What was the sentence. Undergoing rehabilitation treatment, which Nolte was delighted to accept because, although he had previously had addictions (to alcohol, cocaine and hallucinogens), he understood that GHB should not be taken lightly. This drug can have a paralyzing effect that makes it a regular narcotic in sexual assaults, so Nolte felt the need to clarify that "I took it for four years and I was never raped." A couple of years ago the actor appeared in the same flower shirt that he wore on the day of his arrest. How many people can say that they have an item of clothing that is pop culture history?
Michael Jackson (2003)
What was he accused of? Of sexual abuse towards a minor. As the second lawsuit for this crime (in 1993, it had reached an out of court settlement), this time Jackson could not avoid going to trial.
Why your photo is iconic. In his last album released in life, Unbreakable (2001), Jackson's appearance was retouched in the photos and hidden with light tricks, hats and makeup in the video clips. In his public appearances he hid behind masks, wigs, and sunglasses. But there was nowhere to hide on his mugshot: His face went around the world with a vulnerable expression of terror that only added sordidness to an already creepy case.
What was the sentence. A popular jury found him not guilty. Several witnesses who had slept with Jackson (Macaulay Culkin, Wade Robson) claimed not to have suffered any type of touching. The mother of Gavin Arvizo, the 13-year-old boy for whose alleged abuse the singer was being tried, was irritable in his testimony by snapping his fingers at the jury, unable to explain why the Arvizo had remained in Neverland, and was prosecuted. for fraud. The scales turned to Michael Jackson's innocence, but last year the documentary Leaving Neverland refloated the allegations. Wade Robson himself assured that he had been the victim of sexual abuse by the singer.
Frank Sinatra (1938)
What was he accused of? Of seduction. At that time it was considered a crime against morals and Sinatra, who was 22 years old, was arrested because “on November 2 and 9 he had sexual intercourse, under promise of marriage, with the complainant, who until then was a woman single and reputable. "
Why your photo is iconic. Because Sinatra not only seduced that “single and reputable woman”, she also seduced the camera. A decade before captivating all of America with his voice and charm, he already exhibited a supernatural photogenic: he posed as a glamorous beau whose eyes almost seemed even bluer in black and white than in color. And crime could not stick more with his image of dandy scoundrel. Everything that would make Sinatra a myth, except his voice, was already on that mugshot.
What was the sentence. A fine of 1,500 dollars (in exchange, about 2,4000 current euros). But in a twist of the script worthy of a noir of the time, weeks later it was revealed that the complainant was married, with such bad luck that this was also a crime, so Sinatra was accused of adultery and his fine was reduced by a third. The charges were eventually dismissed, but Sinatra's seduction had only just begun.
Jeremy Meeks (2014)
What was he accused of? It is an inverse case to the rest: an anonymous guy who became famous thanks to his police photo. Meeks was arrested, along with his criminal gang, for possession of weapons and grand theft.
Why your photo is iconic. When the Stockton (California) police Facebook page published it, it received 100,000 likes and the internet fell in love with those exotic features, those bad boy tattoos, and that life outside the law. Meeks became popular with the nickname "massive criminal". The Internet has created new formats for fame, called post-celebrity, and the history of Meeks (with his genetic lottery added to his story of overcoming and the desire to joke that is always on social networks) is the best example of this. While in prison in 2015, he received 300 fan letters a day, some with money.
What was the sentence. Such was the fury that Meeks aroused that the judge reduced his sentence from 63 months to 27 so that he could take advantage of his popularity and reintegrate into society. And boy did he. When Meeks left, he reintegrated in New York fashion week, in Vogue and in campaigns by Tommy Hilfiger, Phillipp Plein or Carolina Lemke. Meeks has recounted his troubled childhood, with a mother addicted to crack (he is one of the "crack babies" who were born addicted because of the consumption epidemic that devastated the poorest neighborhoods in the United States in the 1980s) and a father who brutally murdered his wife's best friend for not telling her where he was hiding with little Jeremy. At age 15, he entered a correctional facility, was shot five times and beaten with a bat on the way out. Today she lives with Chloe Green, the heir to the Top Shop empire, with whom she has a two-year-old son. In 2019 Meeks signed a collaboration agreement with the German company Fashion Concept GmbH that reported 13.6 million euros. Cinderella would like it.
Robert Downey Jr (1999)
What was he accused of? Of skipping his probation by not showing up for his periodic narcotic test. Three years earlier, Downey Jr, called to be one of the best actors of his generation, had been arrested driving while driving what he would later describe as “the best cocaine he had tried since I messed with my father and Jack Nicholson” . He also had heroin and a revolver in the car. A month later he starred in a version of Goldilocks when he got the wrong house, got into that of some neighbors and went to sleep in the son's bed. The press published the call of the owner of the house, in which the snoring of Downey Jr was heard in the background. This crime sentenced him to probation on parole which was skipped in 1999.
Why your photo is iconic. For the smile. Some media and part of the public took their spiral of self-destruction as gruesome entertainment and that mugshot made it clear that Downey Jr himself saw it as well.
What was the sentence. The actor did not smile as much when the judge sentenced him to three years. Downey Jr begged him not to send him to jail, but there he spent almost a year renamed “inmate P50522”. The Hollywood star was scraping pizza trays for 8 cents an hour and, although he has assured that he will never count the worst things that happened to him in there, it is known that his face needed cosmetic surgery after a beating. Upon leaving he signed for Ally McBeal , whose audience increased 11%, but was arrested again after using cocaine huddled in an alley. The actor pleaded with the agents not to arrest him because they were going to ruin his life, but when he left he rehabilitated himself, rebuilt his career and thanks to Marvel he ended up being the highest paid actor in the world. These things only happen in Hollywood movies and sometimes in Hollywood alleys too.
Mick Jagger (1967)
What was he accused of? Following an anonymous phone call, the police raided the home of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. There they found eight men and a woman using cannabis and, upon searching Jagger, they arrested him for possession of methamphetamines he had bought in Italy.
Why your photo is iconic. Because nobody has posed with more style in front of a camera, police or not. Jagger's various encounters with the law for drug possession and use fueled his image as an icon of the counterculture, freedom and rebellion against the system of the 1960s and 1970s.
What was the sentence. Three months in prison. The sentence sparked controversy in the press, which accused the judge of raging Jagger for being a public figure to intimidate young hippies. Even conservative William Rees-Mogg wrote an editorial in The Times criticizing the harshness of the sentence. Upon appeal, all charges were dropped, so Jagger only had to spend one night in jail. It sure came out the next morning it came out looking great.
Paris Hilton (2010)
What was he accused of? Drug possession. A Las Vegas police officer stopped the car in which Hilton and her then-boyfriend, Cy Waits, were driving because the windows gave off a marijuana smell. When people walked them to their hotel, Hilton grabbed her purse for a lip gloss and when she opened it, a bag of 0.8 grams of cocaine fell out. His reaction was to ensure that the bag was not his, because it was from a commercial brand that did not meet his standards, but he finally admitted that the drug was for his own consumption and, after taking a statement from him at the police station, tweeted at three o'clock the morning that he was safe at home watching Father of family .
Why your photo is iconic. Because Hilton was able to pose with the perfect angle, giving her good side to the camera (the right) and lowering her chin so that the lighting favored her features as if it were a selfie . The mischievous half smile made Hilton appear to be on a red carpet rather than a police station, because to her the whole world is a red carpet. The photo created a school and, when the also socialite Khloé Kardashian was arrested for drunk driving in 2007, she posed with a similar expression and with the same selfie angle. Despite being sentenced to 30 days in prison, Kardashian walked out the door the same day she entered because she had been overbooked in prison. The adventure was the central plot of a chapter of his family's reality show , Keeping Up with the Kardashians .
What was the sentence. One year of probation, 200 hours of community service and a fine of 1,700 euros, thanks to the fact that he pleaded guilty to avoiding going to jail a second time. In 2007 Hilton had already spent 23 days in prison (of the 45 to which she was sentenced) for driving with a suspended license. (A judge had forbidden her to drive after being arrested going to a hamburger restaurant in a drunken state, despite the fact that she justified herself explaining that she had taken a margarita on an empty stomach and was precisely going to dinner to recover). The images of Paris Hilton, who had tried to testify by video conference, being forced to go to court tearfully went around the world. The same thing happened with her reaction when she was sentenced to 45 days in prison: she screamed “it's not fair! mother!". Since that new setback in 2010, Hilton has had no problems with justice.
Shia LaBeouf (2014)
What was he accused of? The Transformers star has a hard time leaving the sites. In 2007 he drunk entered a Wallgreens (one of those pharmaceutical franchises in which Americans buy drugs by the kilogram) and refused to leave when the police arrived. In 2017, he started screaming at a bar in Savannah, Georgia, because nobody gave him a cigarette and he also resisted leaving when asked. In the case of this police photo, the arrest was due to the fact that he went to see Cabaret in New York, starring Michelle Williams, and lit a cigar during the first act. Next, she paced through the seating, put a strawberry in her mouth, and gave the usher a tip. When they caught his attention, he started to shout at the actors. As they pulled him out of the theater in handcuffs, LaBeouf spat at the officers and yelled at them, "Fuck you, this is fucking bullshit, do you know anything about my life? Do you know who the hell I am? ” Two women in the audience told CNN that they thought the number was part of the show . "It was brilliant, we thought he was working on some role," they explained.
Why your photo is iconic. Because he still wears the torn shirt with which he broke into the Cabaret function and his expression appeared in all the media: at 28 years old, the Transformers kid already had the appearance of a man who was hitting rock bottom.
What was the sentence. Commit to a detox cure. Months before the incident, LaBeouf had starred in an artistic action titled #IAMSORRY (sorry) in which he apologized for his outbursts of anger in public and attendees could sit with him for a few seconds and tell him whatever they wanted. But as much as he was sorry, he has continued to roll her over with some regularity.
Matthew McConaughey (1999)
What was he accused of? Neighbors called the police because the actor was playing the bongos at his house in the early morning. When officers arrived, they found McConaughey smoking pot and dancing with a University of Texas scarf as the only outfit. As he was arrested and he refused to put on pants, a guy who had been enjoying percussion from the street applauded him and encouraged him to keep hitting the bongos.
Why your photo is iconic. Because of the smile with which he poses, perhaps the result of the ridiculousness of his arrest or perhaps the result of marijuana, and because the never flattering lighting of the police station (not even the biggest movie stars know how to find their focus like Paris Hilton) immortalized for posterity the McConaughey entries. Over the years those tickets have disappeared, but her smile has not.
What was the sentence. A fine of 45 euros. In 2016, the actor spoke about the incident in Playboy: "I saw the policeman's eyes when he identified me, they said, 'Come on, look who we have here.' My first call was to my mother. I felt guilty because I was not raised to end up in jail. But what is wrong with playing the bongos as God brought you into the world? I don't regret the reasons why I ended up there. And what lesson did I learn? That you have to close the window, no matter how much a beautiful aroma of jasmine enters through it, because perhaps at two in the morning you will wake up your neighbor. ”
Marilyn Manson (2001)
What was he accused of? Assault, battery and criminal sexual conduct against one of your bodyguards. During a concert in Detroit, Manson walked over to Joshua Keasler, one of the security guards posted between the audience and the stage. The singer used Keasler's head as a stripper , spit on his bald head, and wrapped his leg around his neck. He then rubbed his crotch (Manson wore a thong) against the bodyguard's nape. Fans raved about the number, believing it was part of the show , but Keasler denounced the singer as soon as he shook it off him. The charge of assault and criminal sexual conduct could have put Manson in jail for two years. "His conduct was undoubtedly offensive," prosecutor David Gorcyca explained. “It is one thing to impact the public and another to include an involuntary participant who was there to protect it. It is a disgusting exhibition that should not go unnoticed because it exceeded all freedom of expression or artistic license. ”
Why the photo is iconic. Because Marilyn Manson had become famous with makeup, wigs, and prosthetics, the general public did not know the true look of Brian Wagner. And that police photo revealed what could have outraged a rock star the most: for the world to discover that, apart from his absence of eyebrows, he was an ordinary person. The Internet agreed that the most extravagant thing about that stamp was how badly Manson was kept to be 32 years old.
What was the sentence. The judge reduced the crime of sexual assault to public disorder by considering that Manson had not sexually enjoyed the situation. Namely. The singer had to pay a fine of 3,600 euros and reach an economic agreement with Keasler, whose conditions were not made public, to avoid going to trial. In 2016 Manson returned to Detroit and stopped the concert to remember the incident. “I almost, almost, almost ended up in jail in this pretty Detroit city for having sex with a man's head. Okay, I'm wearing makeup, but do I look like one of those who would fuck with a head? ”He asked. When the audience yelled in unison that they did, Manson addressed one of the bodyguards in the pit: "Do you think I want to have sex with your head?" This time the security guard smiled and shook his head. It would have to be seen if he smiled so much if Manson brought his crotch closer to the nape of his neck.
Reese Witherspoon (2013)
What was he accused of? Of resistance to authority. After winning the Oscar in 2006 for Tightrope , Witherspoon was trapped in a string of films full of topics that failed at the box office and gradually made the public forget about the star of A Very Legal Blonde . But all the legal knowledge she could have acquired on that shoot was forgotten the night a police officer stopped her husband for drunk driving. The actress got out of the car shouting phrases so cliche that they seemed to be taken from any of her second movies: “Do you not know who I am? Well, you're going to find out who I am. You're going to be on the news. I don't think you're a real cop. You know what is my name? I am not going to stay in the car, I am an American citizen and I have the right to be on American soil. ”
Why your photo is iconic. Her embarrassed expression, the natural hair color the public did not associate her with, and her closed eyes made Witherspoon look like a repentant child. But the video of the arrest was also leaked, a document halfway between melodrama and the sitcom in which the actress demonstrated why she is a real star: she has a cinematic sense of reality and, even while a police officer It stopped, it was tremendously charismatic. Her husband, much more mundane, is heard saying: "Sorry agent, I have nothing to do with this."
What was the sentence. A fine of 200 euros. Witherspoon issued an apology statement in which she confessed "having drunk more than necessary" and feeling "deeply ashamed" for having reacted this way to the panic she felt seeing her husband in trouble. "I disrespected an agent who was just doing his job," she regretted, and then laughed at herself and the "crazy things" she yelled during the arrest: "I told her I was pregnant. I'm not pregnant! I laugh because I didn't know what to say and I'm really sorry. There are many policemen in my family. " Years later she herself recognized that at that time the public realized that Reese Witherspoon was not as they had imagined: "I suppose we all define people by how the press presents them and at that time I showed a complexity that much people unknown. It is part of human nature. I made a mistake, as we all do. The best thing you can do is apologize, learn from it, and move on. ” The following year Witherspoon founded her production company to promote projects with better female roles, starting with Lost and Wild Soul , which she also starred in and gave her an Oscar nomination. Since then, he has continued to succeed in producing and starring in the series Big Little Lies and The Morning Show and the talk show Shine On with Reese . Because if anyone knows how to shine it's her, even in the darkest moments.
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