Stars Who Have Been Accused Of Witchcraft

When a person is famous enough, it's inevitable that the world isn't going to praise them around the clock unanimously. There will always be people who criticize their work, personality, private life, and even looks — and at the end of the day, it's up for debate whether all the fame and fortune in the world can make up for that loss of privacy. And that's just the regular stuff. Things can get even stranger when a celebrity starts getting accused of something truly outlandish — so absurd, in fact, that it can be very hard to debunk the rumors without actually starting to sound a little suspicious. What kind of accusations would these be, you ask? Perhaps something like ... witchcraft.

Yes, for real. As absurd as it may seem, there have been situations where a celebrity has been accused of dabbling in actual witchcraft. This isn't a call-back to the Middle Ages, either — such accusations can and very much do happen in modern times, as well. In fact, all sorts of contemporary celebrities have had to deal with situations like this. Let's take a look at some of the strangest scenarios where well-known stars have faced accusations and rumors of witchcraft. 

As you may soon notice, several people on this list are famous and influential women who have been cast as witches by people with a grudge of some sort. While Beyoncé fits this trend, her particular case is a curious one. In 2018, the star's former drummer, Kimberly Thompson, was seeking a restraining order against Beyoncé, citing the artist's use of dark magic against her as the reason. According to Thompson, Beyoncé's witchcraft was particularly evil, and had involved things that ranged from hexing to later killing her kitten — after magicking it to become hyper-aggressive — and even sexual abuse.  

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Thompson claimed that Beyoncé's mission to destroy her had lasted for years, and alleged that it was motivated by jealousy. 'She's not been able to let me go, she's not been able to let me progress into a mature woman and work with other people," the drummer spoke of the artist. "She's just been ... basically doing anything and everything to damage any type of happiness that I could have."

Other media outlets soon picked up the story and verified the case's existence, though further details about the star's alleged sorcery-fueled deeds failed to surface. However, the case ultimately didn't make it too far, seeing as neither Thompson nor anyone representing Beyoncé bothered to even turn up for the hearing about the restraining order. 

The tragic story of Fleetwood Mac features all sorts of interpersonal issues and assorted hurdles, but Stevie Nicks may have had a stranger path than most — one that has featured several accusations of witchcraft. The artist's peculiar stage presence and songs like 1976's "Rhiannon" contributed to the situation, as did Nicks' "Spider Woman" persona. "In Fleetwood Mac I have a persona, I call myself the Spider Woman," she described the character in an interview (via MTV). "I try to imagine myself putting on the spider mask. I become very subdued and quieter; I don't move so fast; I'm in a state of suspended animation."

Because of all this, Nicks' career has been marked with speculation of whether she could be a real, honest-to-goodness witch. The singer started getting concerned after Fleetwood Mac released the 1977 smash hit album "Rumours," which catapulted them to new levels of fame. Unfortunately for Nicks, these heady heights also attracted not-so-level people contacting her about her witchier inclinations, which ended up creeping her out quite a bit and caused her to temporarily phase out certain elements of her public image.

"In the beginning of my career, the whole idea that some wacky, creepy people were writing, 'You're a witch, you're a witch!' was so arresting," she described the era to the Los Angeles Times in 2014. "And there I am like, "No, I'm not! I just wear black because it makes me look thinner you idiots."

Maila Nurmi is best known as the woman who created Vampira, a cult horror hostess that she portrayed on the appropriately titled "The Vampira Show." At the height of her fame in the 1950s, she broke new ground, influenced nascent horror-themed subcultures, and was even acquainted with this one actor called James Dean. She also knew another Hollywood name with a tragic real-life story, Ed Wood — and appeared in the filmmaker's 1959 sci-fi anti-classic "Plan 9 from Outer Space." 

When James Dean died in a car crash in 1955, rumors soon started circulating that the Porsche Spyder he fatally crashed was cursed. Since the actor's association with Nurmi was well-known, it didn't take long for other rumors to start suggesting that the appropriately witchy Vampira may have had something to do with said curse. 

Of course, the reality was that Vampira was neither a witch nor a ghoul, but simply an actor who found her niche in a particularly strange corner of the entertainment industry, and knew how to play up the scariness, sultriness, and comedic aspects of her role. When the Los Angeles Times once asked her about her attitude toward children, her answer was very fitting to her character. "Oh yes ... delicious," she said. 

In 1996, writer Bob Woodward's book "The Choice: How Bill Clinton Won" contained a story of first lady Hillary Clinton having conversations with notable deceased historical figures like Mahatma Gandhi and fellow first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Combined with Clinton's meetings with a "New Age" psychologist, Dr. Jean Houston, this caused stir and speculations that Clinton was dabbling in the occult. As the White House soon revealed, however, these conversations were a type of thought exercise, rather than some form of witchcraft, and were suggested to her by Dr. Houston, who was simply one of the many experts Clinton tended to talk with.      

Nonetheless, the witch reputation has followed Clinton since, seeing as the 2016 presidential election spurred Wicked Witch of the Left memes that painted her as a classic evil witch archetype. Still, if she's annoyed by such a reputation, she certainly doesn't show it — and she seems to be well aware of the historical tendency of detractors to call powerful women "witches." On Halloween 2023, she even poked fun at the whole witch thing by posting a picture of herself in a witch costume on Instagram. "Witches get stuff done. Happy Halloween!" the accompanying text read.  

Curiously enough, there are far better targets than Clinton for claims of witchcraft in the White House. From Jane Pierce and Mary Todd Lincoln to Nancy Reagan, several first ladies have been interested in occult matters. Some of them even held séances in the White House, particularly during the 19th century, when they were all the rage in Victorian polite society.

Some cultural context is needed to understand the strange saga of French soccer superstar Paul Pogba. Many top-level athletes in France – as well as a significant portion of the general public — have a tradition of dealing with faith healers and witch doctors for good fortune, success, mental well-being, and the like. Pogba was no exception, but in his case, the situation led to a strange scandal in 2022. While the player said he visited a witch doctor for strictly benevolent purposes, his brother, Mathias Pogba, had another version of the story. 

Mathias claimed that Paul's intention was to injure fellow French superstar player Kylian Mbappe, something both Paul Pogba and the witch doctor in question have denied. As it turns out, Mathias Pogba's intentions may not have been exactly noble, either, as he and a number of his old friends were named as potential culprits in a 2022 incident where the soccer star Paul was briefly kidnapped and extorted for millions of dollars. 

As it turns out, the ongoing investigation of this incident isn't even Paul's biggest problem. After failing a doping test in 2023, the player received a four-year soccer ban in February 2024. Combine all this, and it certainly appears that his visit to the witch doctor didn't exactly bring him good fortune.

When singer Shakira and soccer player Gerard Pique broke up in 2022, it was soon clear that this wouldn't be just any old celebrity separation. Shakira started addressing the situation in her music, which prompted Pique to in turn hit back in his public appearances and interviews.  

With a world-famous artist singer in one corner and an athlete who entered into a new relationship soon after the breakup in another, the playing field for dissing wasn't exactly level, especially since Shakira turned out to be pretty good at the game. Case in point: Pique's new girlfriend and mother soon started calling Shakira a witch. As luck would have it, Shakira and her former mother-in-law happened to live near each other. As such, the singer responded by setting up a witch doll on her balcony, facing Pique's mother's house. What's more, she also blasted her popular Pique diss track "BZRP Music Sessions #53."  

In a weird twist of fate, this caused some to label Shakira as a witch for real. "Weeks ago, I got some information that Pique's mother was worried about an alleged ritual that was done to her with a black witch," journalist Marc Leirado Millán wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter (via The New York Post). "So I went to check if this information was true or not, and sure enough, there was a life-size black witch with a white beard," he alluded to the doll on Shakira's balcony.   

Heavy metal notwithstanding, if there's one musician who you might outright expect to have dabbled in the occult, chances are you'd say David Bowie. In his case, however, at least some of the witchcraft rumors you might have heard are completely true. Bowie's biggest witchcraft moment came during his 1970s Thin White Duke phase, which happened to coincide with the height of his cocaine addiction. At one point, the artist was convinced that he was both seeing demonic figures and outright cursed, and ended up enlisting his tour manager Cherry Vanilla — a former famous groupie who's now unrecognizable, but who used to be a hugely influential and multi-talented figure in the music scene — to find a witch to fix things. 

"He asked me to get him a white witch to take this curse off of him," Vanilla said (via Far Out Magazine). "He was serious, you know. And I actually knew somebody in New York who claimed she was a white witch. She was the only white witch I ever met. So I put him in touch with her. I don't know what ever happened to her. And I don't know if she removed the curse. I guess she did."

Vanilla wasn't entirely wrong in her assessment, at least as results go. David Bowie relocated to Berlin in 1977, and the combination of the new surroundings, collaborators, and Bowie's relationship with Iggy Pop created some of both musicians' finest work. 

Sometimes, there is no telling what could jump-start allegations of witchcraft. In 2023, singer Lana Del Rey found this out despite the fact that she wasn't personally doing anything out of the ordinary. When a group of people in a sizable crowd happened to fall on the floor during a concert Del Ray gave in Mexico, social media influencer Traci Coston called the artist out for using demonic energy to cause the incident. She also accused Del Rey of witchcraft. Del Rey actually responded to the accusations directly — and hilariously bluntly. "B**** I know the Bible verse for verse better than you do," she replied to Coston's Instagram post about her (via Stereogum). "PS you're giving off super gremlin energy. Not in a good way." 

This was just the most recent witchcraft accusation directed toward Del Rey. In 2021, she was wrongly accused of filming viral videos of people burning a Bible. As it happens, though, she does have some occult history. She sees a clairvoyant regularly and in 2017, took part in a global witch ritual to strip Donald Trump of his presidency. 

Such matters may have contributed to Coston's allegation that the artist is a witch. However, it's worth noting that Del Rey was raised as a Catholic and has continued to maintain a steady relationship with the Christian religion into her adulthood, so her specific hypothetical brand of mysticism is probably not of the cackling demon summoner variety.

Santería followers believe in creating and nurturing a relationship with Orisha spirits that roughly correspond with certain Roman Catholic saints. This allows its belief system to coexist with traditional Christianity while still having some very different aspects, such as divination and specific offerings. Santería curses are also a thing ... and if you choose to believe certain rumors, the religion's gifts and curses are behind Jennifer Lopez's success.

According to the rumors, Lopez has a Santería grandmother — either an actual one or a spiritual one — whom she consults in both professional and personal matters, to the point that the star has allegedly tried to influence at least one premiere date based on her advice. Lopez's former husband Ojani Noa has also claimed that Lopez practices Santería personally, and is far from benevolent about it. Noa has alleged that Lopez has put spells on not only him but multiple other romantic partners — including Sean "Diddy" Combs and Marc Anthony. Of course, as you'll probably guess, there's very little proof about any of this, and Lopez doesn't seem to have commented on any Santería-themed allegations in any way. 

 Fairuza Balk is no stranger to witch-themed acting projects. From her starring turn as young Dorothy in 1985's "Return to Oz" to her role as the powerful and dangerous Nancy Downs in "The Craft," she's known for playing characters who either deal with witches or are witches themselves. 

The actor's role as Nancy was already a pretty witchy performance, but after filming "The Craft," Balk did something big to help out a Los Angeles occult shop that had helped her with her research ... and ended up accidentally doubling down on witchcraft in the process. "They were really lovely people," Balk told Entertainment Weekly in 2017. "[The woman who owned it] wanted to retire. She couldn't put the kind of money into it that it needed to keep it up and so it was going to be turned into a Chinese restaurant. I thought for the oldest occult shop in the country, that's a tragedy." 

Balk decided to save this occult equivalent of an old mom-and-pop shop by purchasing it and helping it back on its feet. Unfortunately for her, this had the somewhat predictable effect of people starting to think that the actor who could play a witch so well was one in her personal life, as well. In reality, Balk only started looking into witch stuff to prepare for her "The Craft" role, but she nevertheless had to deal with witchcraft rumors for over two decades.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, or has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).