Secrets Stars Tried And Failed To Hide

It seems everybody loves gossip, especially on the internet. Alongside cat videos, unverified conspiracy theories, and clips of influencers dancing, gossip remains one of the most lucrative assets of the information age. And nothing propels millions of people to engage in spilling the metaphorical tea more than the revelation that someone, somewhere — preferably a celebrity — has been harboring a secret that hasn't yet been made public knowledge.

This all became evident at the start of 2024, when the absence of Princess of Wales Kate Middleton from public life sent gossip websites, social media platforms, and royal-watcher forums into a frenzy of speculation. Had she and her husband, Prince William, separated? Had she finally decided to give up the drudgery of life in the British royal family? Had one or both of them cheated? With the royal family remaining silent on the matter, the hive mind was free to run riot with imaginary answers and was only brought back to earth with the announcement months later that the princess had been receiving treatment for cancer, choosing, as is her right, to maintain her privacy as she did so.

But Kate's wasn't the only secret to be drawn to the center of online discourse in recent years. Here are some of the 21st century's biggest celebrity secrets, how they were uncovered, and the fallout that they led to.

Ellen DeGeneres was once one of the most respected and widely enjoyed pop-culture figures in the country. DeGeneres is an accomplished stand-up comedian, actress, and host, but the high point of her lengthy career was undoubtedly "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which began airing back in 2003. "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" was known for skillfully oscillating between a jovial overall tone and moments of emotional heft. It included activism, especially concerning LGBTQ+ rights, and became synonymous with caring and kindness. DeGeneres' closing catchphrase was simply: "Be kind to one another." The show was a major hit with both critics and audiences, bagging 64 Daytime Emmys over the years.

But the image of the show changed dramatically in 2020, when Buzzfeed published a bombshell exposé by reporter Krystie Lee Yandoli, in which 10 former employees and one current employee of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" came forward to claim that the atmosphere on set was markedly different from that portrayed on the show. "That 'be kind' b******* only happens when the cameras are on. It's all for show," said one anonymous source who used to work on the show. "I know they give money to people and help them out, but it's for show."

The sources went on to describe a "toxic work environment," including racially charged remarks from senior figures, a lack of communication and support, and unfair firings. The show dragged on but ultimately could not recover from the scandal. The last episode aired in 2022, after which DeGeneres herself largely retreated from the public eye. She has claimed she intends to retire after the release of her 2024 Netflix special.

The stunning downfall of R. Kelly, who is set to spend decades behind bars for multiple sex offenses against women and children as well as witness intimidation, is one of the most shocking and disturbing music industry stories of recent years. However, one could argue that his crimes took place in plain sight, with accusations made against him through almost the entirety of his career.

He first drew criticism in 1994, when he married the R&B singer Aaliyah in secret when he was 27, and she was just 15. It was later found that Aaliyah had lied about her age, though both stars stayed tight-lipped on their marriage, which was annulled a year later. In 1996, he was accused of having had sex with another 15-year-old, who sued him for $10 million. She ultimately settled out of court for $250,000 in 1998. As his career progressed, he continued to face legal challenges from girls and young women, and he faced numerous child sex abuse charges. However, it was only in 2017, after a Buzzfeed article alleged that the singer was at the head of a sex trafficking ring involving six women and girls whose lives Kelly entirely controlled, that the extent of his crimes became known.

In the months that followed, more details of Kelly's coercive and abusive behavior toward multiple people came to light, with the 2019 documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly" burying the singer's reputation for good. In 2019, he was charged with crimes including sexual abuse and assault, sex trafficking, and prostitution. He was found guilty of all counts of sex trafficking in 2021, with more charges and convictions following in 2022 and 2023. 

Drake's beef with Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar has been arguably the biggest music story of 2024, with the two artists sparring in a flurry of vicious diss tracks that have gone viral on the internet and landed high on the Billboard 200 chart. As things stand, most outlets agree that Lamar has emerged victorious, with his anthemic single "Not Like Us" topping the charts and bringing untold embarrassment to Drake, whose career now seems to be in severe decline.

However, this was not the only instance of Drake's reputation being sullied by another rapper. Back in 2018, Drake was deep into a feud with rapper Pusha T, with the two trading multiple tracks including Drake's acclaimed "Duppy Freestyle." However, Drake really lost face with the release of Pusha T's "The Story of Adidon," a track in which he claimed that Drake had a secret son.

It was not the first time that Drake was rumored to have a son, but it escalated the level of speculation to such a point that just a month later, Drake released "Emotionless," a song admitting that he was indeed a father. "I wasn't hiding my kid from the world, I was hiding the world from my kid," he rapped, after which the existence of his son, Adonis, whom Drake had fathered with artist Sophie Brussaux in 2017, came into public view.

Jennifer Lopez's love life has remained one of the hottest topics for gossip outlets ever since she first broke into the world of R&B back in the 1990s. However, whereas many stars tend to leverage relationships, marriages, and divorces to increase their personal brand and gain exposure, Lopez has often attempted to keep the details of her entanglements out of the public eye.

One of these was her marriage to singer-songwriter Marc Anthony, whom Lopez first met in 1998 when he was starring in "The Capeman" on Broadway. The two collaborated the following year on Lopez's song "No Me Ames," which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Latin chart. However, their relationship seemingly remained a professional one for several years, with Anthony marrying former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres in 2000 and Lopez beginning her relationship with Ben Affleck two years later. Finally, the two reconnected in 2004, after Anthony's separation from Torres and Lopez's from Affleck.

Lopez and Anthony married later in the year after Anthony's divorce was finalized, and they tried to keep the ceremony out of the newspapers. But their wedding was leaked to the press, with several outlets covering the event from afar and through the use of anonymous sources. Lopez reportedly blamed her make-up artist, Scott Barnes, for the leak, leading to her firing him. However, it was later revealed that Barnes was innocent, and he was rehired by the diva.

The death of legendary British rocker David Bowie on January 10, 2016, shook the world of popular music and set the tone for a year that was characterized by the loss of many great names, including Maurice White, Merle Haggard, Prince, and George Michael. The news was especially shocking for Bowie's fans as it came at a point when the artist had been more active musically than he had been in years. 

Bowie had largely retreated from public life after suffering a heart attack in 2004, emerging again in October 2011 with the comeback single "Where Are We Now?" and the album "The Next Day" in 2013. In 2015, the year that Bowie was working on the Broadway musical "Lazarus," it was announced that he was also preparing to release a new album, "Blackstar," on his birthday on January 8, 2016. Early reviews were generally warm and typically highlighted Bowie's penchant for cryptic lyrics: The Guardian's Alexis Petridis noted that some had interpreted the title track as being about the terrorist organization ISIS. 

However, that all changed two days after the album's release, when Bowie's social media accounts announced: "David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer" (via Biography). He was 69, and with the tragic news came a reformulation of the album's meaning, with "Blackstar" and its music videos now being seen as an elegant swan song from an artist facing death.

Being an internationally famous celebrity is a weird way to live, so it's little wonder that stars typically make friends with other well-known people, with whom they can share experiences of a lifestyle that few people on the planet will ever truly understand. Britney Spears, for example, has been one of the most recognizable faces on the planet for decades. Her career in the entertainment industry has been hugely successful but also famously fraught with obstacles and pain. Few of us can truly understand what she has been through, but luckily she has made several famous friends along the way.

One of these is actress Zoe Saldana, who co-starred with the "Toxic" singer in the 2002 movie "Crossroads." The two remained friends after working together, and in 2014 they found themselves on the same flight with the opportunity for a catch-up. Saldana reportedly told Spears that she was pregnant with twins, a secret the latter then let slip in an interview days later.

Little did Spears know that Saldana's news wasn't public knowledge at the time, and the actress was forced to go public with her pregnancy. However, Saldana understood that it was a genuine mistake on Spears' part, and though the fact she was pregnant with twins ended up in the news before she expected, she was not angry with her co-star.

Since the publication of the first Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," J.K. Rowling's ability to write books the world wants to read has never been in doubt. The resulting book series became one of the best-selling of all time and created one of our era's best-loved franchises. Rowling continues to expand the Potter world in various ways, including the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," which premiered in 2016 and won nine Olivier Awards and six Tony Awards.

But Potter isn't Rowling's only literary outlet. She also writes books for adults, such as the novel "The Casual Vacancy," which was published in 2012. And the following year, news broke that Rowling had been secretly writing crime novels under a pen name: Robert Galbraith. Rowling had already published one book under the name Galbraith before her name was leaked to the papers by a friend of one of her lawyers, which was met with a furious reaction from Rowling. When the news broke, sales surged, though Rowling had been robbed of the anonymity that she says she was craving at the time. She continues to publish under the name Robert Galbraith, with seven books in the "Strike" series to date.

Louis C.K. was one of the most critically acclaimed comedians of his generation in the 2000s and 2010s. Celebrated for his unusually thoughtful but also surprising, rude, and hilarious brand of comedy, he created some of the defining sitcoms of the era in the form of "Lucky Louie," "Louie," and "Horace and Pete." Several of his stand-up specials are considered classics of the genre by comedy aficionados.

However, C.K.'s career imploded in 2017 when The New York Times published an article containing allegations of sexual misconduct. Five women claimed C.K. had either masturbated in front of them or over the telephone, or asked if he could. Sex and especially masturbation were common subjects in C.K.'s comedy, but while he often framed himself in his routines as being sexually repulsive, his behavior toward female comedians who encountered him remained nothing but an industry rumor prior to The New York Times' bombshell exposé.

C.K. later admitted that the women's accounts were true. He stepped back from the industry, with all his future projects, including the 2017 feature film "I Love You, Daddy," canceled as a result of the revelations. Though C.K. never again regained the commercial and critical heights that he enjoyed prior to the scandal, his career as a stand-up comedian has since rebounded.

Louis C.K.'s fall from grace occurred during the highpoint of the 2010s' #MeToo movement, which saw a raft of prominent men finally face public scrutiny for private sexual transgressions. One of them was Bill O'Reilly, who for years had been a voice of supposed moral righteousness on the Fox News Channel through his show, "The O'Reilly Factor."

O'Reilly was the channel's biggest asset in terms of audience pull and profits. However, what his audiences didn't know until 2017 was that the network was instrumental in helping O'Reilly cover his tracks when it came to allegations of harassment and unwanted sexual behavior from several women who worked with him during his career. According to an investigative report by The New York Times, a total of five women who had been a target for O'Reilly had received hush money from the anchor or Fox to keep their stories out of the public eye and to refrain from taking legal action. It was believed that the payments totalled around $13 million, a demonstration of O'Reilly's importance to the network. He left weeks later, his reputation in tatters, though he has continued to find an audience for his books, which typically focus on U.S. and military history.

Undoubtedly the most consequential hush money payments of recent times were those paid by ex-president and reality TV show star Donald Trump, whose buying of the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels has become a cloud over his 2024 re-election campaign. And things have grown even worse for Trump after being found guilty of 34 felonies related to the payments, a development which he has claimed is politically motivated.

According to Daniels, she and Trump met in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament, when she was 27 and the business mogul was 60. At the time, he and his wife, Melania, had recently welcomed a son into the world, but nevertheless, Daniels claims she and Trump had sex in his hotel suite. Years later, Daniels was given $130,000 by Trump's allies in return for a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent her from speaking openly about her encounter with Trump, who by then had developed political aspirations. The payments were first reported by The Wall Street Journal in 2018, during the Trump administration.

The fixer who helped facilitate the payments to Daniels, Michael Cohen, was jailed for his involvement in the scheme. However, though Trump is now a convicted felon, he is unlikely to ever face serious legal consequences for this or any of the crimes of which he is now accused, after the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents have substantial immunity to prosecution.

The relationship between alt-pop artist Grimes and billionaire emerald mine heir Elon Musk has offered eyebrow-raising entertainment for the denizens of the internet ever since it first came to light back in 2018. The pair first interacted on Twitter, which Musk would later purchase for an astronomical sum and rename X, and made their first public appearance together at the 2018 Met Gala. From there, their relationship remained big news, including speculation of their break-up after they unfollowed each other on social media. However, Musk and Grimes continued to appear together in public.

In early 2020, Grimes announced that she was pregnant and that the baby was due in May of that year. The baby's name, X Æ A-12 Musk, later X Æ A-Xii and, later still, simply X, has become a meme in itself.

In March 2022, the world got wind of the fact that Grimes and Musk had had another child together by surrogate, and the couple had this time chosen not to make the information public. The birth of their second child, nicknamed Y, was only revealed after a Vanity Fair interviewer heard the crying of another baby when speaking to Grimes in the couple's home. Musk and Grimes have reportedly now had a third child together, Techno Mechanicus, news which this time was only revealed via a new biography of the Tesla owner.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).