The trial facing Johnny Depp and Amber Heard It never stops grabbing headlines. Both accuse each other of defamation, all going back to an article of hers in which she implied that he had suffered mistreatment by the protagonist of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ saga. The actor’s image then suffered a severe blow from which he has not been able to recover, while hers has not exactly come out unscathed either.
That legal battle between the two will soon come to an end, but their careers have already been damaged by what happened and it remains to be seen to what extent they will be affected. Today we are going to review the case of other 11 Hollywood stars who were charged in courtwhat happened at the trial and what effect it had on his later career.
Roscoe Arbuckle
Accused of rape and murder when he was perhaps the most famous actor in Hollywood in 1921. He was subjected to three trials, since in the first two it was not possible for the jury to reach a decision. On the third he was found innocent. and jurors even made a historic statement saying that a grave injustice had been done to Arbuckle.
It was of little use his career had already been ruined and he hardly worked for the next few years, often as a director and under the pseudonym William Goodrich. Of course, in 1932 it seemed that things were improving and a year later he came to sign an agreement with him to star in a film. That night he went out to celebrate and while he was sleeping, he suffered a heart attack that ended his life.
Errol Flynn
He was accused of rape by two teenagers in 1942, with most of the actor’s followers setting up organizations protesting it. The trial did not last long was declared innocent. His image suffered a certain blow because of it, but he continued to work in the cinema without major problems.
Roman Polansky
In March 1977, he was charged with drug rape, perversion, sodomy, supplying a minor with a controlled substance, and lewdness with a girl under 14 years of age. The director admits the last charge in exchange for the others being dropped and ends up spending 42 days in prison, also reaching an agreement with the prosecution not to return to jail. However, his team fears that the judge is going to skip it, so decided to flee to Europe, taking refuge in France, a country that can refuse his extradition. So it happened and Polanski has continued to work without major problems until now, that with his next film he has already had serious difficulties in obtaining the necessary financing. 45 years later, yes.
John Landis
Charged with manslaughter in 1982 for the death of Vic Morrow and two child actors during the filming of ‘In the limits of reality’ due to a helicopter accident. The filmmaker admitted not complying with child labor laws, but denied being guilty of what happened. After a trial that lasted almost a year, Landis was found not guilty in 1987.. The following year he would premiere the very successful ‘The Prince of Zamunda’, since the only real effect that what happened had on his career was the loss of his friendship with steven spielberg.
Sean Penn
The actor has had several problems with the law, but the most striking happened in 1987, since it ended with him in jail. During the filming of ‘Colors: Colors of war’ punched an extra while on parole for similar charges. He was sentenced to spend 60 days in prison, ultimately spending 33 days behind bars. He then continued working as if nothing had happened.
Matthew Broderick
Broderick was riding the crest of a wave thanks to the success of ‘All in a day’ when his reckless attitude behind the wheel led him to crash head-on into a Volvo in August 1987 in Northern Ireland, killing two people instantly. The actor went on to say that he did not remember anything of what happened, but that did not prevent him from being accused of causing two deaths due to his dangerous driving, and could have been sentenced to up to 5 years in prison. He finally was only convicted of a minor charge of reckless driving, receiving for it a fine of just 100 pounds. His career did not suffer in the least from what happened.
Christian Slater
It was not his first problem with the law -in 1994 he was arrested for trying to get on a plane with a loaded pistol-, but the most striking thing happened at the end of 1997, when he was arrested after assaulting his girlfriend and a police officer under the influence of drugs. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to spend 3 months in prison – he finally spent 59 days in jail – and another 3 in a detoxification center. Slater continued to work, but his popularity dropped a lot and he ended up participating in countless productions designed directly for the domestic market. It wasn’t until television’s ‘Mr. Robot ‘when the image of him began to recover whole.
Robert Downey Jr.
The protagonist of ‘Iron Man’ suffered multitude of problems with the law between 1996 and 2001, all of them associated with his drug addiction. The high point probably came in 1999, when he didn’t show up for a mandatory test to see if he was still using or not. As a result, he was sentenced to spend 3 years in prison, of which he ended up serving one.
Of course, his problems did not end there, because shortly after being released he began to participate in ‘Ally McBeal’, a series from which he would end up being fired for not overcoming his drug problems. Downey Jr. ended up entering a rehabilitation center, being from there when he managed to straighten his career. Already in 2003 he returned to the cinema with ‘The Singing Detective’ and just five years later he was a key player in the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Winona Ryder
She was arrested in December 2021 after being accused of stealing $5,500 worth of items from a clothing store. A year later she was sentenced to three years probation and 480 hours of community service. The actress served her sentence, but what happened led her to pause for several years in her career. After her, things were never the same again, having to wait until the premiere of ‘Stranger Things’ in 2016 for the matter to come back.
John McTiernan
The legendary film director like ‘Predator’ or ‘Crystal Jungle’ hired a private investigator to spy on his producer, later denying having done so to the FBI, only to admit the truth later. That led to a long legal battle that was settled in 2013 when his appeal of the sentence for which he had to spend 1 year in jail -he would finally serve 328 days- and a fine of $100,000 was rejected. McTiernan has never directed a movie again. since the case broke in 2006.
wesley snipes
Snipes’ star status was already somewhat in doubt when he was accused of Evade taxes in October 2005, finally being sentenced in 2008 to serve a sentence of three years in prison. Snipes tried to appeal, but the sentence was upheld and on December 9, 2010, he went behind bars. He was released on April 2, 2013, on the condition that he serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
Of course, his problems did not end there, since the Treasury of the United States demanded that he be paid what was due, which led to another legal battle that he also lost in 2018. Of course, the actor had already managed to reactivate his career after leaving prison – we could see him in ‘Los Mercenarios 3’, ‘El rey de Zamunda’ or on television ‘A very true story’-, but without ever achieving the glory that he came to know during the 90s.