Decade of Disney Star Scandals

By Scott Harris Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:00AM

For nearly a century, the Walt Disney Company has been world renowned for their animation, their family values and their children's entertainment. Now, thanks to the last decade of activity, they've also become dominant in one more public arena: celebrity scandals.

Okay, so maybe that's not quite the reputation that Disney was aiming for, but since the turn of the century, current and former Disney stars have been constantly in the news and not for their wholesome values. Instead it's been one DUI, nude photo or existential meltdown after another.

So how did the Mouse House end up in this position? With the decade winding to a close, we thought this would be a perfect time to take a look back on the mess that can only be called a Decade of Disney Star Scandals.

Ex-Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. It's only fitting, then, that the biggest star should have the biggest scandal: during a live performance at the 2004 Super Bowl, he famously exposed Janet Jackson due to a "wardrobe malfunction". The media firestorm that followed resulted in federal sanctions, widespread handwringing and numerous public apologies from Timberlake.

Timberlake's former girlfriend and fellow Mouseketeer Britney Spears was once among the only musicians who could rival Timberlake's success. Now, however, she's on a level all by herself -- a very, very low level, that is, thanks to a decade of borderline deranged behavior that has included public spats with her baby daddy Kevin Federline, an infamous head shaving and one particularly ill-conceived decision to go commando. Here's hoping Spears manages to get her act together before our 2019 retrospective.

Miley Cyrus vaulted to fame almost overnight as the title character on 'Hannah Montana '. But since becoming a teen icon she's gained even greater fame thanks to a number of more adult scandals, such as her controversial semi-nude photos for Vanity Fair and her pole dancing routine at the Teen Choice Awards of all places. Still, she proved she has a lot of growing up left to do with her mean girl YouTube disses of fellow Disney sensations Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. Britney would be proud.

Vanessa Hudgens is best known for playing shy brainiac Gabriella Montex in the Disney mega-hit 'High School Musical' film franchise, which is apparently a testament to her acting skills: Hudgens proved she was anything but shy with a batch of nude and provocative photos that hit the internet back in 2007. Hudgens was backed by Disney, who said they believed she had learned her lesson; another bunch of nude photos that landed earlier this fall suggests otherwise.

The Cheetah Girls were supposed to be Disney's version of a wholesome girl band. That wholesome image took a bit of a hit thanks a batch of nude photos starring Cheetah singer Adrienne Bailon. Bailon claimed that the pictures were taken from a stolen laptop, but other sources indicated the entire affair was planned by Bailon as a media stunt. After all, if it worked for Vanessa Hudgens...

Lindsay Lohan started her career off as a winsome and precocious talent in kid fare such as the remake of 'The Parent Trap'. Since reaching her teens, however, the troubled actress has been involved in one scandal after another thanks to her hard partying lifestyle and her public feud with her own mother.

Multiple DUIs, accompanied by drug charges, eventually landed Lohan in jail for 84 minutes. So far.

Compared to some of those that have followed in her footsteps, pop icon Christina Aguilera seems positively saintly. It's instructive to remember, then, that the former Mouseketeer's bad girl image was actually scandalous when she debuted it with 2002's album 'Stripped'.

Considering the scandals that have followed, the outcry over her raunchy lyrics and dance moves shows just how far we have come since -- or how low we have sunk.

Even Disney's second stringers have gotten into the act this decade. You may not be as familiar with them, but Kirsten Storms (from the company's 'Kim Possible' series) and Anneliese van der Pol ('That's So Raven') both starred in their own mini-dramas thanks to separate DUI convictions. Now that's just goofy. Get it? Goofy?

We close out our look at Disney scandals with Zac Efron, who is an interesting object lesson not because of what he has done but because he shows just how much the media want a good scandal to report on. Efron has been the subject of multiple "rumors", including photos that supposedly proved he was gay (he's not) and a sex tape with former girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens that purportedly exists (it doesn't). But don't worry, Zac, this will eventually blow over. After all, there's a new crop of Disney stars coming up through the ranks and we have no doubt that soon enough, one of them will have an actual scandal and take the heat off of you.

Tags: Disney, mouseketeers, walt disney, Walt Disney Co.

Comments

(67)

Friday 11 December

By Woody

Vote down Vote up Report this

Nothing new. They had scandals in the 60's, just didn't have the tabloid press or 24 hour news cycle (not to mention it's not NEWS). Look up Tommy Kirk.

Saturday 12 December

By Warren

So until now I didn't even hear about Miley Cyrus' "pole dancing" thing, so I Googled it and that's just idiotic. She was on a moving prop and needed something to hold on to so she didn't fall off. People today take everything the wrong way. They have this image of these stars as kids and that's the way they're expected to act their entire lives. Well I know everyone in the world went through a rebellious stage when they were in their teens, and these kids are the same way...just because they're famous doesn't mean they don't have the same crazy chemical changes occurring in their heads that we all did at that age.

In fact, I have a better idea for all the parents of the world: rather than blaming child stars for your lack of parenting skills, if you don't like the "image" that these celebrities portray, then DON'T LET YOUR KIDS WATCH THEM!

By Robert

how about this

"Its none of your business", you yellow jouranlism bastards."

By Miley's Birth Mother

If Miley was brought up by me she would still be a Star but she would be much more sophisticated and known for grace and dresses and polite, feminine attitude. Her photos from Vanity Fair clearly showed a much younger girl scared out of her mind that they would photograph her nude. Annie Lebowitz is not the best photographer in the country or in the world, she is just the freaky lady who loves anything that is not normal. She is getting older and loves YOUNG SEX. I have no respect for Annie Lebowitz any more. Miley has strong genes and I bet you that if I am right she will fall into place and be a ladylike person pulling away from her ADOPTED PARENTS and STEP SISTERS AND BROTHERS LIFESTYLES. I know that NOAH is impressionable and loves Miley and would be devastated to know that she is not her real sister BUT TOO BAD. You separated twins in this deal and what about them. One is EXTREMELY EXTROVERTED but is yearning and seeking the closeness that she would have had with a twin brother through boyfriends and IT IS NOT WORKING! The other is an EXTREMELY INTROVERTED PERSONALITY lacking social desire and all because his sister was missing since he was born. It is the classic result of two separated twins at birth but the main point is that two kids lost their childhood over greedy, oversexed, bad parenting who created a situtation so that they could feel like they had a True Offspring... I VOTE FOR CYNDY CYRUS and DOWN WITH THE TISHER.

By danielle

well, what can i say? I grew up with all of these disney stars, and truthfully, i think they are a bad influence. yeah i'm only 13 but really, i remember watching zenon and i loveed justin timberlake in the back street boys. miley cyrus is not exactly a "saint" but then her parents aren't a good influence. lindsay lohan, i used to want to be her, but now i want to be anything but her. adrienne i loved her on the cheetah girls, she was the sweetest cheetah. and vanessa hudgens? don't even get me started. i just find it weird how majority of the disney channel stars turn out to be what parents don't want from their kids. i thought disney stars were suppoesed to be looked up to, not looked down on to not do what they did.

Sunday 20 December

By jj

Danielle, Justin was in Nsync not the Backstreet Boys.

The media is the reason why all of this even happened. Everyday, celebs are getting cameras shoved in their face. They have no privacy at all. Maybe if the paparazzi gave them some space, they'd all fair better. The only one on this list that I'm worried about is Lindsay because she's is spinning out of control and she's not gonna stop until someone gets through to her or she kills herself. Everyone else seemed to move past their scandals and learned from them or at least kept them in mind, but Lindsay hasn't recovered at all.

Monday 21 December

By dlisa001

It's interesting what people consider a scandal. I don't think that Christina Aguleria's music could be considered 'scandalous', since it's not age-innapropriate. And Zac shouldn't even make the list since he hasn't done anything wrong. I'm not really a Hannah Montana or High School Musical fan, but it isn't Disney's fault how its employees behave off-set -- it's their own. And for every Disney star (former or current) that sets a bad example, there are two more that set a GOOD example -- like Brenda Song, who actually sued an adult website for using her image in a provacative manner (and won).

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