- Title: The trials and tribulations of celebrities in 2016
- Date: 2nd December 2016
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - SEPTEMBER 4, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SINGER CLIFF RICHARD ON THE SET OF THE COMMERCIAL FOR HIS 100TH ALBUM
- Embargoed: 17th December 2016 02:47
- Keywords: Kim Kardashian robbery Mallika Sherawat Nate Parker rape Hulk Hogan Gawker Jim Carrey Chris Brown Suge Knight Bobbi Kristina Brown Madonna Guy Ritchie Bill Cosby Kesha Cliff Richard Leonardo DiCaprio Shailene Woodley
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- Country: Various
- Reuters ID: LVA00G5B81WST
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In 2016, there were several cases where celebrities found themselves victims of crime or accusations or were charged with criminal activity themselves.
The most high profile case in 2016 was undoubtably when reality television star Kim Kardashian in October 3.
A Paris police source earlier told Reuters that five attackers, wearing ski masks and clothes with police markings, struck around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) inside the exclusive apartment block where Kardashian, 35, was staying while attending Paris Fashion Week.
Two of the men entered Kardashian's apartment after threatening the night guard with a hand gun. Kardashian, who has two young children with West, was not beaten but the robbers put a handgun against her temple before tying her up, the source said. iTELE television said she had been tied up with packing tape.
Kardashian returned to New York after the attack "badly shaken" after the attack and her television show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" was put on hold.
She sued website MediaTakeOut.com for reporting that she had faked the robbery and then filed a fraudulent insurance claim. She later dropped the lawsuit with her lawyer Andrew Brettler saying "The matter has been resolved to the parties' mutual satisfaction."
Kardashian wasn't the only celebrity attacked in Paris. Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat and her partner were assaulted in Paris last week, AFP and other media reported on Thursday, just over a month after U.S reality TV star Kim Kardashian was attacked and robbed in the French capital.
The assault on Sherawat took place on Nov. 11, AFP said.
"Sherawat was punched in the face and sprayed with tear gas by masked attackers who tried to steal her handbag," the French news agency said, citing a police source.
When "Birth of a Nation" was shown at and eventually became the winner of the Sundance film festival, there were high hopes it would be the frontrunner at the Academy Awards in 2017.
However, a 17-year-old rape accusation emerged which hijacked attention from the film and onto the film's star and director, Nate Parker.
After it was revealed that his accuser committed suicide in 2012, which Parker said "he was devastated to learn", the actor-director had to address the incident which happened while he was a student at Penn State University.
Speaking on CBS News' "60 Minutes" Parker stated "I was falsely accused. ... I went to court. ... I was vindicated. I feel terrible that this woman isn't here .... Her family had to deal with that, but as I sit here, an apology is - no."
Online news website Gawker Media LLC reached a proposed $31 million cash settlement on November 2 with Hulk Hogan, the former professional wrestler who obtained a $140 million judgment against the site over a leaked sex tape.
The edited one-minute, 41-second video showed the longtime star of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, radio "shock jock" personality Bubba the Love Sponge.
Hogan, 62, whose real name is Terry Bollea, said he did not know he was being recorded when the consensual encounter was recorded about a decade ago in a bedroom inside Bubba's home.
The case has drawn attention as a digital-age test of a celebrity's privacy rights and freedom of the press under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Comic actor Jim Carrey in September found himself being sued by the husband of his former girlfriend, who accused 'The Mask' star of illegally supplying Cathriona White with prescription drugs that resulted in her death.
Carrey called the wrongful death lawsuit "a terrible shame," in a statement, adding "there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world."
The lawsuit filed by White's husband, Mark Burton, in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused Carrey, 54, of "using his immense wealth and celebrity status to illegally obtain and distribute highly addictive and, in this case deadly, controlled substances."
White, 30, an Irish-born makeup artist, was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment in September 2015, in an apparent suicide.
Actor Mark Salling, who had a supporting role as a high school athlete-turned-singer in the TV series "Glee," faces charges of receiving and possessing child pornography in May, authorities said.
The 33-year-old Salling surrendered to authorities at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles before entering not guilty pleas to the two charges.
A trial is expected to go ahead in 2017.
Pop star Chris Brown was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on August 30 after a daylong standoff and search at his Los Angeles home that began when a woman called 911, police said.
Brown, 27, denied any wrongdoing in posts on Instagram before he was taken into custody and said that he had woken up to find police outside and that they would need a warrant to enter the property in the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
"Right now Robbery and Homicide division is currently wrapping up their search warrant and Mr. Chris Brown will be transported by Robbery and Homicide detectives where he will be booked with ADW, assault with a deadly weapon," Lieutenant Chris Ramirez of the Los Angeles Police Department told reporters at an impromptu news conference outside Brown's home.
Ramirez declined to elaborate on the charges against Brown, saying that the investigation was still under way. Earlier in the day TMZ.com and the Los Angeles Times reported that the singer had pointed a gun at the woman. Brown was later released from jail on $250,000 bail.
In other Brown news, former rap music producer Marion "Suge" Knight sued the musician in June in connection with a shooting at a West Hollywood nightclub in 2014 that left him with seven gunshot wounds.
The civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court accused Brown, who was hosting the event with musician Pia Mia Perez at the 1 OAK club on August 23, 2014, and the club's owners of being negligent in providing a safe environment.
The lawsuit accused Brown of being a "known gang associate" and said he had hosted events in the past at which violence erupted so the club should have had stricter security.
Knight himself is standing trial charged with murder after a fatal hit-and-run in Los Angeles.
A Georgia judge in November entered a judgment of more than $36 million against Bobbi Kristina Brown's former boyfriend after he was held legally responsible for her 2015 death, attorneys for Brown's estate said.
The judgment against Nick Gordon, who has not been criminally charged, totaled $36.25 million, according to attorneys David Ware and Glenda Hatchett, who represented Brown's estate.
Brown's estate, which brought the lawsuit, accused Gordon of causing her death by giving her a "toxic mixture" and also stealing from her bank account while she was comatose. Gordon has denied the allegations and said he tried to save Brown's life.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, an aspiring singer and the only child of Grammy award-winning singers Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, was discovered face down in the bathtub of her north Atlanta home in January 2015 and died about six months later without coming out of a coma.
Singer Madonna and her ex-husband, director Guy Ritchie, settled a custody dispute over their 16-year-old son Rocco in September.
Madonna, 58, and Ritchie, 47, were in a legal battle over their son since December, when the teenager ignored a court order to fly back from Ritchie's London home to live with his mother in New York.
The "Material Girl" singer, who concluded her worldwide "Rebel Heart" tour in March, and Ritchie, director of 2009 film "Sherlock Holmes," married in 2000. After they divorced in 2008, they agreed that Rocco would live with Madonna.
In March, a New York judge and a British judge both separately urged the former spouses to find an amicable resolution for Rocco's sake.
Comedian Bill Cosby hit headlines weekly in 2016 for ongoing accusations and lawsuits by women who claim the entertainer sexually assaulted them.
The most prominent, the Pennsylvania case, which stems from claims by Andrea Constand, a former basketball coach at Cosby's alma mater, Temple University, is the only criminal case to result from any of the allegations.
Constand has accused Cosby of drugging her at his home and assaulting her after she grew disoriented.
Prosecutors in the case have also asked for permission to call as witnesses more than a dozen other Cosby accusers who have described similar attacks.
The trial is scheduled to begin no later than June.
After a year of legal squabbling, In August pop star Kesha dropped her sexual abuse lawsuit in California against record producer Dr. Luke, saying she wants to focus on getting back to her music.
The "Tik Tok" singer, who has not released an album for four years, will continue her fight in the New York courts to get out of a multi-album recording deal with Sony Music and Dr. Luke, her attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said in a statement.
"Kesha has dismissed her California action without prejudice while she pursues her appeal and other legal claims in the New York courts," he said. "Kesha is focused on getting back to work and has delivered 28 new songs to the record label."
The 29-year old singer filed a lawsuit in California in 2014 accusing Dr. Luke, one of the music industry's most successful producers, of rape and emotional abuse during the early stages of her career.
British singer Cliff Richard is pursuing legal action against the BBC and the police after the broadcaster televised a raid on his house, saying his reputation had been "unnecessarily damaged".
One of Britain's best known entertainers, Richard, 76, was investigated over allegations of sexual offences between 1958 and 1983, but the Crown Prosecution Service said last month it would not charge him, due to lack of evidence.
Having been cleared of charges, Richard, who maintained his innocence throughout the investigation, has started legal action over the BBC's reporting of the case.
The broadcaster televised a police raid on his house in August 2014. Richard said it had been wrong to make his name public before any charges had been brought.
Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio's charitable foundation found itself in the media spotlight after it was named in a Hollywood Reporter article in August for having ties with a $3 billion embezzlement case.
DiCaprio's representatives said the foundation would return gifts or donations made to him or his ventures if they were found to have come from Malaysian wealth fund 1MDB, which is being investigated on money laundering allegations.
In October, DiCaprio said he was cooperating with U.S. authorities to determine if money had come from questionable sources.
Actress Shailene Woodley was arrested in North Dakota on Monday while protesting a planned pipeline that Native Americans say will desecrate sacred land and damage the environment, an incident that was live streamed on Facebook.
Woodley, who had been broadcasting the event on Facebook Live, was seen being taken into custody and narrated her own arrest, saying she had been heading peacefully back to her vehicle when "they grabbed me by my jacket and said that I wasn't allowed to continue ... and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties and they are not letting me go."
She pleaded not guilty to the charges of trespassing and engaging in a riot. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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