Celeb Mugshots That Went Viral

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Is there anything the internet loves more than stories about celebrities behaving badly? Celeb mugshots were still splashed across newspapers and tabloids in the prehistoric days before computers, of course. But now, thanks to the power of Google and web users' penchant for voyeurism, washed-out photos of famous faces in prison jumpsuits take on new lives online, where the images are turned into memes and merch alike. 

For some celebrities, one bad mugshot is enough to launch them into viral infamy, while other stars are responsible for numerous internet-famous prison shots. Unsurprisingly, many of these notorious snaps followed stars' arrests for minor crimes, like DUIs and drug possession, though thankfully, no celebrities were harmed in the making of the below mugshots. And despite the fact that the majority of these arrests happened decades ago, the internet has a long memory, and these viral mugshots aren't going anywhere. Read on for the best, worst and most cringe-worthy celebrity mugshots that are cemented in fans' memories. 

Would things have been different if Amanda Bynes just hired a driver in 2012? The beloved teen-movie star's downward spiral began in March 2012, when she allegedly fled the scene as a police officer was writing her a ticket. The following month, the actress was arrested on suspicion of a DUI after she allegedly side-swiped a police car with her BMW. The internet seized on her pink-haired mugshot, with gossip sites calling her look "Easter-themed" and TMZ going its usual pun-route, declaring that the photo was "to dye for."

After Bynes was charged in June 2012 for driving under the influence, she tweeted at President Barack Obama, asking him to help with her case. "I don't drink," she wrote in a since-deleted post (via The Hollywood Reporter), tagging the president's official Twitter account. "Please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don't hit and run. The end." In August 2012, Bynes allegedly rear-ended another car, and drove off without exchanging insurance information when she decided she didn't inflict any damage. The California DMV went on to suspend Bynes' driver's license in September 2012, but that was really just the beginning of Bynes' troubles.

According to her 2018 Paper interview, Bynes spent the next few years abusing drugs, "feeling adrift," "hanging out with a seedier crowd," and "isolat[ing] a lot." Thankfully, she got clean with the help of her parents, and began a new career path by enrolling at LA's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. 

Paris Hilton (left, 2006 and right, 2007) has been extolled by the internet as an expert in taking mugshots. SheKnows described her as "the celebutante who knows how to work a camera better than anyone," while the Daily Mail proclaimed she refined her "poses down to a fine art." And the heiress-turned-DJ has had plenty of chances to practice her mugshot face, considering the number of times she's been locked up over the years. Hilton's first arrest came in 2006, when she was charged with driving under the influence. The day after her arrest, she told Ryan Seacrest's syndicated morning show (via E! News) that she wasn't driving drunk, but was only "was speeding a little bit...I was just really hungry and wanted to have an In-N-Out burger." A judge sentenced her to probation, which she subsequently violated in 2007, resulting in her second arrest, for which she was sentenced to 45 days in prison — but was released after just several days. "I've been through a lot, and it was a really traumatic experience that I've really grown from," Hilton told Larry King Live (via E!) following her release.

Hilton landed back behind bars in 2010, when she was booked in Las Vegas on suspicion of cocaine possession, smiling for the cameras in her mugshot. She took a plea deal and was sentenced to more probation. 

Shia LaBeouf's unconventional Hollywood career has included several controversial arrests — and, similar to Justin Bieber, one smiling mugshot. LaBeouf was picked up by police in 2007 for refusing to leave a Chicago Walgreens shortly after 2 a.m., resulting in the actor being charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing. Police told The Associated Press (via MTV News) that LaBeouf looked drunk when the Walgreens guard attempted to oust him from the store. LaBeouf's photo seems to have aged well online, with outlets including Business Insider praising his "bright smile with a little facial scruff," and LAist noting his fresh-faced "senior photo" look.

LaBeouf looked back on his Walgreens incident with humor, telling The Late Show with David Letterman, "I got really wasted ... I wound up celebrating in Walgreens," joking that "drinking and driving is one thing, but drinking and shopping (is) just as bad." LaBeouf recounted his arrest in the 2015 book Prison Ramen, which collected stories of life behind bars. "I was in Chicago and I wouldn't leave Walgreens, so I was taken to spend the night in jail," LaBeouf said, adding, "For some reason, I had the best sleep ever."

Add Bruno Mars to the list of celebrities who ... mugged for their mugshot. The "Uptown Funk" crooner showed off his pearly whites in 2010, when he was arrested for drug possession at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel, allegedly found with cocaine. The reactions to Mars' mugshot were all pretty similar, with BET declaring him as "cheesing," TMZ noting that he was "smiley," and The Guardian criticizing the mugshot's "uncertain smile and vacant gaze of someone who doesn't quite know how he found himself here, but suspects that they must, nonetheless, persist in attempts at ingratiation."

E! reported that Mars' record was cleared after he completed community service and drug counseling, and paid a fine. Mars recounted the incident in a 2013 interview with GQ, addressing the claims that he told police that the incident was his first time doing drugs. "I don't know where that came from," he said. "I was really intoxicated. I was really drunk. So a lot of that is a big blur, and I try every day to forget and keep pushing." Mars also called his arrest a formative moment that made him realize the stakes of his bad behavior. "That was the lesson," he said, adding, "You've slaved away for years and years and years. You've prepped your whole life. It's all you know how to do. You're a kid experiencing life in f***ing Sin City, and that was the lesson: It can all be taken away."

Macaulay Culkin shocked fans from his Home Alone days when he was arrested in 2002 for drug possession, and in the years since, his mugshot has been turned into memes and printed onto merch including posters and mugs. Culkin was booked when police searched a car he was riding in, resulting in the charges of "marijuana possession and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription," per CNN. The actor pleaded guilty, receiving a one-year deferred sentence, and successfully avoided jail time. 

"Yes, I consumed and imbibed in drugs in my life," he admitted in a 2018 Reddit AMA, adding, "Never as bad as people said. It's not really a thing in my life right now. I'm an adult. I like to drink." The rumors of his drug use would come flaring back in 2012, when tabloids suggested that he was "addicted to heroin," publishing photos of his gaunt-looking face. "No, I was not pounding six grand of heroin every month or whatever," the Richie Rich star told The Guardian in 2016, adding, "The thing that bugged me was tabloids wrapping it all in this weird guise of concern. No, you're trying to (sell) papers."

Back in the 1980s, few entertainers were as beloved as Bill Cosby, who boasted one of the highest Q Scores (which advertisers use to measure public trust in a celebrity) ever measured. Not only did his groundbreaking sitcom, The Cosby Show, spend five consecutive years as TV's No. 1 show, the comedian's TV commercials for products ranging from Jell-O pudding to Coca-Cola contributed to an estimated net worth of $400 million.

That public image disintegrated when about five dozen women accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them, their allegations spanning decades. One of those women pressed charges; in April 2018 Cosby was found guilty and convicted of aggravated sexual assault. As CNN reported, the 82-year-old was sentenced to three to 10 years in federal prison.

In October 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections issued a new mugshot of Cosby, disheveled and unshaven as he smiles grimly, a disposable mask hanging from his neck (above). Fox News reported that the pic "divided social media, with some sympathizing with the aging actor," however, many were also quick to mock the disgraced comedian, including one colorful Twitter user who called him a "McRib looking a** ni**a." While that debate rages on, the AP reported that new mugshots are routinely taken of elderly prisoners in order to "document changes to inmates' appearance as they age." Cosby, by the way, has continually professed his innocence, describing his trial as "a set up" during a 2019 prison interview.