Celebs Who've Been Hit With Restraining Orders
Celebrities may seem larger than life—what with their styled hair, perfect smiles, and fancy cars—but they're really just like us. They suffer from the same disappointments and personality flaws as the rest of us...if not even more. That's why it should come as no surprise that there are more than a few celebs who've been hit with restraining orders after some gross and despicable behavior...
Edward Furlong
After he taught Arnold how to cry in 1991 in the magnificent Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Edward Furlong seemed like he was set for cinematic success. That isn't quite what happened, and by the 2000s his work in front of the camera had started to really dry up. It's sad to say, but what happened next isn't much of a surprise. With fewer jobs came less money, and with less money came run-ins with the law and with the ladies in his life. By 2010, he'd been arrested multiple times for domestic violence and assault. By 2011 he had a restraining order filed against him by his former wife. Then by 2013, he was hit with another order by his girlfriend at the time.
Matt Prokop
You might not know the name Matt Prokop, but if you've watched the Disney Channel Original Movie Geek Charming, or High School Musical 3: Senior Year, you might know his face. Either way, Prokop started dating Modern Family's Sarah Hyland around 2010, culminating in an explosive breakup in 2014. Prokop seems to have been the jealous type, having been accused of putting his hands around Hyland's throat over an outfit she was wearing. Later on, we learned that Hyland accused Prokop of also being verbally and emotionally abusive toward her throughout their relationship. Things got so bad that the young actress solicited her TV mom, Julie Bowen, for help in ending the relationship. When he figured out what was going on, Prokop apparently threatened to burn Hyland's house down. Finally, a judge granted a temporary restraining order against Prokop.
Chris Brown
Of course you knew that Mr. Chris Brown would make this list. His career started in the early 2000s, and he started achieving more and more levels of success and fame as the decade wore on. But in 2009, that all changed. In February of that year, Brown and his then-girlfriend Rihanna got into an argument, which culminated in him physically assaulting her. His attack was so brutal that she required hospitalization. Brown was hit with a five-year restraining order, in addition to community labor and five years' probation. Somehow, this didn't end his career, though at the time it sure looked like it could have; his music was pulled from rotation and his endorsement deals were effectively destroyed. Since then, however, he's continued to try and keep his career afloat. Amazingly, his relationship with Rihanna even resumed briefly in 2013 despite the restraining order, though thankfully the couple didn't last too much longer after that.
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson was once one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. But the former Mad Max (and now just "mad") has had no shortage of personal disasters in recent years. For example, in 2010, Gibson split up with his girlfriend and baby momma, Oksana Grigorieva. The two filed restraining orders against each other amid accusations of domestic violence on Gibson's part. While an investigation into the accusations didn't seem to reveal definitive evidence one way or the other, Gibson plead no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge in 2011. But that isn't all: in 2012, Joye Gibson, Mel's soon-to-be-ex-step-mother, filed to have a temporary restraining order against him. The dispute stemmed from disagreements over the medical treatment of Mel's father, Hutton Gibson. Reports said that Joye claimed the disagreement caused Mel to act "like a wild man," that he screamed so close to her that she could "feel his spit hitting [her] face," and that his eyes "looked as if they were bulging out of his head."
R. Kelly
Singer R. Kelly has a pretty awful reputation when it comes to the way he's treated women—for proof, look no further than the high-profile court case from 2008, after which he was acquitted of accusations of statutory rape. It was his 2005 split from his wife, Andrea, that resulted in him being hit with a restraining order. According to reports from that time, Kelly was accused of having slapped Andrea, after which his soon-to-be-ex filed an emergency protective order against him. The two finally divorced in 2009.
Charlie Sheen
Things haven't gone so well for troubled actor Charlie Sheen. Over the years, he's had plenty of ups and downs (not to mention uppers and downers), and through it all, his relationships have usually suffered as a result. Case in point: during Sheen's 2006 divorce from Denise Richards, the actress filed a restraining order against him. She claimed in the petition, "I am filing now because I can no longer accept [Sheen's] abusive and threatening manner and must stop him from the cycle of his abuse toward me and our children and his continued threats of violence and statements that he is going to kill me." Meanwhile, his next wife, Brooke Mueller, filed a restraining order against Sheen during their split in 2011, at which point she wrote in the filing, "I am very concerned that [Sheen] is currently insane."
Things had gotten worse for the divorced couple by 2013, at which point Mueller filed another restraining order against him, after Sheen told TMZ Live that there would "be a reckoning. There will be a whirlwind. That they will all reap while desperate begging for my forgiveness. You've all been warned." Amazingly, due to her struggle with addiction, the restraining order was actually denied by a judge. With a track record like that, don't be surprised to hear about more restraining orders against Sheen coming down the pike before too long...