Celeb Announcements That Surprised Us All
Even though we've elevated celebrities above the rest of us, really the only difference between them and your garbage man is what they do for a living. But every so often, because we do feel this strange connection to these people, they'll make an announcement or hold a press conference and share some personal information that absolutely stuns their entire audience. Here are some of the more memorable such moments from some of our biggest stars.
Celine Dion
Whether you're a fan or not, you can't deny Celine Dion has made an indelible mark in the music world over the years. And for most of those years, her husband and manager Rene has been by her side. But in 2015, Dion was forced to announce that her husband's failing health was taking a turn for the worse—he's dying of throat cancer and was now in the final stages. After being by his wife's side at every concert she performed for decades, he's no longer able to travel with her and has to remain home. And in what is likely one of the most heartbreaking announcements anyone has ever given, the couple revealed that Rene's final wish is to die in his wife's arms.
Michael J. Fox
Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Michael J. Fox was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, with two successful sitcoms under his belt and starring roles popular movies like the Back to the Future franchise. But it was in late 1998 when he shocked everyone by announcing, first in a People magazine interview and then later in more detail with Barbara Walters on 20/20 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and had already undergone one surgery. At the time of his announcement, Fox had known for years about the disease but was still demonstrating few if any outward signs. The media played it up as though Fox had announced he was dying, but in interviews he made sure to downplay the seriousness and express his positive outlook that he was still living his life and feeling good.
Magic Johnson
November 7, 1991, was arguably the date of the biggest sports press conference of all time. This was the day Magic Johnson, one of the greatest basketball players ever, stood before an assembled room of reporters and cameras and announced his retirement from the sport due to the fact he'd contracted the HIV virus. In '91, HIV and AIDS were still pretty mysterious illnesses and often were not thought of as diseases heterosexuals could contract—in short, there was a lot of stigma attached. It's said even Johnson's agent had to remind him before he spoke to say HIV and not AIDS, because everyone was still so unclear on the distinction between the two.
Jon Stewart
With his duties as host of Comedy Central's news satire series The Daily Show, Jon Stewart became the unofficial voice of a generation of politically interested but also generally disgusted young people who were tired of partisan politics as usual. For 17 years, Stewart helmed The Daily Show and left no political stone unturned. And then, one day at the end of an episode, he announced he was done. After 17 years, he knew it was time to move on. His retirement wouldn't be immediate, and he did stay on for a few months before his final episode, but it was clear that, though he loved the show, he needed something else in his life, including some time with his family. As he put it, the show didn't deserve an even slightly restless host.
Michael Douglas
Actor Michael Douglas gets bonus points for a string of announcements, each somehow more surprising than the last, dating back to 2010 when he first announced he had Stage IV throat cancer. He explained to David Letterman during his Wall Street promotional tour that he'd already started chemo and radiation and things were looking not too bad for him. Soon, Douglas would make statements that his cancer had been caused by oral sex, leading him to contract HPV in his throat. This caused new gasps and weird looks from people, even after a rep tried to clarify that Douglas meant it can cause cancer, not that it caused his cancer. In a bizarre twist, more than three years later, Douglas made yet another shocking announcement that he'd lied about his initial diagnosis: he'd never had throat cancer; rather he'd had tongue cancer and lied because throat cancer was less extreme and had a greater chance of being treated.
Corey Feldman
For a period of time in the 1980s, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim were probably two of the hottest stars going. Feldman had roles in a string of amazing films from The Goonies to Gremlins to The Lost Boys, and was so popular he and Haim had a phone line set up where teen girls could call just to get a personalized message from the Coreys for only $2.99 a minute.
As time passed, Feldman's star began to fade as the actor became wrapped up in drugs and partying, what's often considered the typical Hollywood story for child actors. But years later Feldman revealed in his autobiography that during this time both he and Haim were surrounded by predators, something he says contributed greatly to Haim's 2010 death. Feldman claims both boys were raised in an environment rife with drugs and sexual abuse. He contends to this day that pedophilia is Hollywood's biggest, darkest secret and is both widespread and ongoing.