Stars Who Are Desperate To Stay In The Spotlight
The cult of celebrity is strong in our culture. So strong, in fact, that many celebs have a hard time letting go when their brand becomes less popular than it once was. These celebs are definitely past their heyday, but they've proven they'll do almost anything to stay in the public eye.
Corey Feldman
We don't actually have any hate for Corey Feldman. He was a beloved child and teen star, great in The Goonies, The Lost Boys, and more. However, since his friend and costar Corey Haim passed away in 2010, Feldman has had some pretty uncomfortable public appearances. Notably, his September 2016 musical performance of his song "Go 4 It" on TODAY.
The performance was not well-received, though it went viral, and Corey took to Facebook to talk about how hurt he was that people burned him on the internet. In fact, he said, "It's like, not politically correct to, like, say somebody is fat or somebody is white or somebody is black or somebody is yellow or green or if they have a short leg or if they have a missing finger. Like, we can't talk about those things. But it's OK to bash Corey Feldman and the Angels?" Corey gave himself a little time to recover from that ugly shock, and then TODAY had him back to do another song, "Take a Stand."
In an interview with Rolling Stone in November 2016, he said, "I guess I'm kind of like a disease. I just won't go away." It looks like he's touring with his band in 2017, and is working on two movies. Truthfully, Feldman has been a star for so long, he probably doesn't know how not to be.
Lindsay Lohan
Oh, Lindsay Lohan. One of the saddest stories of child stardom gone wrong, Linds has had a really hard time for a very long time. Through DUIs and rehab, however, she has managed to keep working, with varying degrees of success. A successful child model first, Lohan's early roles were extremely well-received and she was quite the Hollywood darling. But by the time Just My Luck hit in 2006, her streak had ended and her movies started flopping.
That didn't keep LiLo down. Yes, she was rumored to be converting to Islam. Yes, she said she was racially profiled at Heathrow. Were those attention-grabbing things? Maybe. Her mom seems to think so. She is starting a new fashion line, according to her Instagram account. And, she really, really wants to play Ariel in the not-yet-announced-and-maybe-not-happening live action film. Hey, you never get what you don't ask for, so maybe she'll get it. LiLo revival!
Tori Spelling
A kid who grew up in the spotlight because of her famous TV producer father, Tori Spelling is one of those celebs that we've paid attention to for years. While she had some fame on Beverly Hills 90210, she really hit her stride with the reality shows she did with husband Dean McDermott. However, in recent years, her marriage had some trouble and the couple allegedly went broke.
Tori and Dean have tried a few reality shows since their popularity peaked in 2012, but none have lasted very long. Tori is still plugging along with movies, appearances and voice work, but we really wish she'd devote more time to her blog and books, and stop worrying about reality TV for a while. It's actually fun to read what she puts out there.
Madonna
Madonna is loathe to give up the spotlight, but as the best-selling female recording artist of all time, it's hard to stay mad at her for that. Sure, the music might not be as great as it used to be (what can top 1986-1991 Madonna?) but Madge's ill-advised grabs at fame are far outweighed by her triumphs. Did she need to say she thought a lot about blowing up the White House? Probably not. But, the Her-Story feminist short for German Vogue that sampled her speech? Yeah, that's our Material Girl, and we love her.
Madonna is a great example of a celeb who never quite leaves the public eye, but manages to march to the beat of her own drum regardless.
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian started out as Paris Hilton's assistant during The Simple Life days, proving that being rich is not always a good enough reason for being famous... at first. The two were friends for quite some time, but grew apart as Kardashian's star began to rise. They had some brief enounters, but the friendship didn't really start up again until after Kardashian's terrible experience in Paris. In October of 2016, she was robbed at gunpoint and placed her TV show on hold so she could recover.
Come Christmas Eve 2016, Kim was ready to reclaim her spotlight. She was at her mom's annual party and she and Hilton reunited, according to People. The two plan to pitch a show together, and may even offer an app and some merchandise, OK Magazine reports. And now we can't even. Should we eagerly anticipate it, or run away? Only time will tell, but the curiosity is killing us.
Tila Tequila
This is what happens when we let people get famous on social media, folks. Tila Tequila had her shot with A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila, and since then has done just about everything she can thinks of to stay current. She had a name change (Miss Tila), released some terrible music, appeared at Insane Clown Posse's Gathering of Juggalos (where they threw things at her), made some sex tapes, went on Celebrity Big Brother...and that's when things got really awful.
In 2013, she got kicked off the show for anti-Semetic tweets and some hare-brained comments about Hitler. We don't know why, but she posted a series of tweets about loving Hitler, bringing him back from the dead, called him her boo, and said she was him in a past life. Wha?
She has yet to apologize about her apparent Nazism. But she has released her own line of vape juice in the hopes of giving everyone something else to talk about, so that makes it...nope. Still not OK.
Michael Bolton
The late 1980s didn't see a bigger blue-eyed soul singer than Michael Bolton. He was beloved by millions, performed with some of the greats, and many thought he was quite good-looking, as well. In fact, maybe many late-'80s, early '90s mullets were inspired by Michael Bolton. Despite the fact that Bolton has stayed busy since his big fame in the '90s, he hasn't ever been as popular as he once was.
That might have been why people were scratching their heads over Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Special. Turns out, the smoky-voiced ex-superstar has quite the sense of humor. With a star-studded supporting cast of funny people like Maya Rudolph and Louie Anderson, it was a funny, weird thing that proves that Michael Bolton isn't done yet, and that's OK. Queuing Netflix in 3...2...1.
Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy is absolutely determined to stay in the spotlight. By 2014 she had done it all — she hosted a dating show, appeared at a few WWF events, had her own show, appeared on every sitcom that would have her, released an autobiography, co-hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (and kissed strangers on air), posed for Playboy again, and hosted (and got fired from) The View.
After all that, she hosted a SiriusXM show called Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy, which in 2016 was renamed The Jenny McCarthy Show. On it she discusses her sex life with husband Donnie Wahlberg, takes calls from listeners and has guests on the show. And is sometimes mean to them. Let's just say Tara Reid probably won't be a repeat guest, as Jenny ended the interview with "good luck on Sharknado 18." Burn. Good to know the bubbly blonde hasn't lost her edgy humor. Who knows? Maybe she'll breathe new life into the radio medium, or maybe she'll rise again as a reality star. Stranger things have happened.
Heidi Klum
Why does Heidi Klum go to, like, every awards show? We get the Emmy's. She's actually won one (2013) and has been nominated six times for her work with Project Runway, but she attends lots of red carpet events on the regular. For instance, she was at the 2017 Golden Globes, and though she wasn't a presenter or nominated for anything, Just Jared tells us who she's wearing and how she picked her jewels like it's big news. Heidi may not be as famous as she used to be, but she may be so pretty and classy that everybody cares what she's wearing anyway.
Most recently, she didn't go to the Oscars, but she hit an after party (Elton John's, to be exact). That's understandable, since John's party was for a good cause — the Elton John AIDS Foundation. She started hitting the charity events after her much-publicized breakup with Seal, so maybe she is just trying to keep it real and do some good in the world. And, she looks fabulous every single time.
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez's love life has often eclipsed her professional life. From the Bennifer days, through her marriages to Ojani Noa, Cris Judd and Marc Anthony, we have watched her like a hawk. We were there when she was on American Idol. We were there when she co-produced and starred in The Boy Next Door. Point is, JLo has been around and doing stuff. Still, her star was starting to fade. It makes sense, then, that she would use a new romance to drive herself back into the spotlight — which is exactly what happened when she started alluding to an early 2017 romance with Drake, which may have been a sham for publicity.
Lopez seems to be on the rise, however. She's in a new NBC crime series called Shades of Blue and now she's allegedly dating Alex Rodriguez, who is also from New York and a parent of two. Keep on keeping on, Jennifer. We love it.