Celebs Who Showed No Shame In Suing Regular People

One requirement for being a celebrity is enjoying the spotlight. Some celebrities enjoy the spotlight so much that they'll sue normals—people like you, your family, and anyone else that isn't splashed across the cover of PEOPLE magazine just to stay relevant. Whether they're A-listers or D-listers, these celebrities have whipped off their shades just to throw us normals some serious shade. The best part? They have shown zero shame in fully committing to some of these ridiculous lawsuits. Hey, if you got it, flaunt it, right?

The Ivy-league educated actor may have a trick or two up his sleeve yet. In November 2011, TMZ reported that Matthew Fox was countersuing a woman who filed a suit months earlier claiming that Fox had punched her in her privates, to put it delicately. This woman, who we should mention is a non-famous person, alleged that Matthew Fox drunkenly tried to board her party bus in Cleveland, Ohio, and when she wouldn't let him aboard he punched her in her downstairs, among other places. Meanwhile, Fox's countersuit alleges that just the opposite happened, that she attacked him, and that he lost work as a result of her lawsuit. He shamelessly pursued this defense and, not surprisingly, the party bus driving woman dropped her lawsuit in early 2012 and the Lost actor's reputation was cleared. Don't mess with Matthew Fox.

Do not print lies about Ron Livingston's personal life on the Internet, in a magazine, or really anywhere. Because even if he doesn't know who you are, he will come after you. He will come after you and the site you published the lie on with all he has, and he will demand your first born child and all your assets. In 2009 an anonymous editor printed that the actor was gay on Livingston's Wikipedia page. After the false rumor was taken down and posted again repeatedly, Livingston decided he needed to take action. So, like any sane actor, he hired a team of fancy, expensive lawyers, and filed a lawsuit to find the identity of the anonymous editor and take him or her down. Ron Livingston showed absolutely no shame and, in fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, gained more publicity as a result of the suit. Wikipedia claimed to take the suit very seriously, but we've been unable to track down the name or identity of the alleged vandal, or the conclusion of the suit.

In October 2014, Prince (originally born Prince Rogers Nelson, but come on, he only needs one name) filed a lawsuit in California against 22 fans to the tune of $22 million. And he was totally open about it. The music superstar, who already had a record of fighting piracy, alleged that the fans were using platforms such as Facebook and Google's blogger content platform to spread bootlegs or illegal videos of live Prince shows around the web. Obviously when you're Prince you just can't have that happening. Prince has got to look out for Prince! After numerous news outlets picked up the story and Prince received backlash for the suit, he dropped it in January 2014, according to The Guardian. Apparently the entertainer realized that lashing out against your own fan base is no bueno. Could he also have tried to regain goodwill among fans with his cameo in New Girl during this same time? Maybe. One thing is for sure: fans have learned their lesson about bootlegging Prince.

Sharon Stone really wants you to know that she has not had work done. Ever. No plastic surgery, ever. Okay? In fact, she wants you to know so badly that she went after a Californian surgeon in 2005, Renato Calabria, for defamation when he claimed he'd done a face lift on her. Stone alleged that he had used her likeness on his website and in his press kit. TMZ reported that the actress settled out of court, hours before the trial was set to begin. We'll let you decide what you think the real story here is.

After Prince's debacle in 2014, it seems musicians are starting to get wise about their fans "ripping them off." Or at least that's what it seemed like when we got wind that Metallica had served a fan filled band in Canada with a 41 page lawsuit, asking them to cease and desist right before their gig on January 12, 2016. According to Rockfeed, the Canadian cover band was served the lawsuit due to their alleged use of Metallica's stylized logo. We guess it's fine to be a cover band, but not to use a logo? This is not the first time Metallica has said cease and desist to their fans. Remember the Napster debacle of 2000? April of that year will forever be known as the month the music industry said N.O. to the internet. Back then, Napster was a vehicle for freely sharing mp3 files with other Napster users. Not the music industry's favorite technological innovation. Metallica famously sued the site and won, forcing Napster to remove all Metallica copyrighted content from the site, which is literally a tech developer's worst nightmare. Clearly if we go about infringing on anyone's copyrights in the future it won't be Metallica's.