A year after leaving the CBS procedural in 2018, original cast member Pauley Perrette said emphatically that she would never, ever return because she was “terrified” of then-series lead Mark Harmon “attacking me. I have nightmares about it.”
Once Star Trek: Discovery’s Anthony Rapp alleged in 2017 that, when he was just 14, Oscar winner Kevin Spacey made drunken sexual advances toward him, 15 others came forward with similar stories of abuse. Ultimately, Spacey was fired and killed off the show.
Rumors of Shannen Doherty’s tardiness and misbehavior on the primetime soap apparently weren’t exaggerated. In fact, in Jennie Garth’s memoir, she recalls an incident in which Doherty so infuriated her that “we were throwing F-bombs and insults at each other like it was World War III.”
After Charlie Sheen entered rehab for the third time in a year, throwing the hitcom into an unplanned hiatus, he began badmouthing CBS and co-creator Chuck Lorre, and soon found himself “winning” by getting canned from what was at the time TV’s highest-paying acting job.
In 2022, Q’orianka Kilcher was charged with two felony counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud for allegedly collecting disability benefits of almost $100k — while working on Season 3 of the Paramount Network hit, where she plays cutthroat lawyer Angela.
Accused of sexual assault by more than 50 women, Bill Cosby spent three years in prison following his convictions in one case in 2018. He was released in 2021, not because he was innocent, but because prosecutors nailed him with statements obtained only after apparently promising not to prosecute.
Skipping the Emmy race in 2008, Katherine Heigl said, “I do not feel I was given the material this season to warrant a nomination.” As a result, she was seen as ungrateful. “And that is my fault,” she said in How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s. “I allowed myself to be perceived that way.”
Early in 2018, Mark Salling hung himself a month before the sentencing hearing that would determine his fate after he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of child pornography. Had he lived, he was expected to get four to seven years in prison.
When Barbara Bel Geddes returned to her role of Miss Ellie in 1985, Donna Reed, who’d replaced her, was canned only a year into a three-year contract. Though she’d still be paid for two more years, the “mad-as-hell” TV legend sued in hopes of reclaiming the role.
In 2018, Roseanne Barr tweeted out what she wrote off as a “bad joke” about a senior adviser to President Barack Obama… which amounted to racism. The revival of her series was cancelled and immediately rebooted without her as The Conners.
Watching reruns of the primetime soap became hell after a recording was leaked in 2014 in which Stephen Collins, who was the show’s holier-than-thou pastor dad, confessed to child molestation. “I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret,” he told People that same year.
Cory Monteith had tried to get clean a number of times. But sadly, in 2013, the 31-year-old died from a lethal combination of heroin and alcohol. On the seventh anniversary of his passing, the body of co-star Naya Rivera was found following her accidental drowning.
Following his diagnosis with AIDS in 1984, Rock Hudson kept his condition a secret — but also did his damnedest not to do more than peck leading lady Linda Evans on the lips. “In retrospect,” she said in his biography, “it was incredibly touching how hard he tried to protect me.”
In 2010, Nicollette Sheridan filed a $20M lawsuit against the primetime soap’s creator, Marc Cherry, and ABC, claiming that he had slapped her on the set and that the network had fired her when she reported it. Long story short: The suit was unsuccessful.
Forrie J. Smith turned down the chance to attend the SAG Awards with his castmates in 2022 because he couldn’t show proof that he’d been vaccinated against COVID. “I don’t vaccinate my dogs… ,” he said. “I’ve never had a flu shot. I never will.”
In 2006, Isaiah Washington used a homophobic slur on T.R. Knight during an on-set argument with Patrick Dempsey. Washington apologized for his “unfortunate use of words” and underwent “executive counseling” but was still canned at the end of that season.
In 2015, Tom Selleck paid more than $20k to settle a lawsuit filed by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County, Calif. The suit alleged that the erstwhile Magnum, P.I., had stolen more than a million gallons of water for his avocado farm. During a drought, no less.
Following his release from a year-long prison treatment program for substance abuse in 2000, Robert Downey Jr. was hired as Calista Flockhart’s new leading man… and hastily written off the show when he just kept getting arrested. “I didn’t give a [bleep],” he said of that period, “if I ever acted again.”
In 2021, Jeff Garlin was pink-slipped as the sitcom family’s patriarch (and later killed off) after inappropriate language and unwanted touching at work were reported to HR.“It’s about me and my silliness on set,” he shrugged. “They don’t think it’s appropriate. I do.”
After Hunter Tylo left her Bold & Beautiful role of Taylor to join Aaron Spelling’s primetime soap in 1996, he allegedly fired her upon learning that she was expecting and replaced her with Lisa Rinna. Tylo sued, arguing that she was discriminated against because she was pregnant and won nearly $5M.
Yellowstone star Luke Grimes stunned more than fans of the vampire drama when he exited after only a half-dozen episodes. “You quit your job because you don’t want to play a gay part?” late castmate Nelsan Ellis marveled in 2014. “I’m over him.” Soap grad Nathan Parsons took over Grimes’ role.
OK, this one’s more sweet than salacious. You know the legend that Barry Williams dated on-screen stepmom Florence Henderson, right? Well, they didn’t so much date as have dinner — once, while she was married. “It was flattering,” he wrote in his memoir, “that she gave me any attention at all.”
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