Failed It: The 15 Most Epic Celebrity Meltdowns Of 2013

It was bad enough when Reese’s husband Jim Toth was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving outside Atlanta last April. But then the actress went all A-lister on the cop, harassing him, forcing herself into his cruiser, and screaming “Do you know who I am?” in his face! The outburst earned Reese an arrest of her own for disorderly conduct and obstruction, and both husband and wife were carted off to jail. We’re imaging she had knocked a few back herself, as this not-too-flattering mugshot reveals.  To Reese’s credit, she’s now able to laugh off the whole embarrassing incident.

It all started when the ’90s singer wanted to offer a little maternal advice to the up and coming pop-star. Seems sweet, right? Ehh, not so much. Sinead wrote an open letter to Miley on her official website, essentially urging her to put some dang clothes on. “Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or any other young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent,” she wrote. While potentially well-meaning, the letter rubbed many of Miley’s Smilers the wrong way.A furious Miley herself responded with a brutal pair of tweets, the first a photo of Sinead’s infamous (and likely career-destroying) pope-tearing incident on SNL. Next came a screenshot (apparently) showing O’Connor’s own frantic tweets concerning her mental health issues, bearing the caption “Before Amanda Bynes, there was…” Ouch! Sinead was not about to take this lying down, and quickly fired off a second -and much angrier- open letter on her Facebook page. “Miley… Really?” it began. “Who the f–k is advising you? Because taking me on is even more f–kin’ stupid than behaving like a prostitute and calling it feminism.”Not to be outdone, Miley responded with a deliciously understated yet searing burn on Sinead’s career history. “Sinead. I don’t have time to write you an open letter cause Im hosting & performing on SNL this week,” she tweeted. “So if youd like to meet up and talk lemme know in your next letter. :)” Sure enough, a third open letter came hard and fast, comparing her fight with mental illness to that of Miley’s friend, Britney Spears. When Miley’s SNL spot failed to mention Sinead or the feud in any way, she wrote a fourth letter demanding an apology for her cruel words! Eventually the whole matter tapered off, with Sinead throwing in the towel and declaring it “over”.

9. Lance Armstrong

The 315-time Tour De France champion (approx.) and beloved sports icon had his world crumble around him this last fall with revelations that he lied for years about taking performance enhancing drugs. He was stripped of all of his cycling honors, lost sponsorships, faced a host of lawsuits, and banned from the sport for life!While this was more of a long, slow decline rather than a “meltdown,” his downfall was crystalized during his infuriating two-part interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which he failed to rack up a scintilla of sympathy with his mechanical and unemotional confession. Admitting to the lies and mudslinging, he didn’t seem in any way contrite or sorry for his behavior, and instead tried to explain it away with the old “everybody’s doing it” defense. His chance at salvaging any piece of his legacy seemed to crash and burn in front of us.

8. Justin Bieber

 

7. Lamar Odom

The L.A. Clipper had been having a pretty rough year, with a lackluster playing season and his marriage to Khloe Kardashian seemingly on the rocks. Then in July he was confronted on a Hollywood street by photographer Stefan Saad asking about rumors of his infidelity. This pushed the usually easy-going baller over the edge. He sped over to the paparazzo’s car and began dumping his expensive camera equipment into the middle of the busy street. Then he began smashing another photographer’s car with a metal bar! Finally, he picked up the broken camera equipment from the road, tossed it in the back of his own car and drove off.Oh yeah, the whole thing was caught on video. Saad is suing Odom for $565,000 on the grounds of assault, theft, and trespass of property. No word on whether or not the court case played any role in Lamar’s DUI a few weeks later, but clearly the guy is going through a tough time.

6. Jason London

Talk about Dazed and Confused! Something weird (read: boozy) must have gotten into the ’90s actor, because that’s the only way to explain why he apparently punched a bouncer, directed a homophobic slur at police officers responding to the brawl and pooped his pants in a cop car following his arrest. “Guess what f—–? I f—ing love this. I f—ing own you guys so hard. I’m rich and I’m a motherf—ing famous actor! F—ing look me up, bitch,” TMZ claims London told the police before soiling himself.

5. Alec Baldwin

To be honest, we can’t even count the number of times Baldwin has lost it on the paparazzi. In the summer of 2012 he famously went nuts on a hapless photographer waiting outside the New York Marriage License Bureau,  accusing him of being ” a little girl” and “raped by a priest or something.” Harsh words, but it’s nothing compared to his recent outburst, in which he was videotaped screaming a homophobic epithet at a cameraman waiting outside his Manhattan apartment.It sure sounded like he called the man a “c–ksucking f—-t,” but Baldwin maintains that the second half of the phrase was “fathead.” In any event, despite his apologies for using the first part of the slur, MSNBC cancelled his show in the wake of the scandal.

4. Paula Deen

Her recipes have often been called unhealthy and questionable, but this summer the TV chef was in hot water for more reasons than just her food. She was accused of discrimination by a former employee, and over the course of the court proceedings she admitted to using racial slurs. The fallout was massive, and Deen was dropped by The Food Network in June.After posting a series of truly bizarre “apology” videos on YouTube, things got weirder when she appeared on The Today Show on June 26th. She never said the words “I’m sorry” during her interview with Matt Lauer, but she did utter some otherworldly gems like “Would I have fired me? Knowing me? No,” “I is what I is,” and “There’s a couple of kinds of people that I don’t like, that I am prejudiced against, Matt — and that’s thieves and liars.”

3. Teresa and Joe Giudice

These stars of Real Housewives of New Jersey made their state proud when they were indicted in July on a whopping 39 charges ranging from conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, to bank and bankruptcy fraud and making false statements on loan applications. We’re not totally set with the legal jargon, but we do know that it means these reality stars could face 50 years in jail and a $1 million fine!As if that’s not bad enough, a few weeks back the couple were hit with TWO MORE  fraud charges on their rap sheet, and Joe was cited for careless driving in a school zone. All in all, their lawyers are working overtime!

2. Amanda Bynes

We hate to include it, but it feels weird leaving it out…The former Nickelodeon starlet made some serious headlines earlier in the year. The first major red flag came in the form of her puzzling tweets, in which she showed off her dramatic new style and started beefs with Rihanna, Drake, and pretty much everyone we can think of.From there it got much more serious. After a slew of traffic violations and driving-related offenses, the 27-year-old got into trouble with the law for allegedly dropping a bong (or “vase”) out the window of her Manhattan high-rise. There were some court appearances, but the final straw came when Bynes started a fire in the driveway of a random home in Thousand Oaks, CA. This event led to her arrest and she was and placed under a psychiatric hold, when a doctor diagnosed her as suffering from bipolarity and schizophrenia. Click here for her complete saga, but we’re just glad she’s getting the help that she needs.

1. Chris Brown

We have our pick of Breezy blowups from this calendar year! In January he fought with Frank Ocean over a parking space outside of a L.A. recording studio. It was a he said/he said situation, with both sides claiming the other swung first, but we DO know that punches flew and the LASO was called to sort the matter out.Parking lots proved just as unlucky in March, when Brown reportedly exploded over a $10 valet fee. Apparently he was pissed because he had only been at the venue for 30 minutes and didn’t feel like he had to pay the full parking amount. A saner member of the entourage tried to smooth the situation over by saying “We got the money … don’t worry about it,” but Chris shot him down. ”We gonna turn this whole thing on out,” he was heard to shout.Most recently, Brown was arrested for felony assault outside Washington D.C.’s W Hotel in the early morning hours of October 27th. Apparently a man jumped into a photo Brown was taking with two women, and Brown (or his body guard, depending on the version) broke the man’s nose. Who threw the punch is up for debate, but Brown spent 36 hours in jail and was hurriedly dispatched to rehab for anger management soon after.