Biggest Scandals Of This Decade, Including A Few You Forgot About

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, we are approaching not only a new year, but also a new decade.

Okay, so it didn’t happen out of the blue. Still, these last 10 years certainly feel like they zipped by in a blur, and because of that, a lot of the big news stories centered around the stars that we couldn’t stop talking about at one point, we definitely forgot about or put out of our mind. But what better way to look back at the years that have come and gone as we approach 2020 than to be reminded of the drama that came and went? Check out a few of the biggest scandals of the decade, including a few recent hot messes and some vintage drama.

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The “Break” Baby Year

In 2013, NBA star Dwyane Wade and rapper Ludacris found themselves in an eerily similar situation that caused quite the conversation. Both men, though known for their high-profile relationships, had managed to father children outside of them, Wade with Aja Metoyer and Luda with Tamika Fuller. The excuse? Both couples were allegedly on a break to work on issues, so it wasn’t really cheating. Despite their behavior, both men were forgiven by their partners and went on soon after to marry them, regardless of what the public thought about it.

As for the children conceived, Luda actually obtained full custody of his daughter Cai after an ugly child support battle with Fuller. Though Wade hasn’t posted much of son Xavier on social media, the child has been spotted at a few public events with his dad, including Wade’s final game in Miami before his retirement this year.

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Evelyn & Chad

The pair, who tied the knot in 2012 and even were set to star in a reality TV show together for VH1, found their marriage and their lives, in a sense, crumbling after NFL star Chad Johnson, then going by Ochocinco, headbutted new wife and reality TV star Evelyn Lozada following a dispute. The couple reportedly had been arguing about a receipt for condoms  found in a car. After the incident, Lozada quickly filed for divorce and Johnson received probation and a boot from the NFL.

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Elevatorgate

It was the fight seen around the world, and the first sign of marital discord for golden couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z. It was 2014, and it was after the Met Gala that Solange Knowles was captured on security camera losing her cool on her brother-in-law, who didn’t retaliate. No one knew what the story was behind the attack, but the fact that Beyoncé stood back and didn’t do anything to really stop it said a lot. While the true cause of the altercation would just be speculated about (and involve designer Rachel Roy), it would come out later that Jay-Z had been unfaithful. Nevertheless, the famous couple and their family were able to reconcile. The journey to making that happen was documented through tracks on three back-to-back critically-acclaimed albums: Lemonade, 4:44, and Everything Is Love.

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Fantasia

She’s come such a long way from this drama, but in 2010, singer Fantasia was going through it over a cat who worked at T-Mobile.

Fantasia was dating Antwaun Cook, a married man, though she always maintained that she started dating Cook when he told her that he and his wife had separated. When it came out publicly, the singer overdosed on aspirin and sleeping pills and later admitted it was a suicide attempt. She would eventually end her relationship with Cook, but it didn’t keep his then-wife, Paula, from trying to sue her, claiming the American Idol winner began a relationship with her husband knowing he was married. A judge, however, ruled in Fantasia’s favor. As it turns out, she did begin her relationship with Cook after the estranged couple’s legal separation date. In the end, Fantasia would end up pregnant by Cook, birthing son Dallas Barrino in 2011. She has since moved on and found love, and marriage, with husband Kendall Taylor.

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Kevin Hart’s Sex Tape

It started with a public apology to his wife and children before exploding into a sex tape scandal. Comedian Kevin Hart found himself being extorted in 2017 with a sex tape that was made public of him having sex not with wife Eniko Hart, but a woman named Montia Sabbag. The drama happened just as Eniko was preparing to give birth to the couple’s first child together, Kenzo, and it overall just wasn’t a good look. Still, Eniko forgave him and he was able to use the situation in his stand-up. However, he was hit with a lawsuit by Sabbag. After initially saying he was a victim too, she claimed Kevin played a part in the filming of the pair’s sexual act, without her knowledge or consent, and used the drama to promote his successful Irresponsible Tour. The suit is ongoing.

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Halle Berry & Gabriel Aubry

After meeting model Gabriel Aubry at a Versace photo shoot, falling in love and having daughter Nahla with him, things went downhill for Oscar winner Halle Berry. The relationship ended in 2010 and by 2011, the pair found themselves in an ugly custody battle that would span years. She accused him of relaxing Nahla’s hair and dyeing it to make her look less Black (a judge ordered that he had to stop doing it). He also kept Berry from moving Nahla from LA to France when she was with French actor Olivier Martinez (a judge ruled that she couldn’t go due to Aubry’s objections to the move). If that wasn’t bad enough, in 2012, Aubry would end up getting quite the beating from Martinez after showing up at Berry’s home, and though he seemed to have lost the fight, Berry was actually granted a temporary emergency protective order against Aubry to keep him away from her and Nahla.

In the end, by late 2012, the exes were able to reach a custody agreement in court. Since 2014, she has been paying the model child support, and also had to cover his attorney’s fees. It’s safe to say Berry and Aubry aren’t chummy, but they’ve figured out how to co-parent for Nahla’s sake.

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Jussie Smollett

I don’t think we’ll ever know what happened on that cold January night this year when actor and singer Jussie Smollett told Chicago police he’d been attacked by two men who hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him saying, “This is MAGA country.” He claimed the assault was motivated by his open criticism of the Trump administration and said he was sent a troubling letter weeks before the attack. However, the story came into question by police, and he was charged with filing a false police report. The men reportedly involved in the attack who were seen on camera buying the tools used in it were brothers who had worked with Smollett as extras on Empire. They alleged that Smollett paid them to stage the attack. Police believed Smollett staged his own attack in order to get more pay on his hit Fox show.

By March though, all charges against Smollett were dropped, the public court file was sealed and a deal was made between the State Attorney’s office and Smollett’s defense team so that he would forfeit his bond and do 16 hours of community service in return. The whole shabang isn’t over though, because the FBI has been investigating the case and why charges were dismissed. Smollett has also been sued by the city of Chicago in a civil suit. He has countered though, suing the city for “malicious prosecution.”

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Nate Parker’s Past

Just as the actor was on his way to possible Oscar recognition for his critically-acclaimed film Birth of a Nation, which he’d directed and co-written, his past came back to haunt him in 2016.

Rape allegations against Nate Parker from his years as a student at Penn State, which he was found not guilty of, were brought to light. Instead of addressing them head on, Parker initially deflected, avoided the questions completely in interviews before being given media training on how to handle it. He would later maintain his innocence while still admitting he had done something that was morally wrong, but nevertheless, he said he did not feel guilty about the situation. His attempts to clean up the situation didn’t go over well with the public, especially since the accuser committed suicide years later. Birth of a Nation would not do as well as hoped, especially during awards season, and Parker would step out of the spotlight for years.

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The Downfall of R. Kelly & Bill Cosby

As the Time’s Up and #MeToo movement revved up, a number of famous men would fall from glory, including Harvey Weinstein and of course, Bill Cosby and R. Kelly. Allegations that Cosby had raped and sexually assaulted women had been around for years but came back with full force after comedian Hannibal Buress did a stand-up routine about the accusations that went viral in 2014. Dozens of alleged victims would come forward soon after, alleging incidents dating as far back as the 1960s to as recent as 2008. He was eventually found guilty in 2018 of aggravated indecent assault against a Toronto woman and the 82-year-old was sentenced to three to ten years in prison. He has maintained his innocence, though he did admit that he used drugs on women he intended to sleep with.

As for Kelly, he too had been accused of improper behavior in the past, specifically engaging in sex acts with underage girls. He was illegally married to singer Aaliyah when she was 15. He also was able to evade prison in 2008 for allegedly being the man seen in a 2002 video having sex with and urinating on a minor. But after the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly came out in 2019, and a boycott of his music led his record label to drop him, there was no more running from the allegations for Kelly. He would be hit with a bevvy of new charges, including criminal sexual abuse spanning more than 10 years, child sexual exploitation, kidnapping, soliciting a minor, child pornography and more. He was denied bail, has been in custody since the summer and will remain in jail until his trial begins in the spring of 2020.

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Tamar’s Exit From The Real 

No one still knows what the real reason was behind Tamar Braxton being fired from The Real in 2016. She claimed she never received a real explanation and vaguely placed blame on her co-hosts. Her relationship with her former co-hosts hasn’t been the same since, specifically with Loni Love, and this year the women found themselves going back and forth after Braxton said on The Wendy Williams Show that she wouldn’t ever return to the show if she had the chance because she didn’t want to be a “marketing tool” or have to deal with folks “being catty behind my back.” Love clapped back, saying, “Tamar, nobody’s trying to use you as a marketing tool, sweetie. You apologized to us over the summer and we just thought, to close the circle, like what Wendy did yesterday with NeNe, to mend fences, that was the intention. That is it. You are still welcome, my dear.”

Fences still haven’t been mended.

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Wendy Williams’s Messy Husband

There was no denying that Kevin Hunter was out here with a whole mistress and living a double life after The Daily Mail did a whole report with photos and proof of his misdeeds in 2017. Still, his wife, talk show host Wendy Williams, denied that anything was going on, saying, “I stand by my guy.” After that, things began to unravel. She was having health crises, including fainting on live television. There were rumors circulating that she was being abused by Hunter, especially after she appeared on her talk show with her arm in a sling. Earlier this year she even started staying in a sober house, all while Hunter was out here having a baby with his mistress. Williams would eventually throw in the towel on her marriage, admitting that Hunter did indeed have a child with his mistress, Sharina Hudson, and that she was aware of his infidelity for some time but tried to keep things together for their son, Kevin, Jr.

Williams filed for divorce in April and has been living her best life ever since.

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Usher’s Herpes

In 2017, it came out in leaked documents that singer Usher has herpes, has had it for years, and was sued for infecting a woman with it in 2012. When it came out that he paid the woman’s doctor bills and a settlement of $1.1 million, social media exploded. From there, others tried to file lawsuits against the singer claiming he had exposed them, too. The whole drama likely played a role in Usher and wife Grace Miguel calling it quits in 2018, with the singer filing for divorce in December of that year.

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T.I.’s Virginity Tests

A recent scandal, but a big one. Rapper T.I. found himself getting skewered online after he, on his own, admitted during a podcast to going to the gynecologist with daughter Deyjah Harris to ensure that her hymen was still intact. Social media and mainstream media tore him apart, doctor’s spoke against his practice and attempts from New York were set in motion to put legislation in place to ban “virginity tests.” Still, the rapper claimed, on Red Table Talk, that “my intentions have been terribly misunderstood and misconstrued. I was never in any exam rooms. I never said it was being done present day as an 18-year-old. I never said her mother wasn’t present. Her mom was there every time.”

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Antoine Fuqua’s Loose Lips

When the famed director was caught locking lips with Nicole Murphy out in Italy, despite the fact that he’s very much married to actress Lela Rochon, all hell broke loose. Rochon went MIA on social media and Murphy tried to do damage control. She initially claimed the kiss was friendly, then that she was misled about his situation before eventually admitting she’d made a big mistake. Fuqua, not surprisingly though, has been able to remain mum about the drama he caused, and he and Rochon are still together and moving forward.

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The Shoe Heard ‘Round the World

In 2018, a usually quiet but star-packed Harper’s Bazaar Icons Party turned into a melee after rapper Cardi B got into it with Nicki Minaj’s camp. The “Money” rapper would even launch her heel at Minaj, claiming later she went after the fellow star for talking negatively about her daughter, Kulture, online. Minaj maintained that she never did so, and claimed that her then-friend, former reality TV personality Rah Ali, put her paws on Cardi, leaving her with the lump she walked out of the party with. However, Cardi had no regrets about her actions or how the night played out. After tensions between the two had been bubbling, she was fine with the way things were handled. The women have been at odds (both loudly and quietly) since.

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Mo’Nique’s Blackballing

It’s the drama that won’t quit. Mo’Nique has claimed for years that because she didn’t promote Precious in the way that the film’s producers wanted her to in 2009 during awards season (she felt she should be compensated to do so), she had been blackballed by Hollywood, including by Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels. While the reasoning didn’t make the most sense, it was clear that Mo hadn’t had many roles since her Oscar-winning turn in the critically-acclaimed film for this whole decade. For years, she has called out those Hollywood heavyweights, airing out a phone convo with Perry, publicly questioning Oprah’s character and doing battle with Lee Daniels, telling them all they could “suck my d–k if I had one.” The trio has remained relatively silent on the matter (not Daniels though, he told her to “shut up”), but Mo has remained steadfast in speaking on her grievances. She has continued to speak out against unfairness in Hollywood, most recently suing Netflix for racial discrimination for lowballing her on a deal for a comedy special.

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Kanye

The rapper has been one big solo scandal after another, particularly over the last few years. His mental health has been questioned, he’s been in a public battle with Taylor Swift, even former BFF and mentor Jay-Z. He has said that “slavery was a choice,” criticized Obama, publicly supported Donald Trump, happily worn a “Make America Great Again” hat, said he would run for president himself, ditched secular rap for gospel and just been something of a contrarian at every turn. If the last 10 years have been a sign of anything, it’s that more controversy is to come from ‘Ye in 2020 and on.