- 5 months ago
Behind the polished facades of famous historical figures lie disturbing secrets that will shock you. Join us as we unveil the darkest shadows hiding beneath celebrated legacies. Our countdown includes Charles Dickens' disturbing "pranks," King Edward VIII's Nazi sympathies, JFK's numerous affairs, and more! Which historical figure's secret surprised you most? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00Jefferson's life that we get from his autobiography is very carefully edited and cultivated.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the darkest secrets from some of the past's most famous figures.
00:10In terms of ruthlessness, bloodlust, Stalin remains one of the greatest villains of the 20th century.
00:20Charles Dickens
00:21You'll probably know the author Dickens for his famous novels like Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.
00:29While behind the scenes, he was quite fond of the occasional prank.
00:32This included telling strangers incredibly long and confusing jokes.
00:36His most infamous prank was grabbing a random woman at the beach, then almost drowning her.
00:40Dickens declared he loved her, and therefore they should drown together.
00:44His wife tried to intervene, but it didn't seem to stop him.
00:47Other secrets of his include a magician persona, having an affair with a woman 27 years younger, and another with his sister-in-law.
00:54She is the mother of your children. How could you be so cruel to her?
00:57And for that, I shall always be grateful. But I do not love her. She comprehends nothing.
01:04King Edward VIII
01:05He was one of the shortest reigning kings in history, ruling Britain for only 326 days.
01:11Edward stepped down to marry a divorced American woman, an outrageous scandal in 1936.
01:16I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility without the help and support of the woman I love.
01:26That wasn't his worst controversy, however. It was instead his suspected Nazi sympathies.
01:32In 1939, he made a public address to, quote,
01:35come to terms with Nazi Germany, which the BBC refused to broadcast.
01:39That twisted ideology of Nazism, that appealed to him.
01:44Some historians believe he further collaborated with Nazis during the war, encouraging the bombing of Britain.
01:49These were revealed in the Marburg Files, but Winston Churchill and others suppressed them to minimize scandal.
01:55As such, we may never know the full extent of his fascist sympathies.
01:59Even his weaknesses and his character didn't really prepare me for the sheer audacity of the way he behaved.
02:06Pablo Picasso
02:07We've all been there, scrolling through our daily feed,
02:10only to discover that yet another person whose work we've at some point appreciated
02:15has said terrible things or committed odious acts.
02:18In the 20th century, Picasso became one of Spain's most famous artists.
02:23Most of us are familiar with at least some of his work,
02:26but fewer of us are aware of how misogynistic the man was.
02:29Nowadays, people are becoming increasingly aware of his toxic tendencies.
02:33Despicably, he once said, quote,
02:35There are only two types of women, goddesses and doormats.
02:39Picasso's mistreatment of women and flagrant misogyny
02:42has been no secret to anyone who has studied his work or read anything about his life.
02:47There are many stories of him being abusive towards women,
02:50including having an affair with a teenager while he was already married,
02:54only to cheat on her later on in life as well.
02:56It was barely discussed during his lifetime, but it undeniably leaked into his artwork.
03:01It's ironic when you learn that he was a staunch communist,
03:04an ideology often tied to feminism.
03:06Can we divorce the art from the artist?
03:09And should we?
03:09Ulysses S. Grant
03:10The 18th president of the United States and a Union army general fought hard to abolish slavery.
03:17Grant is the unheroic hero of our greatest national epic.
03:24Despite opposing slavery, there is sufficient evidence to say he harbored racist beliefs.
03:28As president, he allowed white settlers to take indigenous lands.
03:33He favored the assimilation of Native Americans, which is considered cultural genocide.
03:37Additionally, Grant was the last president to own a slave, whom he thankfully freed.
03:43In 1862, he controversially issued General Order No. 11,
03:47which forcibly expelled all Jewish people from his district.
03:50The most anti-Jewish official order in all of American history,
03:56the only time Jews as a class had been expelled.
04:00In 1871, he hoped to move all American people of color to the Dominican Republic.
04:06Grant thought this was an ideal solution to racial tensions in the South.
04:10John F. Kennedy
04:11Jack's promiscuity, you know, is learned as a young man from watching his father.
04:17They had a sense of entitlement about what they could do,
04:21that other people couldn't do, what they could get away with.
04:24JFK's presidency was monumental for a few reasons.
04:27He was Catholic, only 43 when elected, and also the last president to be assassinated.
04:32From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official,
04:36President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.
04:41To make him more likable, he kept a lot of secrets.
04:44For instance, he had constant affairs.
04:46The most famous was with Marilyn Monroe,
04:48but he also slept with women associated with mob bosses,
04:52at least two rumored Soviet spies, a few actresses, and some White House secretaries.
04:56There's no secret that he was cheating on her constantly, and she was aware of it.
05:01She looked the other way, in part because that was how she was raised
05:04in the upper echelon of society to accept it.
05:08Alongside this, JFK had major health problems,
05:11which he treated with a wide range of narcotics.
05:13This was because he suffered from Addison's disease,
05:16caused by steroid prescriptions when he was young.
05:18As such, it had to be kept top secret.
05:22Alexander Graham Bell.
05:23In the 19th century, his invention of the telephone
05:26made him one of Scotland's most famous figures.
05:28Watson, come here.
05:30I want to see you.
05:34I heard you.
05:36I heard what you said.
05:37Outside of inventing,
05:38he dedicated a lot of energy to researching eugenics.
05:41He specifically concerned himself with deaf people,
05:44whom he was strongly connected to as both his parents and wife were deaf.
05:48Bell believed that if deaf people married other deaf people,
05:51then a, quote,
05:52deaf race could arise.
05:54While eugenics was a popular study at the time,
05:56thanks to Darwin's recent research on evolution,
05:58Bell also focused on the education of deaf people and has been criticized for, quote,
06:03supporting ideas that could cause the closure of dozens of deaf schools.
06:07On a less horrifying note,
06:09he had a 30-year-long interest in breeding a sheep with four nipples.
06:14Thomas Jefferson.
06:15The United States' third president can be highly revered in the States,
06:19but had a dark side few discuss.
06:21Jefferson's life that we get from his autobiography is very carefully edited and cultivated.
06:26Despite the Constitution stating all men are created equal,
06:29Jefferson believed some were more equal than others.
06:32During his life, he owned over 600 slaves.
06:35At his dinner parties, he took great effort to hide them.
06:38This included a fireplace panel where they would deliver wine,
06:41and guests would receive food through revolving doors.
06:44Even though slaves were responsible,
06:46guests would never hear or see them.
06:48Jefferson also secretly fathered multiple children with one of his slaves,
06:52Sally Hemings, as proven by later DNA tests.
06:55Felt about him?
06:56Who knows?
06:57Being owned is not exactly a desirable state of affairs.
07:00Joseph Stalin.
07:01In terms of ruthlessness, bloodlust,
07:05Stalin remains one of the greatest villains of the 20th century.
07:10Almost all aspects of Stalin were exceedingly horrific,
07:13regardless of whether they were secret or not.
07:15Publicly, he hated capitalism and all things Western.
07:19In private, he was a huge cinephile who loved Hollywood movies.
07:23That's pretty tame compared to a secret prison outside of Moscow,
07:26the Sukhanovskaya prison.
07:28In its 14-year existence, it had 35,000 occupants,
07:32and few of them survived the experience.
07:43Towards the end of his rule,
07:45he fabricated a plot that Jewish doctors were trying to assassinate officials.
07:49Stalin used this as an excuse to do horrifying things to Jewish Russians,
07:53but thankfully died before it escalated.
07:55Given his nature, there are probably even more disgusting secrets we'll never know.
08:00Adolf Hitler.
08:01Adolf Hitler was a fanatical leader, a megalomaniac,
08:04who led his country and many others into the abyss.
08:08Widely regarded as one of history's most evil villains,
08:11it's no shock that he had some despicable secrets.
08:14Publicly, he didn't smoke or drink and was also a vegetarian.
08:18Secretly, he was highly addicted to opiates.
08:20This is why there are so many videos of him shaking wildly.
08:23It was initially believed to be Parkinson's disease,
08:27but it's now thought to be withdrawal symptoms.
08:29He also became highly wealthy through a variety of schemes.
08:32These included tax evasion and making his government by piles of Mein Kampf for royalties.
08:38Publicly, he was celibate, but reportedly he had affairs with numerous women,
08:42who were often ones he found easy to control.
08:45One was even rumored to be his half-niece.
08:47We'll be endlessly fascinated by what A drove him,
08:51and B, why the German people decided to follow him.
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09:09King Leopold II of Belgium.
09:13European countries participated in the so-called scramble for Africa.
09:17They colonized 90% of the continent, exploiting African resources and enriching their countries.
09:23One of the most brutal men in history was Leopold II,
09:26who personally owned the Congo Free State for 23 years.
09:30It's very rare for a colony to be owned by one man,
09:33and Leopold proved it was a disastrous idea.
09:36Leopold II wanted to acquire what he called a slice of this magnificent African cake.
09:42It was a disgusting regime, which caused the deaths of millions,
09:46but was kept largely secret.
09:47That was until E.D. Murrell and Roger Casement made the horrors public,
09:51causing a huge international backlash.
09:54The king denied many of these claims, but the evidence said otherwise.
09:57Yet it took the recent emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement
10:01to question why Leopold is still celebrated in Belgium.
10:05Were there any particularly egregious secrets we forgot to mention?
10:09Leave them down in the comment section.
10:11I think Stalin's image today is increasingly concentrated around
10:17his role as one of the greatest mass murderers of the 20th century.
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