- 6 weeks ago
Some people seem too good to be true—and sometimes they are. Join us as we countdown the most shocking falls from grace in history! From beloved entertainers to respected professionals, these individuals built sterling reputations before their dark sides were exposed. Which downfall shocked you the most?
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00:00This former iconic figure on Wall Street has allegedly, but by his own admission,
00:04destroyed many lives, charities, and reputations on Wall Street.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the high-standing members
00:13of society whose legacies became clouded by damaging actions or skeletons in their closets.
00:19A top-ranking military officer was charged today with some very grave crimes.
00:25Number 20, Lance Armstrong. Few modern-day athletes have come close to his downfall.
00:33Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Lance Armstrong was invincible.
00:38And to win three times in a row for you?
00:43Again, an awesome feeling. They're all different, they're all special, they all mean something different to me.
00:50He won a plethora of competitions as a cyclist, including seven Tour de France races.
00:56He even won while battling cancer, cementing himself as a sports legend.
01:00That is, until 2012, when the United States Anti-Doping Agency concluded he'd been cheating.
01:07Allegations that he'd been taking performance-enhancing drugs had been around since the beginning of his career,
01:12but he always denied them.
01:14Do you deny the statements that Ms. Andrew attributed to you in the Indiana University Hospital?
01:23100 percent, absolutely.
01:25However, blood samples and ex-teammates' testimonies told a different story.
01:30Armstrong chose not to appeal the findings, leading to him being banned from competitive sports
01:35and stripped of his post-1998 titles.
01:39Only after losing everything did he finally admit the accusations were true.
01:43I'm deeply sorry for what I did.
01:47I can say that thousands of times, and it may never be enough.
01:53Number 19. Pablo Picasso.
01:55As one of the founders of the Cubism art movement, he's one of the most influential artists in history.
02:01With displaced noses and mouths and characteristic irregular forms,
02:07Cubism nicely encapsulated Picasso's aesthetic worldview.
02:11Unfortunately, Pablo Picasso's legacy is muddied by his disdain for countless women throughout his life.
02:18He mistreated several muses and then discarded them for younger models,
02:22with one claiming that he locked her inside to prevent her from working with others.
02:27But at the turn of the last century, women were treated like possessions,
02:32and we know Picasso liked control.
02:35He also had affairs with them behind his wife's back,
02:38at one point making his wife fight his mistress for his affections.
02:42This attitude carried on to his children, who he cut off after his final partner,
02:47Françoise Gillot, revealed his abusive behavior.
02:51These incidents have made it difficult for some to separate Picasso from his work,
02:55especially the pieces where women are the primary focus.
02:58It's a difficult thing for me to reconcile because I admire him so much in terms of what he created.
03:04Number 18. Neil Gaiman
03:06Here's proof that no legacy is set in stone.
03:09For years, Neil Gaiman entertained children and adults alike with his fictional work.
03:14Perhaps someone of my experience would be a valuable addition to your crew.
03:20The king of fantasy books on our fantasy book writing team?
03:24Okay, Gaiman, you're in.
03:26Your job is to get lunch and lose the British accent.
03:29Cheeseburgers, french fries, I'm all over that, pal.
03:33Through it all, he was an advocate for several causes,
03:36including protecting First Amendment rights for writers and raising awareness for refugees.
03:41In 2024, the veneer cracked when multiple women accused him of sexually charged crimes.
03:47Neil Gaiman's persona and also his career placed him in continuous contact with young, admiring women.
03:57The most damning came from his former nanny, who filed a federal lawsuit against him in 2025,
04:03alleging he trafficked her.
04:05He's since denied the claims.
04:07However, the repercussions were set in motion.
04:09Several projects of his have been put on hold or canceled entirely.
04:13The case is still unfolding, but if he's found guilty,
04:16it'll be one of the biggest fallings from grace in modern times.
04:20What do you think your attraction to the dark side of things is?
04:26I think the thing that crystallized it for me was a quote from Ogden Nash,
04:32the great American poet and humorist,
04:34where he said, where there's a monster, there's a miracle.
04:37Number 17. Dr. Seuss.
04:40His whimsical words have introduced countless children to the wonders of poetry.
04:45Puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore.
04:49Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
04:53Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
04:58Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
05:03But behind the silly characters and bright colors of Dr. Seuss's work was a complicated personal life.
05:10His first wife, Helen, was his biggest supporter.
05:12Not only did she encourage his dreams, she even edited his work and came up with ideas for his books.
05:18She heard Ted when nobody else heard him.
05:21She was the one who discovered him.
05:24Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep him from straying.
05:27He'd been seeing another woman while Helen was struggling with her health.
05:31Some even theorized that Helen hinted at his infidelity in her final note to him before taking her own life.
05:37Eight months later, Seuss married his affair partner.
05:40Though his legacy lives on in his work, it's hard not to see it without thinking of Helen.
05:45Number 16. P.T. Barnum.
05:47Thanks to movies like The Greatest Showman, he's been given a legacy that perhaps he hasn't fully earned.
05:52Tell me, Mr. Barnum, does it bother you that everything you're selling is fake?
05:58Do these smiles seem fake?
06:00Doesn't matter where they come from, the joy is real.
06:02To many, P.T. Barnum is merely the creator of modern-day circus.
06:07Many people know about the acrobatic performances, trained animals, and freak shows.
06:11But not many are aware of the dark history behind them.
06:14To gain notoriety for his shows, Barnum was well-versed in the art of exploitation.
06:19He got his start young, renting an elderly African-American woman,
06:23who his acquaintance billed as a 161-year-old former slave.
06:28From there, the abuse continued.
06:30He reportedly separated aboriginal families in order to prey on their culture,
06:35monetized people's disabilities for entertainment,
06:38and even held a public autopsy for his initial subject following her death.
06:42So that my voice, like my great soul,
06:46will reach future generations and be heard centuries after I have joined the great,
06:55and as I believe, happy, majority.
06:58Number 5. Woodrow Wilson
06:59To many, former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson is seen as one of the biggest proponents
07:04of a robust federal government, and the creator of several economic systems,
07:09including the Federal Reserve.
07:10Unfortunately, the good he did doesn't hide his rancid social politics.
07:15Even for the time, he was an extreme racist.
07:18Many prominent African-Americans had supported Wilson in 1912
07:23because of his promise that his new freedoms would apply to all Americans equally.
07:30But once he was in office,
07:33Wilson sided with the many Southern Democrats in Congress and in his cabinet
07:37who favored segregation.
07:39He advocated for segregation before and during his political career,
07:44and even forcibly discharged African-Americans from the military.
07:48He also worked to exclude them from roles within the government,
07:51and allowed his cabinet members to racially separate their departments.
07:55Although implemented by his support in this,
07:58President Wilson defended racial segregation in his administration.
08:02These actions have ultimately sullied his legacy.
08:05Number 14. Thomas Edison
08:07If you've ever used a camera or turned on a light bulb,
08:10then you've been impacted by him.
08:12Thomas Edison was one of the most influential inventors in United States history.
08:16Once upon a time, there was a man named Thomas Edison,
08:20and he invented the dictating machine,
08:23and the fluoroscope,
08:24and the repeating telegraph.
08:27However, he may not have been as involved as we thought.
08:31At his laboratory, he was known for taking credit for a product,
08:34even though his employees were the ones doing the research and creating it.
08:38He used his influence to snuff out competitors' ideas,
08:41including falsely claiming that another company's alternate current system would result in death.
08:46Now, Mr. Edison, there is a great degree of feeling between you and Mr. Westinghouse.
08:52I do not dislike Mr. Westinghouse.
08:55There's a contest between you two, isn't there?
08:57That is not what this is about.
08:59Beyond his direct work,
09:00his film company produced a now infamous clip depicting an elephant's death.
09:05Edison is proof that even with major historical figures,
09:08we might not know the full story.
09:09Number 13. Larry Nassar
09:12Using one's authority to abuse those who trust you the most is vile.
09:17That only scratches the surface of the acts committed by Larry Nassar.
09:21My real interest, of course, with dance and gymnastics is my role with USA Gymnastics.
09:26As the former medical practitioner for the United States women's gymnastics team,
09:31he was highly versed in the subject of gymnastics injuries,
09:34and even wrote multiple papers on how to treat them.
09:37Allegations against him began in the 1990s,
09:40but they were swept under the rug until 2016 when he was finally fired.
09:44This gave over 250 survivors the courage to come forward
09:48about him using medical exams as a guise for sexual abuse.
09:52Larry Nassar did not arise in isolation.
09:55The list of horrific crimes he committed grew as his trial went on,
09:59resulting in multiple decades-long sentences in federal and state prisons.
10:03What I need is systemic change at the highest levels
10:07to end the culture of abuse that is sweeping our nation.
10:11Number 12. Henry Ford
10:12While he's covered in history classes,
10:15the extent of his beliefs are usually ignored.
10:17When Henry Ford is mentioned,
10:19it's usually to discuss his strides in the automotive industry.
10:22Through his own fierce determination,
10:25he had risen from obscurity
10:26to become one of the most famous and powerful men in the country.
10:30With the Model T,
10:33the most successful car in history,
10:35and the groundbreaking $5 a day wage,
10:39Ford ushered in the modern world.
10:42What doesn't get brought up
10:43are his staunch beliefs in various conspiracy theories,
10:46particularly those that villainized people of Jewish faith.
10:50This led him to buy his hometown's newspaper
10:52just so he could publish his anti-Semitism.
10:54He then forced his dealerships
10:56to distribute his drivel to customers.
10:58What really matters about Henry Ford
11:00is that just he had so much power
11:02and so much cultural authority,
11:05and when a figure like Henry Ford
11:07sanctions this kind of thing,
11:09it has, you know, it legitimizes these ideas.
11:12As if passing it around America wasn't bad enough,
11:15he then had the articles converted into four different books,
11:18which he then sold around the world.
11:20His work caught the attention of Germany's
11:22Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler,
11:25with the latter citing him as an inspiration.
11:27Number 11, Mother Teresa.
11:29For most of her career,
11:31she was viewed as a modern-day saint,
11:33with the canonization to prove it.
11:35How do you feel about that
11:36when people call you a saint?
11:38Nothing to feel about it
11:39because we are all meant to be holy
11:41since we have been created for that.
11:44Mother Teresa was primarily known
11:45for starting the Missionaries of Charity,
11:47a group dedicated to housing and caring for the sick.
11:50Behind closed doors,
11:52she was much more corrupt.
11:53She believed that most sick people needed to suffer.
11:57That's corroborated by a lack of proper medical care
11:59in her facilities,
12:00despite them receiving millions in aid.
12:03To her, the convent and the catechism
12:05matter more than the clinic.
12:07She and her missionaries also took advantage of the ill
12:10by coercing them into converting religions.
12:13She even cozied up to now-convicted child abusers
12:16and leaders of dictatorial regimes.
12:18All that controversy raises the question
12:20of just how saintly Mother Teresa really was.
12:23Number 10, Jim Jones.
12:26Started as an effort by a charismatic preacher
12:28to build a new society,
12:30but it ended, of course,
12:31with the tragic deaths of more than 900 people.
12:34By their very natures,
12:35cult leaders have to be respected,
12:37charismatic, and personable.
12:39And perhaps none fooled the world quite like Jim Jones.
12:43Jones was highly respected in his lifetime,
12:45advocating for racial equality
12:47and offering support systems for the disenfranchised.
12:51He also built significant political capital,
12:54receiving praise from mayors and city officials,
12:56and even being appointed
12:58to the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.
13:01Did his message at the time resonate with you?
13:03Yes, yes, yes.
13:04No isms, no sexism, racism.
13:07He appeared to be a rare combination,
13:09a commanding spiritual leader,
13:11a prominent civil rights activist,
13:13and a community organizer.
13:15But Jones's story ended in significant tragedy
13:18when he took the People's Temple to Guyana
13:20and murdered over 900 members,
13:23their story becoming one of the most shocking events
13:25of the 20th century.
13:27Jonestown was described as its paradise,
13:29and it was not.
13:30Former member Leslie Wagner-Wilson says followers
13:33were overworked and underfed.
13:35And then as time wore on,
13:37I realized that there was no future in Jonestown.
13:40Jim became increasingly paranoid.
13:43Number nine, John Wayne Gacy.
13:46Ed and Lily Grexa live next door
13:48to the family of John Wayne Gacy
13:50on Somerdale in Norwood Park.
13:52The Grexa's daughter, Audrey,
13:54used to babysit for Gacy.
13:56So I stayed in the house,
13:57and I didn't know there was bodies under there then.
13:59Today, John Wayne Gacy is known
14:01as one of the most famous serial killers
14:03in American history.
14:04Active throughout the 1970s,
14:06Gacy murdered at least 33 people
14:09and buried most of them
14:10in the crawl space of his house.
14:12But go back to the 70s themselves,
14:14and you'll find a very respectable man.
14:17Just come inside, answer a couple of questions,
14:19and don't even think of it like a job interview.
14:21Gacy was highly active in politics,
14:23working closely with the local Democratic Party,
14:26and even having his photo taken
14:27with First Lady Rosalind Carter.
14:30He also volunteered for community events,
14:32ran a successful construction business,
14:34and famously performed at hospitals
14:36and children's parties as Poco the Clown.
14:40Many people liked him,
14:41which is why it came as such a surprise
14:43when the news broke.
14:44John actually called right after he got arrested
14:46and talked to my dad.
14:48And my dad said to him,
14:49why'd you do it, John?
14:50And I guess John said,
14:51hold on, I'm innocent, I didn't do anything.
14:53Number eight, Bill Cosby.
14:55It was a striking sight this afternoon.
14:57Bill Cosby in handcuffs.
14:59Of all the actors who got Me Too'd,
15:01Bill Cosby was one of the most shocking.
15:03This comedian was enormously respected in his heyday,
15:06not only for his legendary career,
15:08but because he seemed like a genuinely good person.
15:11He was deeply involved in promoting education,
15:14donated millions to charity,
15:15and was a trusted public figure,
15:18resulting in his nickname, America's Dad.
15:20Dad, can I talk to you for a second?
15:21Is it about money?
15:22No.
15:23Let's go.
15:24It was also this reputation that allowed people
15:27to ignore or mistrust the initial allegations against him.
15:31But when over 60 women publicly accused Cosby of assault,
15:34his reputation was thoroughly and permanently trashed.
15:37His fall from grace marks one of the most dramatic downfalls
15:40in the history of Hollywood,
15:42and may be studied for decades to come.
15:44At that trial,
15:45several other women who alleged Cosby
15:47had similarly assaulted them testified against him.
15:51Today, Judge Stephen O'Neill said the evidence,
15:53sometimes from Cosby's own words,
15:55was, quote,
15:56overwhelming that Cosby had planned
15:58to drug and assault constant,
16:00and he declared Cosby a sexually violent predator.
16:04Number 7. Coco Chanel.
16:06Trousers, the little black dress,
16:08even getting a suntan,
16:10they're all part of the revolutionary legacy
16:12of Gabrielle Chanel.
16:14The designer radically transformed
16:15the way we dress in the first half of the 20th century.
16:19Now Paris' Galliera Museum
16:20is paying tribute to her
16:22and her fashion manifesto.
16:23One of the most iconic fashion designers in history,
16:27Coco Chanel revolutionized feminine style
16:29in the early 20th century.
16:31Unfortunately,
16:32World War II somewhat ruined her reputation
16:34as she knowingly dated Nazi officer
16:37Baron Hans Gunther von Dinklage.
16:40At Paris' Ritz Hotel,
16:41her affair with a Nazi intelligence officer
16:43was common knowledge.
16:45But it's so much worse than that.
16:47In 2011,
16:48Hal Vaughn published the book
16:49Sleeping with the Enemy,
16:51reporting on intelligence archives
16:53that were recently declassified.
16:55Turns out Chanel was also a Nazi spy
16:57and worked with them in various capacities,
17:00even going by the codename Westminster.
17:03Chanel also tried using anti-Semitic Nazi laws
17:06to force out the Jewish partners of Parfum Chanel,
17:10intending to leverage them for her own financial gain.
17:13In recent years,
17:14Chanel's dirty laundry
17:15has been making headlines at home and abroad.
17:18Number 6.
17:20Jimmy Savile
17:20For more than 40 years,
17:22Sir Jimmy Savile was a show business friend
17:24of the establishment,
17:25a friend of the rich and famous,
17:29even of prime ministers and royalty.
17:32Before 2012,
17:33Jimmy Savile was a highly respected man in Britain,
17:36his commanding TV career
17:37being just a small piece of the pie.
17:39Savile also embarked on extensive fundraising campaigns
17:42and volunteered at many hospitals,
17:44both of which earned him public praise
17:47and institutional trust.
17:49He also had enormous royal and political connections,
17:52having personal ties with many powerful people,
17:54and even being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
17:57for his services.
17:58How on earth do you raise 10 million pounds
18:01in three years?
18:02But shortly after his death,
18:08it was revealed that Savile
18:09had assaulted hundreds of people
18:10throughout the course of decades,
18:12making him one of the most prolific offenders
18:14in British history.
18:16In hindsight,
18:16the warning signs were there,
18:18but they were largely ignored,
18:20owing to Savile's reputation
18:21and extensive connections.
18:23Everyone was bedazzled by him.
18:27He was like a conjurer.
18:31He mesmerized people.
18:34We trusted him.
18:35Number five,
18:36Werner von Braun.
18:38I am Werner von Braun,
18:39speaking for the Alabama Space and Rocket Center.
18:42Following World War II,
18:44roughly 1,600 Germans were brought over
18:46to the United States
18:47to work for the American government.
18:49One of them was Werner von Braun,
18:51who became a celebrity scientist
18:53during the space race of the 50s and 60s.
18:56And while his past with the Nazis was known,
18:58he was quickly rebranded as a Cold War hero,
19:01while the US government downplayed his Nazi affiliations.
19:05They were interested in all sorts of advanced technologies,
19:08and they also noticed the small group
19:11around Werner von Braun,
19:13which was developing rockets.
19:15In reality,
19:16von Braun was highly complicit
19:18in a system of forced labor and mass death.
19:21Using concentration camp prisoners
19:23in his V-2 rocket program,
19:25conditions were inhuman,
19:27and at least 10,000 to 20,000 people died
19:30while working at his site.
19:31In fact,
19:32more people died building the V-2
19:34than were killed by the weapon itself.
19:36The Versailles Peace Treaty
19:38had forbidden
19:40weapons like tanks, planes,
19:44heavy artillery to Germany.
19:45But nobody had thought of mentioning missiles.
19:50Number four, Gilles de Rey.
19:52Gilles de Rey, Marshal of France.
19:56Formidable to men, fascinating to women,
20:00feared by all.
20:01This knight gained fame as a valiant military commander
20:04during the Hundred Years' War,
20:06and is primarily known for fighting alongside Joan of Arc.
20:09He was also born into nobility
20:10and became one of the richest men in France.
20:13But in the years following his military career,
20:15Gilles withdrew to his estates,
20:18where he engaged in increasingly erratic
20:20and sinister behavior.
20:21Local children began disappearing,
20:24but their peasant families were often too poor
20:26or afraid to confront a powerful nobleman.
20:28But rumors spread as more children disappeared,
20:31and Gilles was eventually investigated and arrested.
20:34His true body count is hard to substantiate,
20:37but it could be in the hundreds.
20:38He was found guilty and hanged on October 26th, 1440.
20:43Number three, Russell Williams.
20:46Colonel Russell Williams seemed the embodiment
20:48of the military ideals of duty and honor.
20:52Pilot for prime ministers and royalty.
20:54Commander of the secret Canadian base
20:56in the Persian Gulf.
20:58A decorated colonel,
20:59Russell Williams served in the Royal Canadian Air Force
21:02for over 20 years.
21:03A model officer,
21:05Williams oversaw important military operations
21:07and personally flew VIP dignitaries around the world,
21:11including Queen Elizabeth
21:12and various Canadian prime ministers.
21:15May 2005,
21:18the Queen and Prince Philip in Canada.
21:23In command of their flight,
21:25an officer on his way up in the Canadian forces,
21:28Lieutenant Colonel Russell Williams.
21:30He was also a murderer and sexual offender.
21:34Williams committed over 80 fetish-related break-ins
21:36between 2007 and 2010,
21:39often stealing lingerie before graduating to assault.
21:42He also murdered two people,
21:44Jessica Lloyd and Marie France Como,
21:47a military flight attendant.
21:48He was eventually sentenced to life in prison
21:51and stripped of his rank and medals.
21:53His uniform was even burned by the Canadian military
21:55in a symbolic gesture of protest.
21:58And today,
21:59what began as fetish and fantasy
22:01led to a life sentence of solitary misery.
22:04Number two,
22:05Bernie Madoff.
22:07But then she said,
22:07there's just one thing about it, though.
22:12He never looks you in the eye.
22:17My mother got it before anybody.
22:19She just didn't put it together.
22:22Because this god was a demon,
22:25a devil.
22:25Very few financiers were as respected as Bernie Madoff.
22:30This guy was a king on Wall Street,
22:32running the firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities
22:35and managing money for banks,
22:37charities, hedge funds, celebrities, you name it.
22:40He was also a pioneer in electronic trading
22:42and helped develop NASDAQ,
22:44becoming one of its first chairmen.
22:46He began serving on industry boards.
22:49He began being invited to regulatory roundtables.
22:53And he was elected to three terms
22:55as the chairman of the board of NASDAQ.
22:58And in the early 90s,
23:00he was a trusted, respected Wall Street statesman.
23:04And while all this was going on,
23:06Madoff was running the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
23:09In 2008, Madoff's own sons turned him in
23:12and investigators uncovered $65 billion in fake profits.
23:17Thousands of investors lost their life savings
23:20and Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
23:23It's a stark reminder that even seasoned professionals
23:26can be deceived when due diligence is ignored.
23:29The sentencing of Bernie Madoff,
23:32the mastermind behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in history,
23:35getting 150 years behind bars.
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23:54Number one, Harold Shipman.
23:57From the dock, he'd shown no emotion.
23:59He stared straight ahead
24:00as the foreman of the jury read out the verdicts.
24:02Guilty to 15 counts of murder
24:05and to forging the will of one of his victims.
24:07Doctors are some of the most respected individuals in society
24:11and we quite literally trust them with our lives.
24:14So it's absolutely horrifying when that trust is broken,
24:17especially through malicious means.
24:19Harold Shipman was a British GP
24:21who operated his own practice in Hyde, Greater Manchester.
24:25Through his role as a doctor,
24:26he gained the trust of vulnerable patients,
24:29especially those with cancer
24:30and elderly women who lived alone.
24:33These are the women Shipman murdered.
24:35Not one was suffering from any serious illness.
24:38Everyone died suddenly after a visit from Dr. Shipman.
24:42He would then give his patients fatal doses
24:44of pharmaceutical heroin
24:46and certify the deaths himself,
24:48often attributing them to natural causes
24:50like stroke or heart failure.
24:52In this manner, Shipman murdered an estimated 250 people,
24:57making him one of the most prolific serial killers in history.
25:00Harold Shipman killed more people
25:02than anyone else in British peacetime history.
25:05He was convicted of 15 murders,
25:07but those were just the tip of the iceberg.
25:09Which respected individual's downfall shocked you the most?
25:13Let us know in the comments.
25:14We trust our doctors.
25:16We rely on them.
25:17We put our lives in their hands.
25:19At this surgery, Dr. Shipman betrayed that trust.
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