The E! Network's Biggest Scandals Ever
Wherever there are famous people and celebrities, there are scandals. While some celebrities seem to try their hardest to avoid getting any unwanted attention, sometimes things just happen – and luckily for us common folk, E! has always been there to document, discuss, and dissect each and every part of just about every major scandal that's taken place over the last few decades.
It would be nearly impossible to cover every scandal E! has guided us through, but there are plenty of big ones to review. After all, while many of us might pretend otherwise, there are few things that can entertain and delight like a good, juicy Hollywood drama.
Here are a few of the biggest stories and scandals that have rocked Hollywood since the early 2000s. They all definitely feature some major names, but some of the scandals happened so long ago it's possible that you've even forgotten about them. Go ahead and dig in!
O.J. Simpson is cleared for murder charges
For those old enough to remember 1995, you can probably recall one major event: the OJ Simpson trial. The former football player was accused of killing his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman the year before, per E! News.
The details were genuinely wild and horrific: both Nicole and Goldman were found stabbed to death outside of the home where Nicole was living. She and OJ were in the middle of a divorce at the time, and as the History Channel points out, there was a tremendous amount of evidence against OJ. Per the outlet, "His blood was found at the murder scene; blood, hair, and fibers from Brown and Goldman were found in Simpson's car and at his home; one of his gloves was also found in Brown's home, the other outside his own house; and bloody shoeprints found at the scene matched those of shoes owned by Simpson."
Despite that evidence, OJ was somehow acquitted of the murders. The families of both Nicole and Goldman brought a civil case that determined OJ caused Goldman's death and had physically assaulted Nicole. He was ordered to pay $33.5 million, but to date has not paid much of that total (via the History Channel).
Bill Clinton's infidelity with Monica Lewinsky during his presidency
All eyes were on the White House in 1998, when then-President of the United States Bill Clinton was coming under fire for an inappropriate relationship he had with a young White House intern. Coverage of the ongoing investigation and subsequent impeachment trial dominated networks across the spectrum, including E! News.
Lewinksy was quite young at the time, and has since commented on what drew her to the former president and how she regrets those actions now. In 2018, she explained to ABC, "I was struck in a way that he had this ability to hold everybody that was there – not just young women, not just older women – but young men, older men, gay, straight, everybody is sort of starry-eyed in his presence ... I kind of have to laugh at my younger self, but that is when my crush started."
She also explained that at the age of 22, she was surprised that someone like the president was paying attention to her at all. "But I think in one way, the moment we were actually in the back office for the first time the truth is that I think it meant more to me that someone who other people desired, desired me," she confessed. "However wrong it was, however misguided, for who I was in that very moment, at 22 years old, that is how it felt."
Clinton was subsequently impeached at the time but not removed from office.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's highly publicized divorce
The story of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's marriage and subsequent divorce is one for the ages, especially when you take a closer look at how it all fell apart. The two met on the set of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and reportedly immediately hit it off, but Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston at the time. Rumors that Jolie and Pitt were engaged in a relationship continued, despite statements from both Pitt and Aniston denying it at the time.
Three months after Pitt announced he and Aniston were divorcing, Jolie and Pitt were photographed together on a beach in Kenya with Jolie's oldest son. The photos appeared to confirm everything that had been rumored for so long.
But the most surprising part of the story might just be the way it ended. As E! News notes, "And just when we'd all gotten used to two of the world's sexiest movie stars being a happily peripatetic family of six, had almost forgotten their less-than-savory origins, it was suddenly all over, the once madly in love pair leaving a trail of rumors, custody battles and tales of throwdowns at 35,000 feet in their wake."
Michael Jackson's trial for child molestation
The late Michael Jackson found himself in the hot seat in 2005, when he went on trial for child molestation. The story absolutely tore through news cycles all year, and has since been covered extensively in the documentary "Leaving Neverland."
The Los Angeles Police Department began investigating Jackson back in 1993 after he was accused of molesting four children. The police didn't find any evidence that the molestation had occurred, but one of the children's mothers told Vogue that Jackson once asked her, "Why don't you trust me? If we're a family, you've got to think of me as a brother. Why make me feel so bad? This is a bond. It's not about sex. This is something special" (via NPR).
One of the families filed a suit against Jackson in September 1993, and Jackson's sister LaToya stated that she believed the allegations against her brother were true (via NPR). Jackson was taken into custody on charges of child molestation in November 1993, with the case eventually going to trial in 1995. Ultimately, Jackson was cleared of all charges in June 2005. Jackson later died in 2009 in his LA home.
Winona Ryder is caught shoplifting
Winona Ryder was one of the biggest actresses in the game in the 1990s, and that made her fall from grace in 2001 so startling for many. Ryder was caught stealing $5,500 worth of various products from Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue in December 2001. She endured a trial for six days and was eventually convicted of grand theft and vandalism.
Ryder used the experience as an opportunity to leave Hollywood for quite some time. As she explained to Porter Magazine, there was more going on behind the scenes than people will ever really know. "Psychologically, I must have been at a place where I just wanted to stop," the "Stranger Things" star explained. "I won't get into what happened, but it wasn't what people think. It allowed me time that I really needed" (via E! News).
Ryder eventually returned to Hollywood, and has enjoyed an especially successful comeback career, especially on the Netflix original series, "Stranger Things."
Jay-Z and Solange face off in an elevator
One of the biggest scandals to rock the E! network happened in 2014 when a powerhouse family was all on an elevator together. Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Solange were on their way to the Met Gala when something that happened between the threesome escalated to a full-blown fight between Solange and Jay-Z that was captured by a camera in the elevator.
Each of the family members is pretty private, so for quite some time fans were left to speculate about what caused the fight in the first place. Eventually, sources started to speak out, with one person telling E! News that the argument was about a woman named Rachel Roy, who used to work for Jay-Z. Roy was reportedly flirting a little too hard with Jay-Z, which caused "Beyoncé [to approach] Rachel to let her know the behavior was disrespectful and she wanted her out of their lives for good. Solange came over to have her sister's back, and things got heated with her and Rachel."
Then, Jay-Z stepped in. "Jay said some disrespectful things to Beyoncé and Solange as the confrontation was going down," the source continued. "That's why all hell broke loose in the elevator and why Beyoncé just stood back and let Solange hit Jay."