Celebrities have very little privacy. For stars big and small, it seems as if somebody is always watching. We get that, and honestly so should they. Celebs shouldn't be surprised at all when they get caught lying (or even just bending the truth) by eagled-eyed fans and onlookers. And yes, sometimes they make such attempts in the most visible of places like social media. It's way too easy to spot inaccuracies on social, so we're not sure why they do it — but alas, they do. Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Kim Kardashian has been caught fibbing!
And of course, celebs who lie on social media often get caught and called out rather quickly. From Photoshop fails to misleading displays of status, a number of stars have gotten nailed by their lies. Whether it's tweets from actual witnesses revealing celebrities' lies or people catching on to the use of stock photos, there's always someone watching who is willing to point them out.
Some celebrities will fess up once they are called out, whereas others will continue to deny and still others will ignore the accusations altogether. But one way or another, once the seed of doubt has been planted, there's usually no coming back. It's seriously so embarrassing, but it just keeps happening. Keep reading to see all the juicy — and often hilarious — details.
Rita Ora
Back in 2014, singer Rita Ora cheekily tweeted that if she got 100,000 retweets she would release new music. When that didn't happen, even though she has millions of Twitter followers, she claimed she got hacked — but no one believed her. To this day, it's still largely assumed that she deleted the original tweet out of embarrassment, not because she was hacked.
Oprah Winfrey
We all love Oprah, so we don't hold it against her that she got caught lying in a tweet that she was likely paid for. In November 2012, she posted about how much she loves the Microsoft Surface tablet, but she did it from the Twitter app — which of course means that at the bottom of the tweet, it indicated that she was using Twitter for iPad.
Bow Wow
In 2017, Bow Wow posted a photo on Instagram of what looked like a photo of him getting ready to board a private plane to New York. But someone who was actually on the flight with the rapper secretly snapped a picture of him in his seat and tweeted it before they even took off, revealing that Bow Wow was actually flying commercial.
Justin Bieber
We imagine that Justin Bieber could actually afford to buy his own jet if he wanted to, and maybe he could now, but apparently in 2014 he couldn't. Back then, he posted a photo on Instagram indicating that he had gotten a new jet for Christmas, but it turns out he actually had just chartered it.
Kim Kardashian
In 2015, followers accused Kim Kardashian of setting a thirst trap on Instagram when she posted two sexy throwback photos of herself back-to-back — which of course is all she posts these days. But instead of owning up to it, she blamed her then 2-year-old daughter North, who she said was playing with her phone and posted the second photo. Yeah, right.
Bella Thorne
In 2016, actress Bella Thorne posted a selfie in which she was wearing a super-cute fur jacket, and in the caption she told fans the jacket was made of faux fur. But her detective-like followers did some Googling and discovered that was a lie. She ended up changing the caption, and her rep claimed she didn't know it was real.
Diddy
Leave it to Diddy to want to make it look like his life is even more fabulous than it already is. Back in 2014, he posted this stunning photo of the eclipse on his Instagram with the hashtag #diddyView — but his view it was not. It turns out the photo was taken by a Los Angeles photographer named Cole Younger, who ended up calling out the music mogul over his lie.
Kylie Jenner
At this point, we all know how far Kylie Jenner will go to get some attention. She'll even lie about cereal. A few years ago, she tweeted that she was eating cereal with milk for the first time in her life, and a fan called her bluff noting that she had tweeted a picture of cereal previously, and he even knew the exact date. So silly.
Shay Mitchell
The Pretty Little Liars actress partnered with skincare line Bioré for a Snapchat video, and it was a total fail. The video was supposed to show her removing her eye makeup, but she didn't at all. Viewers realized the makeup remover pad didn't even touch her skin and the makeup was still intact when she pulled it away, even though the pad appeared to have makeup on it.
Kris Jenner
Kris Jenner's social media lie came in the form of a Photoshop fail. Several years ago, she posed for a photo with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, and they both posted the snap on their social media accounts. There was one big, obvious difference between the two, though: Kris had airbrushed the lines and creases from both of their faces in her version. Vanity got the best of her.
Donald Trump
Talk about "the big lie." Back in 2016, when Donald Trump actually won the presidential election, he tweeted that he had actually won both the electoral college and popular votes, which he did not. Then after the 2020 election — which he lost — he egregiously claimed that millions of people had voted illegally. It's classic sore loser behavior.
Soulja Boy
Back in 2014, rapper Soulja Boy tried to big flex on Instagram, showing off what appeared at first glance to be stacks of hundred dollar bills, but once fans took a closer look they realized each stack just had one $100 bill (probably fake) on top and the rest was plain white paper. The rapper later deleted the snap, and although he still posts photos with stacks of money, he hasn't made the same embarrassing mistake again.
Khloé Kardashian
From watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians all these years, most of us know that Khloé Kardashian likes to cook and bake, so some might not have thought anything of it when she posted a spread of baked goods she said she made for Thanksgiving. But others were suspicious, and it soon came out that she had actually ordered the pies from Sweet Lady Jane bakery in Los Angeles. Maybe she made the monkey bread and muffins herself?
Paris Hilton
It's hard to say whether she was joking or not, but in 2017 Paris Hilton claimed on Twitter that she and Britney Spears invented the selfie. People were not having it, though, because so many of us remember taking selfies with disposable cameras long before Paris and her sidekick. Not only that, but a Japanese woman named Sasaki Miho is actually credited with creating the selfie in 1994.
Lele Pons
Influencer Lele Pons got caught jumping the gun back in 2017 when she posted on Instagram that she had cut off her hair and donated it to charity. In the photo, a friend was seen holding up a clump of hair that followers soon realized was just extensions, not Lele's actual hair. And of course, they also noted that Lele has color-treated hair, which is not eligible for donation. She ended up deleting the post and her Twitter explanation.
Millie Bobby Brown
The Stranger Things star tried to pull off a dupe of Shay Mitchell proportions, but fans caught her in the deception. She posted a supposed skincare routine video on YouTube, and viewers quickly caught on that not only did the makeup not come off as she was scrubbing her face, but her hands were dry after she claimed to have squirted product in them. That's some good acting.
Nelly
Quite some time ago, way back in 2003, rapper Nelly was keen on the idea of getting into Teen People's "Hottest Stars Under 25." Only, he was 28 at the time, and both he and his management team tried to lie about it so that he could make the issue. It's way too easy to verify age to ever imagine pulling something like this off.
Lindsay Lohan
Actress Lindsay Lohan might just win the award for the weirdest lie ever. In 2014, she claimed that she was forced to handle the body bag of the late music icon Whitney Houston as part of her court-ordered community service. The claim was completely false, though, and the coroner's office had to make a statement saying there was "no truth" to her story.
Amelia Marni
No, Love Island star Amelia Marni doesn't have a disproportionately large thigh. She too fell victim to the Photoshop lie, when she tried to slim down her legs or perhaps blur out some perceived imperfection and ended up making herself look like she had one leg instead of two. Maybe she was going for the mermaid look?
Taylor Swift
Remember Kanye West's song "Famous," in which he says he might have had "relations" with Taylor Swift? Well, at the time she tried to claim that she had no knowledge of the song prior to its release, but Kanye's wife at the time, Kim Kardashian, shut the lie down swiftly. (Sorry, we had to). She posted a Snapchat video of them discussing the song with Taylor, and the "Cardigan" singer can be heard clearly saying, "I mean, go with whatever line you think is better."
