For celebrities, being the subject of rumors and speculation comes with the territory. When you're in the public eye, people are going to talk about you. Most of the time, the rumors involve things such as dating, divorce, pregnancy, and plastic surgery — typical gossip fodder. But then there are those rumors that are totally wild and improbable (you know, like Elvis is still alive), yet some fans can't help but fall for them. And before you know it, they spread like wildfire online and get taken as fact.
Over the years, there have been some seriously crazy celebrity rumors about everything from conspiracies and cover-ups to secret twins and clones. And oftentimes, it's difficult to even unravel how and why and where the rumors got started. With social media and fake news, rumors can take on a life of their own — and of course, as they're passed from person to person, they get changed or, in some cases, wildly exaggerated. That's likely how some of these whoppers came to be.
From tongue transplants to fake baby bumps, here are 15 of the craziest celebrity rumors that have kept the Hollywood gossip mill spinning overtime. Be honest: Have you been duped by any of these?
Nicolas Cage is a vampire.
This creepy rumor first sparked in 2011 after a vintage photograph went up for sale on eBay. The sepia-toned shot from 1870 was a portrait of a man who looked uncannily like actor Nicolas Cage. It didn't help that the seller listed the picture with the headline, "Nicolas Cage is a vampire," adding this note to entice would-be buyers: "Personally, I believe it's him and that he is some sort of walking undead/vampire who quickens/reinvents himself once every 75 years or so."
Nicolas — who coincidentally starred in a movie called Vampire's Kiss — later shut down the speculation. During an interview in 2012 with David Letterman, he told the TV host, "Now look, I don't drink blood and the last time I looked in the mirror I had a reflection."
Stevie Wonder isn't really blind.
Conspiracy theorists have long questioned the legitimacy of Stevie Wonder's blindness, pointing to several incidences when it appeared as if the music legend could actually see. Shaquille O'Neal really stirred the pot with his story about a surprising encounter he had with Stevie in the elevator of a Los Angeles apartment building they both once lived in.
"Door opens, it's Stevie Wonder. He comes in, says, 'What's up, Shaq?' Presses the button. For real," he recounted on Inside the NBA in 2014.
Lindsay Lohan had a twin sister.
Back in 1998, Lindsay Lohan had us all seeing double when she starred in the remake of The Parent Trap. With the help of some clever camera work and a body double, Lindsay portrayed both halves of twin sister duo Hallie and Annie.
But a rumor made the rounds that the actress had a real-life twin sister named Kelsey who filmed alongside her — only she died before the movie's release so Disney execs covered it up to save the project. Lindsay would later go on a downward spiral in her personal life, abusing alcohol and drugs and winding up in rehab, adding fuel to the theory that she was grieving a lost sister.
Mr. Rogers was inked.
The late children's TV host Fred Rogers was well known for his gentle demeanor and squeaky-clean image. Rumors abounded, however, that he was a hardcore US Navy SEAL sniper during the Vietnam War and that he hid souvenirs of his wartime work under his signature cardigan sweaters. According to conspiracy theory chatter, Mr. Rogers' arms were covered in tattoos that commemorated his record number of "kills."
The rumors were so rampant after his death that the US Navy actually issued a statement in an effort to put them to rest. The military branch pointed out that Mr. Rogers' 1928 birth would have made him too old to enlist in the Navy at the time of the US involvement in the Vietnam conflict. It also addressed the tattoos speculation, explaining that Mr. Rogers chose to always wear long sleeves to maintain a sense of formality and authority with his young audience.
Cher had two ribs removed out of vanity.
Chalk this one up to fake news. In 1988, the French magazine Paris Match erroneously reported that Cher had undergone extensive plastic surgery, including the removal of two ribs to make her waist look slimmer. The story was picked up by other media outlets, helping it become accepted as fact by many fans.
Cher eventually spoke out to squash the speculation, saying: "If that [rumor] were true, how could I do those health club commercials, in which I wear next to nothing? I'd be scarred all over. And could I wear the kind of clothes I do if I'd had all those many operations? Wouldn't there be visible scars everywhere?"
Michael J. Fox's middle name is Jell-O.
Thanks to hit films including Back to the Future and Teen Wolf, Michael J. Fox's name is famous around the world. But it's never quite been clear what that middle initial "J" stands for — leading to an interesting theory: Michael's parents supposedly let him choose his own middle name, so when he was 6 he was inspired by his favorite dessert to become Michael Jell-O Fox.
As it turns out, Michael's middle name is actually Andrew, but he opted to go with a different middle initial professionally to set himself apart in the Screen Actors Guild directory. In his memoir, Lucky Man, he explained that there was already a Michael Fox, and he felt Michael A. Fox sounded like he was complimenting his own "foxy" looks. So instead, he chose J in honor of character actor Michael J. Pollard.
Beyoncé was cloned.
This one is truly wacky. For some inexplicable reason, a rumor took hold that Beyoncé actually died in 2000, when Destiny's Child was in its prime and dominating the music charts. Afraid of losing one of their biggest moneymakers, record label bosses cloned Beyoncé using her stem cells. Yep, you read that right. Even today, some fans insist it's true because the pop queen looks a lot different now than she did back then.
Beyoncé faked her pregnancy.
When you're as famous as Beyoncé, you're going to be dogged by a lot of rumors. Another one she can't seem to escape is that she was never actually pregnant with her oldest daughter, Blue Ivy. At the time, some fans suspected that the "Crazy in Love" singer was using a prosthetic belly to hide the fact that a surrogate was actually carrying her baby. The rumors really gained steam after she was interviewed on an Australian talk show and her stomach appeared to deflate on camera.
Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, later spoke out about how hurtful the fake pregnancy speculation was for the family. "I thought it was very unfair and very cruel that someone would think that someone would be that diabolical to keep up a charade like that for nine months," she said.
Gene Simmons has a cow tongue.
Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has practically built his career around his well-endowed tongue. In the rock band's heyday, he was often photographed sticking it out, and he even wrote in his memoir that his "large oral appendage" had been an asset with the ladies. So it's not surprising that his fans have given his super-sized tongue a lot of thought — and some of them came to the conclusion that he'd had a cow tongue grafted onto his own to give him extra length. Wild.
Katy Perry is JonBenét Ramsey.
JonBenét Ramsey captured the headlines in 1996 when she was murdered at the age of 6 and her killer was never found. But some people have put forth the theory that she's alive and well — and that she's actually Katy Perry.
As evidence, they've cited clues found in Katy's song lyrics and music videos, as well as the striking physical resemblance between the two. "The eyebrows don't change much on a person. You're born with your eyebrows," one conspiracist said, via Billboard. But there's a major flaw to this theory: Katy is six years older than JonBenét.
Pippa Middleton wore a fake bum.
Her sister may have been marrying a future king, but Pippa Middleton unexpectedly stole the spotlight at Prince William and Kate Middleton's 2011 wedding. Televised around the world carrying her sister's train in her figure-hugging Alexander McQueen bridesmaid dress, Pippa became an instant sensation. (People magazine even named her pert derriere the Top Body Moment of that year.)
But just days after the wedding, the compliments turned to criticism, with the internet lighting up with accusations that Pippa's backside was fake. "Of course she had a false bottom," etiquette expert Stephane Bern insisted to the Daily Mail (though she offered no proof). "It was an optical illusion. She knew there were a billion people watching."
Suri Cruise is really Chris Klein's daughter.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter, Suri, famously made her world debut on the cover of Vanity Fair in 2006 (with a portrait shot by Annie Leibovitz, no less). Even as a tiny baby, Suri's resemblance to Tom was striking, and now at age 16, she looks even more like a carbon copy of her famous father. But yet, rumors persist that Suri's real father is actually Chris Klein, whom Katie dated right before she started seeing Tom. And the fact that Tom doesn't seem to have had contact with Suri in years makes some people even more suspicious about her true parentage.
Jennifer Lopez insured her butt.
Sure, she's got one of the most enviable figures in Hollywood, but did Jennifer Lopez really have her derriere insured? That's what some fans think. Rumors have persisted for years that the Hustlers star took out a $27 million policy on her famous backside. And even though Jennifer denied the rumors during a Carpool Karaoke segment with James Corden — "There is no such thing as that," she said — people still aren't convinced.
Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed.
Nirvana fans around the world were stunned and heartbroken to learn that Kurt Cobain had died by suicide in 1994. Even though he was found with a shotgun and left a suicide note, conspiracy theories that he was murdered have abounded. Some have pointed the finger at Kurt's wife, Courtney Love, speculating that the couple's marriage was on the rocks and that Courtney had Kurt killed and forged his suicide note. It didn't help that critics of Courtney's accused her for years of only being with Kurt for his money and fame.
Richard Gere has a gerbil fetish.
This icky rumor seemed to be everywhere in the early '90s and remains something of an urban legend. The chatter was that Richard Gere included gerbils in a certain bedroom activity of his and that he once wound up in the emergency room because of it. At the time, everyone seemed to know someone who had seen copies of the X-ray evidence.
After putting up with the relentless — and beyond embarrassing — rumors for years, Richard finally addressed them when explaining that he avoids reading press stories about himself because they're "full of lies." "Lots of crazy things came up about me at first, especially from the tabloids. There is an infamous, 'Gere stuck a hamster up his bum' urban myth."
Britney Spears was on the White House payroll.
In the early 2000s, Britney Spears kept the paparazzi working overtime with her wild antics, culminating in a public meltdown in 2007 — including shaving her head and attacking a photographer with an umbrella — that sadly resulted in her losing custody of her sons and being put on a 5150 psychiatric hold. But according to one theory floated among fans, it was all a carefully orchestrated plot by President George W. Bush's administration to distract from its many political scandals. The evidence? Britney's erratic behavior suspiciously appeared perfectly timed with the rockiest moments of Bush's presidency.
But considering her personal struggles led to her being locked in a 13-year conservatorship that allowed her little control over her own life, we doubt she was willingly pretending for the sake of cleaning up a politician's image.
