Top 5 Celebrity Stories of 2009: From Rihanna and Chris Brown to Tiger Woods, the Word is "Scandal"

Short and simple: The Top 5 celebrity stories of 2009 all involve scandal to one degree or another -- Chris Brown's assault on his then-girlfriend Rihanna, Michael Jackson's suspicious death, David Letterman's intern dating service, Erin Andrews' peephole video release, and, just in at the wire, the Tiger Woods accident and mistress public relations debacle. The Top 5 celebrity stories of 2009 would have been more uplifting could they have included feelgood stories like the resurrection of Mickey Rourke's career (winning the Golden Globe for best actor in January and getting a nod from the Oscars as well, before getting inundated with movie offers) or the explosive phenomenon that was the discovery of Susan Boyle, but nothing dominated the media like scandal in 2009.

The Chris Brown Beating of Rihanna

Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna the morning before the Grammy Awards in February quickly became front-page and headline news. Within days, after cancellations of concerts and appearances by both stars, not to mention the impact of the details of the assault and the "leaked" Rihanna beating photo, the story became the center of a media firestorm and brought domestic and intimate abuse to the forefront of public discourse. Although Brown eventually pleaded guilty to felony assault and was given the maximum sentence a first-time offender could receive in the state of California without actually serving prison time, the shadow on Brown's career lingers as reports indicate that his new album isn't selling well.

The Death of Michael Jackson

Many had difficulty believing that Michael Jackson had actually died when the news was first announced on June 25. But it was only a matter of hours before speculation had formed that he had been murdered or he had died of an overdose. The story spiraled into an official homicide investigation and began to dominate everything on the internet, radio, television, and print. Michael Jackson became the King of Pop once more and dominated the music airwaves and sales charts as well. For weeks everything that occurred that included Jackson's name, from retrospectives and tributes to custody battles for his children, the dispensation of his estate, and the circumstances of his death were grist for the media mill. Even CNN, the 24-hour news channel, earned the unofficial nickname of the "Michael Jackson Channel."

The Erin Andrews Peephole Video Scandal

It was merely a blurry video of a naked blonde that some were suggesting might be the internet sensation and sports reporter Erin Andrews before she made a public acknowledgment that the video was indeed her and she planned to find and prosecute whoever was responsible for the violation of her privacy. But before Michael Barrett was captured, Andrews was the center of a media frenzy that would begin as an internet search scandal, hoax, and possible virus conveyor but end up being far more as the New York Post, Fox News, and CBS News would soon display parts of the Erin Andrews peephole video (properly and strategically blurred or barred out, of course) into far more than just millions of people searching for the Erin Andrews peephole video on the world wide web.

The David Letterman Intern Scandal

Late night talk show host David Letterman shocked his audience and the nation with his honest admission during a broadcast on October 1 that he had had sex with some of his staff over the years. But the admission was nothing as compared to the back story of why he felt it necessary to divulge that information over the air. A "48 Hours" producer, Robert Halderman, had allegedly left a note demanding $2 million or he would go public with stories of Letterman and his various affairs with interns at his show. Letterman and his lawyer set up a series of meetings that resulted in the arrest of Halderman but the scandal, which dominated the news for several weeks continued to be resurrected with each new multiple-woman affair scandal, such as those of ESPN sports analyst Steve Phillips and Tiger Woods.

The Tiger Woods Accident and Mistresses Scandal

Two days before Thanksgiving, the National Enquirer published a story that alleged that Tiger Woods was having an affair with New York nightclub promoter Rachel Uchitel. Two and a half hours into the day after Thanksgiving and a series of events -- a car accident, the investigation by local and state police, conflicting stories by Woods and his wife (and eyewitnesses) -- would begin a cascade that would end in over a dozen different women being named in relationships or coming forward and admitting to affairs with Woods during his 5-year marriage to Elin Nordegren, the Swedish swimsuit model he married in 2004 and with whom he subsequently had had two children. Although the scandal seemed to have died down somewhat headed into the third week of December, Tiger Woods was still headlining news with mistress interviews, talk of divorce, and Woods' loss of several lucrative corporate endorsements.

Of course, there were other celebrity scandals and non-scandals that dominated headlines in 2009, but nothing having the longevity of those aforementioned stories. Some notable celebrity stories of 2009 that involved scandal and not were the death of John Travolta's son that morphed into a despicable extortion trial, the overreaction and controversy over David Letterman's jokes on Sarah Palin and her daughter, the continuing cult of personality and celebrity status afforded President Barack Obama, the tragic deaths of Patrick Swayze and Farrah Fawcett, and the terrible murder/suicide of all-star quarterback Steve McNair and his theretofore unknown girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi.

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Sources:

Associated Content
"The Late Show with David Letterman," CBS Television