# Celebrities who were major liars about their lives **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078 "2004-05-14T05:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/1 "2004-05-14T05:45:16Z")
Several celebrities told so many lies about their pasts that sometimes it’s not even known what is and isn’t true. Who are a few examples you can think of? Some that I’m familiar with: _Enrico Caruso_- frequently claimed to be the 18th (sometimes 15th) of 21 children and the first to survive infancy, but was in fact less interestingly the oldest in a family of 3. _Yul Brynner_- rarely discussed his past, though when he did it involved BIG FISH style tales of being the son of a Japanese princess and a Swiss nobleman, running away with gypsies as a boy, great adventures in WW2 underground resistance, etc., when in fact he was born to a Eurasian family on Sakhalin, grew up in Paris when his parents separated and effectively sat out WW2 in the US. He sang with gypsies in nightclubs but never joined them. _Al Lewis_- best known as Grandpa Munster, among his whoppers are that he’s a gypsy (he’s Jewish and grew up in Brooklyn), that he has a Ph.D. in child psychology from Columbia (he never even completed his BA) and that he was a circus performer and trapeze artist (there’s no record of it and it doesn’t fit with what’s known of his past). His date of birth is also recorded differently in different sources, some placing him in his late nineties and others in his early eighties. _Patty Duke_- Perhaps due to the manic-depressive illness that was untreated most of her life or perhaps just show-biz spin, she’s made several odd claims about the foster family who raised her (including tales of an odd device with spinning electric cylinders that she had to lie on that don’t seem to be borne out by other evidence) and claims she became pregnant either by Desi Arnaz, Jr. or John Astin (she’s not sure which) and married Michael Tell, a total stranger who sublet her apartment, in order to avoid the scandal of an unwed pregnancy; 30 years later DNA proved that her son Sean was the son of Michael Tell, though she still denies having slept with him. _Steven Seagal_- Claims to be a black belt in several martial arts disciplines that experts who have watched his moves say he doesn’t know the first thing about, has hinted strongly that he was a CIA operative in Japan, claims to have been the prize student of O’Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba) though none of Ueshiba’s other students seem to have known this (they admit he hung around the classes, but never saw him fighting) and claimed to be one of the world’s leading authorities on samurai swords (several claims he made were demonstrably false). _Raymond Burr_ claimed to have been married three times (twice widowed, once divorced) and said the heartbreak of his only child’s death prevented him from any romantic involvement. In fact while he truly was divorced once (from a very brief marriage) he never had a child, was never widowed and was gay. Who are some other celebrity prevaricators? Who are some others who have so fabricated their past as to nearly lose it? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/2 "2004-05-14T05:50:19Z")
[Chuck “I killed a buncha people for the CIA” Barris comes to mind.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030207.html) ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/3 "2004-05-14T06:11:10Z")
In one interview at the beginning of her career, Madonna claimed to have grown up in a rough, mixed-race 'hood. She actually grew up in a middle-class family in a middle-class, white neighbourhood. She’s also lied about drug use and pregnancies, but that’s a bit of a tangent off of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/4 "2004-05-14T06:36:41Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Steven Seagal_- Claims to be a black belt in several martial arts disciplines that experts who have watched his moves say he doesn’t know the first thing about, has hinted strongly that he was a CIA operative in Japan, claims to have been the prize student of O’Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba) though none of Ueshiba’s other students seem to have known this (they admit he hung around the classes, but never saw him fighting) and claimed to be one of the world’s leading authorities on samurai swords (several claims he made were demonstrably false). Please tell me this wasn’t news to you. It’s been about 10 years since he was exposed for the fraudulent pussy he really is. Although, I disagree with anyone claiming him a good actor, he _did_ fool a lot of people for awhile and got rich off it. My 2. John Wayne. I love every movie he’s ever made. Really portrayed the individual American tough guy in every role adeptly. Now, he never claimed it, so I give him a pass, but he did let America beleive his publicist about being a war hero. Still, won’t keep me from watching _Rio Bravo_ when it’s on again. Second. Rock Huson. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/5 "2004-05-14T06:37:57Z")
:smack: shit, that’s HUDSON ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/6 "2004-05-14T06:48:43Z")
> [@kung fu lola](#): > > In one interview at the beginning of her career, Madonna claimed to have grown up in a rough, mixed-race 'hood. > She actually grew up in a middle-class family in a middle-class, white neighbourhood. As memory serves the same is true of Robert “Vanilla Ice” Van Winkle; he claimed to be a child of the “skreets” when he grew up in an area about as ghetto as a Perry Como Christmas Special. (Of course when it comes to white rappers I have a special weakness for [Brian Austin Greene](http://imdb.com/name/nm0004977/bio), who overnight went from affluent California kid to ebonics when he started rapping. A reverse past doctoring was _The New Kids on the Block_. They were portrayed as the boys next door, the kind you’d want your daughters to bring home, when in fact several of them were from very rough neighborhoods, had lengthy juvenile records, and backstage and hotels during the tours that were portrayed as something out of an Osmond Brothers benefit concert were in fact a non-stop orgy of hormonally raging overnight millionaires that required an army of PR reps to run damage control. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/7 "2004-05-14T06:57:36Z")
Charlie Chaplain claimed to be Jewish for some reason. He wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/8 "2004-05-14T07:05:36Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Charlie Chaplain claimed to be Jewish for some reason. He wasn’t. IIRC his half-brother (who also went by Chaplin, though they had different fathers) actually was half-Jewish. Perhaps it was fraternal solidarity. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/9 "2004-05-14T07:14:56Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Charlie Chaplain claimed to be Jewish for some reason. He wasn’t. Maybe he had a budding Hollywood carreer? ---
**Author:** ![QuizCustodet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ba0ec/32.png) [@QuizCustodet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuizCustodet)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/10 "2004-05-14T07:26:56Z")
From Britain, Jeffrey Archer (novelist and (mostly former) politician) appears to lie about his life about as easily as he breathes. Michael Crick, a former BBC journalist, put together a stunning biography that exposes most of them. Basically, stuff gets spun: ---
**Author:** ![QuizCustodet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ba0ec/32.png) [@QuizCustodet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuizCustodet)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/11 "2004-05-14T07:30:11Z")
Sorry for the cut-off. A few examples of Jeffrey Archer’s spin: - He claimed to have a degree from Oxford, when in fact he had a certificate in teaching P.E. from a teaching college only loosely associated with the University. - Several of his ventures into charity work have serious financial question-marks, despite Archer’s voluble protests of their success - In the most famous case, he took a newspaper to court over allegations that he’d had an affair with a prostitute. He won the case initially, but it later emerged that he’d only done so by buying several people’s silence and getting his wife to lie on the stand. He was found out some years later, and recently served some time in prison over it. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/12 "2004-05-14T10:24:13Z")
I point you in the direction of Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block”. I don’t think I need to say more. I hate it when people lie to me through song. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/13 "2004-05-14T11:00:45Z")
Brian Dennehy claimed to have won the Congressional Medal of Honor in Vietnam, but investigative reporters discovered the claim was false. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/14 "2004-05-14T11:47:20Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > I point you in the direction of Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block”. I don’t think I need to say more. I hate it when people lie to me through song. To be fair to ol’ Jenny, this is probably more self-delusion than outright lying. Still, everything I’ve ever heard about JLo suggests that she’s a typical Rich Bitch. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/15 "2004-05-14T12:45:09Z")
Dan Aykroyd made up a spouse, at one point, or so I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/16 "2004-05-14T12:49:18Z")
When Demi Moore married Bruce Willis, she claimed she was “Single” on the marriage license. Which must have come as quite a shock to Freddie Moore, her ex-husband, whose name she uses. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/17 "2004-05-14T12:57:52Z")
Can’t you use the term “single” when you’re no longer married to someone? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/18 "2004-05-14T13:00:51Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Can’t you use the term “single” when you’re no longer married to someone? I think she was suppose to check the box marked “DIVORCED.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/19 "2004-05-14T13:04:20Z")
**Theda Bara** never lied about her own life (well, except her birthdate, which was 1885, not 1890), but her studio delightedly made up stories that she was the daughter of an Italian painter and an Arabian princess, born in the shadows of the pyramids and trained in Paris’ Grand Guignol theatres. Actually, she was Theodosia Goodman, a nice, upper-middle-class girl from Ohio. **Anna Held** lied like a rug. She insisted she was a native Parisienne, convent-schooled. She was actually a Jewish girl from Warsaw. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/20 "2004-05-14T14:22:03Z")
I beleive it was **Patrick O’ Brien** of the famous Master and the Commander Series that left a wife and young son behind in England, changed his name and left that life behind him to re-invent himself into PO’B, the writer. And no one knew, (except exwife & son) I think, until after his demise. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078.md?page=2)