# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/81 "2004-05-16T14:51:23Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > And my (extremely white) child has a black mother!" Did he really claim that? I hadn’t heard that one before. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/82 "2004-05-16T15:27:43Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Your list of “Christian ex-occultist hoaxsters” reminded me of **Jeff Fenholt** , some mullethead who made the rounds on Christian talk shows in the early 90’s and claimed to be the lead singer for Black Sabbath. It turns out that he did audition for the band (and even recorded some demos, which proved at least that much of his story) but in no way was ever considered as a member. That &@&#\*&head visited my college when I was an undergrad and I’ve seen his TV show a few times. I’d have to open a pit thread to express my complete opinion of him but here I’ll just say that while he’s far from the most successful televangelist he’s definitely the most evil. On one of his shows he told a woman who’s 20-something son hears voices that tell him to do erratic things that “Your son doesn’t need that medicine the atheist doctors are giving him… he’s not suffering from any illness, he’s taking on demons.” He really did star on Broadway and in a touring company of _Jesus Christ Superstar_ and says he was saved by a vision of the real Christ that occurred while he was on acid during the crucifixion scene. (How odd— you were using powerful hallucinogens while dressed as Christ and hanging on a cross and you had a religious hallucination.) He claims that he immediately went straight and started his ministry, which is of course an absolute lie- he turned to religion for a living a few years later after his career was completely dead. Absolute scum. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/83 "2004-05-16T16:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Your list of “Christian ex-occultist hoaxsters” reminded me of Jeff Fenholt, some mullethead who made the rounds on Christian talk shows in the early 90’s and claimed to be the lead singer for Black Sabbath. It turns out that he did audition for the band (and even recorded some demos, which proved at least that much of his story) but in no way was ever considered as a member. I saw him starring on Broadway in **Jesus Christ, Superstar**. After th show, he and the guy playing Judas were beseiged by fans and autograph-seekers. I didn’t hear anything about him for years afterwards, until a friend who is in the Assembly of God loaned me an audiotape of the now-reformed Fenholt speaking about his former life at one of his sessions. Interesting turnabout. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/84 "2004-05-16T17:29:01Z")
Slight hijack: How much of Eminem’s shtick is just that: shtick? Or is he _really_ a white boy from the ghetto who has street cred because of his mad rap skeelz? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/85 "2004-05-16T18:17:22Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Slight hijack: > > How much of Eminem’s shtick is just that: shtick? IMDb has a LONG biography of him, maybe that’s a start… I have a friend from the Detroit area who’s said that 8 Mile really is a rough area. > [@Sampiro](#): > > He may be a vegetarian, but there are photos of him smoking and he was temporarily relieved of his SPIDERMAN 2 job due to substance abuse of some type (either alcohol, drugs, or some combo thereof). Really? Never heard that before. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/86 "2004-05-16T19:01:16Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > And nobody’s yet mentioned **Michael Jackson??** “No, I’ve never had plastic surgery! No, I’ve never slept with boys! And my (extremely white) child has a black mother!” You’re incorrect on all three counts. Michael Jackson _does_ admit to plastic surgery on his chin and on his nose (see his book _Moonwalker_). He openly and happily talks about sleeping with boys. And he has never claimed the mother of his children is black. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/87 "2004-05-16T19:33:08Z")
I think he’s said that he’s undergone less plastic surgery than he obviously has, though. Is that right? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/88 "2004-05-16T19:58:38Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the times that, while president, Ronald Reagan told stories, supposedly about his own life, that were in fact scenes from movies he had appeared in. I can’t recall any specifics at the moment, but I’m pretty sure it happened more than once or twice. I could go into other non-autobiographical lies Reagan told, but this isn’t the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/89 "2004-05-16T21:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] I can’t believe no one has mentioned the times that, while president, Ronald Reagan told stories, supposedly about his own life, that were in fact scenes from movies he had appeared in. I can’t recall any specifics at the moment, but I’m pretty sure it happened more than once or twice. [QUOTE] I had a professor who did that. **Minty Green** may have run into him too. Following one of his more colorful stories about being the XO on a sub that went into Tokyo harbor one of the GI Bill students stood up and denounced him for a liar, since the student had been a torpedoman on that very boat on that very cruse. He wasn’t a very good teacher, either. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/90 "2004-05-16T21:38:16Z")
This isn’t really a big deal compared to everything else, but in 2002, James Marsters claimed he was 28. He was 40. Some industrious (read: crazy) fan dug up his birth certificate and forced him to come clean. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/91 "2004-05-16T22:01:28Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > This isn’t really a big deal compared to everything else, but in 2002, James Marsters claimed he was 28. > > He was 40. I couldn’t believe that when I read it. I’m not gay or anything (well, alright I am) but he is one damned hot and delicious and yummy looking 40 (up there with Brad Pitt & Viggo). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/92 "2004-05-16T22:04:49Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Some industrious (read: crazy) fan dug up his birth certificate and forced him to come clean. Why does that make the fan “crazy”? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/93 "2004-05-16T22:08:44Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I can’t believe no one has mentioned the times that, while president, Ronald Reagan told stories, supposedly about his own life, that were in fact scenes from movies he had appeared in. I only heard of him doing that once. He gave the impression to a visiting Israeli official that he was part of the U.S. Army forces that liberated the Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II, when he was actually a Hollywood-based officer in the Army Signal Corps, watching Signal Corps footage of the liberation. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/94 "2004-05-16T22:37:41Z")
^^^I heard of him telling one about some kid going down in a burning fighter plane or somesuch thing, which was actually from a film. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/95 "2004-05-16T22:51:10Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Michael Jackson _does_ admit to plastic surgery on his chin and on his nose (see his book _Moonwalker_). He openly and happily talks about sleeping with boys. And he has never claimed the mother of his children is black. Granted, I don’t delve too deeply into the private life of Wacko Jacko – but in that documentary “Living With Michael Jackson”, he most definitely did claim that his youngest son “Blanket” (the one he dangled out a window) has a black mother: _“Why do you think they call us ‘colored people’? Because we come in all colors!”_ And at first he denied having ANY plastic surgery done – eventually the interviewer got him to confess that he’d done his nose. Twice. What’s scary is that he believes all that shit about himself. (As do many of the other celebrities in this thread, I imagine.) ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/96 "2004-05-16T23:30:13Z")
That Jackson’s youngest son has light skin and hair is no barrier to the child having a mother who self-identifies as “black.” By now I’d think that the most sheltered of people would realize that we do, indeed, range in shades from black as night to light, bright and darn near white, and, consequently, so do our children. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/97 "2004-05-16T23:31:56Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Why does that make the fan “crazy”? I just think it’s a bit crazy to go rooting around people personal files for whatever reason. > [@](#): > > I couldn’t believe that when I read it. I’m not gay or anything (well, alright I am) but he is one damned hot and delicious and yummy looking 40 (up there with Brad Pitt & Viggo). Shit I know. There are _still_ people who don’t believe it, though he’s admitted it publically several times now. Mostly teenage girls who think it’s oogy to lust after a man who’s about the same age as their father… And in real life? He’s _even hotter_. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/98 "2004-05-17T00:01:04Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Ronald Reagan told stories, supposedly about his own life, that were in fact scenes from movies he had appeared in. I recall hearing something similar. My bone of contention is that he said before he ran for Governor of California, that he was an actor. I’ve seen some of those movies. He’s no actor. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/99 "2004-05-17T00:23:55Z")
> [@](#): > > In 1991, Madonna conceived a child with model/actor Tony Ward. She was in love with him and decided to have the child. A few weeks later, serious defects were detected in the fetus, coupled with complications in the pregnancy. Dr. Randy Harris, an OB at Cedars-Sinai who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, advised that she terminate the pregnancy. She thought about it for 3 days, then agreed. Her publicist denied that she was ever pregnant. A reporter impersonating a health care worker was able to get Madonna to discuss the pregnancy in question with him directly (Andersen, 1992. Victor, 2001. Morton, 2001). BUSTED! [OT]Sorry to get up on my high horse here but is anybody really bothered by this story? Not so so much for Madonna’s “lying” but the fact this sleazebag “reporter” passed himself as a medical professional in order to pry some very private information out of her. I think anybody in the same position as her (public figure or not) would feel extremely violated by what happened. Plus, what the “reporter” did in this case is probably illegal. (BTW, I’m not a Madonna fan in any way and have no interest in either her music or personal life.)[/OT] > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by commasense > I can’t believe no one has mentioned the times that, while president, Ronald Reagan told stories, supposedly about his own life, that were in fact scenes from movies he had appeared in. During the 80’s, there was an interesting book by Gary Wills about Reagan’s blatent meshing of fact with Hollywood fiction. At the time, I thought Reagan was lying. However, I now wonder if it was just a symptom of the onset of Alzheimer’s. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078/100 "2004-05-17T01:18:40Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I just think it’s a bit crazy to go rooting around people['s] personal files for whatever reason. I asked because I’m a professional genealogist, and regularly order birth certificates of people living and dead. Califiornia, like many other states, considers birth certificates public documents, not private — anyone can order a non-certified copy of a birth certificate. And the California birth index, 1905-1995, is a on-line public database. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-were-major-liars-about-their-lives/245078.md?page=6)