Star magazine got the rumor mill churning this week with a "bombshell tell-all" from Jason Alexander, the man to whom Britney was married for 55 hours in 2004. Alexander claims Spears told him that Jason Trawick, her current boyfriend, had given her a black eye. While both Spears' and Trawick's representatives denied the story, Radar Online claims to have audio of Spears and Alexander discussing the abuse. Although there is no solid evidence the attack ever took place, it nonetheless made a splash on magazine and tabloid covers.
Fame Pictures
Sean Penn once described his marriage to Madonna as a miserable four years in which the two never had a single conversation. The unhappy union finally came to an end after an incident in 1988 in which a drunken Penn verbally harassed Madonna for nine hours, hit her, and sent her to the police smeared in makeup and tears. Although Madonna withdrew charges and kept the incident under wraps, it continues to pay dividends for tabloids more than two decades later. When the two were spotted leaving a restaurant together in New York in early 2010, the papers ran endless speculation about a reunion despite the fact that the pair said they just bumped into each other.
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
Carey was still a teenager when she caught the eye of Mottola, then the powerful head of Sony Music Entertainment. After he shepherded her career to superstardom, the pair wed in 1993—but the marriage wasn't a happy one. Carey recalls feeling controlled by Mottola, who was 20 years her senior and the head of her record label, even dubbing their New York mansion " Sing Sing"—a reference to both the famous prison and his dominion over her professional life. Years later, after Carey had ditched both the marriage and Mottola's label, she confessed to Larry King that she had felt abused "emotionally, mentally… For me, to really get out it was difficult because there was a connection that was not only a marriage but a business thing where the person was in control of my life," Carey said.
Kimberly Butler, Time Life Pictures / Getty Images
Gibson sparked a summer's worth of controversy with the release of leaked conversations between him and then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, in which he threatened to kill her and burn down her house—while also demanding oral sex. During the couple's subsequent custody battle, Gibson admitted to slapping Oksana while she was holding their infant daughter. "I slapped Oksana one time with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality," Gibson said. He admitted he "did not handle the situation as well as I should have."
Jeff Vespa, WireImage / Getty Images
In 2004, just months after the future Oscar nominees wed, Josh Brolin was arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery charges. Diane Lane, who had called the police on her husband, later dropped the complaints and called the situation a "misunderstanding." The couple is still together, though not without problems. Brolin was arrested again in 2009 when a drunken bar outing turned violent and police used pepper spray on the actor and his thespian friend Jeffrey Wright.
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Saturday Night Live and NewsRadio funnyman Phil Hartman's life ended tragically in 1998 when his wife of 11 years, Brynn, fatally shot him after a heated argument, then killed herself several hours later. Brynn had battled drug addiction for years and had alcohol, cocaine, and an anti-depressant in her system on the day she killed Hartman. Neighbors told the press that the couple had been suffering from marital discord, but they "didn't think it would lead to this."
AP Photo
Through 14 rocky years of marriage, pop diva Whitney Houston stood by R&B singer Bobby Brown as he went in and out of jail on substance-abuse charges. But in 2009, years after their divorce, she revealed the extent of his abuse in an Oprah Winfrey interview. "He spit on me," she told Winfrey. "He actually spit on me. And my daughter was coming down the stairs and she saw that." Houston also said that Brown "slapped me once and he got hit over the head." She partly attributed his abuse to the fact that her career was more successful than his. "I think somewhere inside, something happens to a man, when a woman has that much control," she told Winfrey.
Larry Busacca / Retna
The relationship between chart-toppers Rihanna and Chris Brown ended in cruel blows after Rihanna intercepted a text from one of Brown's booty calls on the night of the 2009 Grammy Awards. They got in an altercation, and Brown got violent, leaving her with "visible injuries" and bite marks on her hands. Brown was immediately arrested, and Rihanna's next album, Rated R, addressed the violence head-on. The entertainment media's obsessive coverage of the fight and the ensuing court battle led to excesses like the publication of photos of Rihanna's battered face the night of the attack. Tabloid exploitation of the singer sparked the passing of " Rihanna's Law" in Los Angeles to protect high-profile victims of domestic violence from media prying.
Evan Agostini / AP Photo
TV's top-paid star has a checkered past when it comes to domestic partnership. During his 1989-90 romance with actress Kelly Preston, Sheen accidentally shot her in the arm—and then left her for a porn star. In a 2005 voicemail, he was caught berating his then-wife Denise Richards, using both the C word and the N word. And in 2010, the Two and a Half Men star was charged with three crimes resulting from a domestic-abuse situation with third wife Brooke Mueller.
David Zalubowski / AP Photo
Details of Simpson and Brown's tumultuous marriage came to light during 1995's sensational murder trial, in which the former NFL star was accused of murdering his wife and her friend Ron Goldman. Los Angeles prosecutors used evidence of domestic violence to strengthen their case, citing 62 incidents of physical and mental abuse as well as threats and manipulation. The trial's judge also allowed jurors to hear about a 1989 instance in which Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal abuse and a 1985 incident in which he allegedly damaged his wife's car with a baseball bat.
Getty Images
Smith, a defensive end for the New Orleans Saints, was arrested by Louisiana police in late 2010 after they witnessed him and his wife, Racquel, get into a physical altercation outside a nightclub at 2 a.m. Smith was seen yanking his wife's hair and pulling her down the street. He was freed on $1,000 bail and later called the incident "an unfortunate misunderstanding" that was " not a domestic issue."
Bill Haber / AP Photo
MTV's reality show about young mothers got very real this year when Amber, an Indiana teen who has a child with her boyfriend Gary, was seen violently attacking him in a September episode of the show, punching and slapping him several times in front of their daughter. Local authorities were tipped off to the incident through the program, and formally charged Amber with domestic violence and battery. MTV is cooperating with the investigation, according to a rep.
In the 1960s and '70s, the Turners achieved mainstream success with dance hits such as "Proud Mary," but behind the exterior was an abusive marriage. In her 1986 autobiography, I, Tina, Turner revealed the years of violence she endured from Ike, who she said abused cocaine and prescription pills and once broke her nose. Tina finally walked away after a particularly violent episode—with only 36 cents in her pocket—and launched a solo comeback in the '80s. Her memoir was turned into the movie What's Love Got to Do With It?, starring Angela Bassett.
AP Photo
