Celebrities Unhinged: The High Price of Temper Tantrums and Poor Impulse Control

From time to time, celebrities demonstrate that they're just flawed human beings like the rest of us. Sometimes they do it on purpose, but more often than not, their humanity manifests in all sorts of unintended and ugly outbursts and slip-ups that cost them their reputation and careers. Some incidents bare their narcissism, while others prove that fame can go to a person's head.

We are looking back at seven celebrities whose issues almost derailed their careers.

Naomi Campbell's Short Fuse

Since the 1990s, Naomi Campbel has regularly been in the news for flying off the handle and occasionally even assaulting people.

Thus, in 1998 she grabbed her assistant Georgina Galanis by the throat and hit her with a phone. Two years later, another assistant claimed the model had assaulted her. In 2003, Naomi threw a mobile phone at an assistant again. 2006 saw several incidents involving Naomi losing it: Ana Scolavino claimed Naomi threw a mobile phone directly at her head after she had failed to find the model's favourite jeans.

Another employee, Gaby Gibson, claimed the model beat her up, and Amanda Brack accused Campbel of illegal detention, repeated beatings and purposeful infliction of emotional distress. These fits of anger all resulted in lawsuits, settlements, fines, anger management courses and community service.

Kate Moss' drug and alcohol problem

2005 saw the publication of photos showing popular model Kate Moss doing drugs. London's Daily Mirror published the scoop, and before long, the model started losing one gig after another.

She got dropped by Burberry, Chanel and H&M, losing 4 million dollars as a result. Kate went into rehab, and seemingly got her life back together, but her glory days were gone for good. Suddenly, she was seen as a has-been and invited only to participate in advertising campaigns that capitalised on the nostalgia factor and targeted older audiences. Her troubles did not stop there: over the past few years, she has suffered from alcohol addiction. This April, she said in an interview that she was desperate to break the vicious habit.

Michael Jackson almost drops his son

As Michael Jackson's career began crumbling, more and more details began to surface about his private life that painted a rather bleak picture of what kind of person he really was. And his public antics hardly made things better.

One strange incident occurred in Berlin in 2002 when MJ stepped onto his hotel's balcony to greet his fans. At one point, he was about to show his nine-month-old son Prince, but at the last moment, he covered his face with a towel and then placed him on the balcony railing. The audience gasped as, for a moment, it seemed as if the baby was about to fall off the railing, but MJ pulled him back and retreated into the room.

MJ was widely criticised for the weird spectacle, which he later said was a huge mistake. With his reputation already tarnished by claims of child molestation, this new impromptu performance was widely viewed as confirmation that not all was well in House MJ.

John Galliano gets fired from Christian Dior for anti-Semitism

In 2011, a video of a drunken John Galliano insulting the guests at the cafe La Perle in Paris went viral on the internet. It was rumoured that the designer got triggered by the people sitting at the table next to him. He listened to them talk for a long time and then declared that people like them should all be put to death, calling one of the women a dirty kike.

As soon as the video went viral, Christian Dior, where the designer had worked since 1996, suspended and then fired him. Some celebrities, like Natalie Portman, announced they were cancelling him.

Several years later, Galliano did an interview for Vanity Fair in which he said he was deeply sorry, adding that since the incident, he had met with a rabbi and read a lot about the Holocaust. Today Galliano is the creative director at Maison Margiela.

Britney Spears Riding High upon a Deep Depression

In 2007, the media waxed poetic about Britney Spears' nervous breakdown, which the paparazzi were keeping a photographic diary of.

The singer started by having her head shaved in a Los Angeles salon. She followed up by assaulting the photographers that were following her around. She was going through a severe depression following her divorce from dancer Kevin Federline, who was trying to get full custody of their two sons.

They now live with their father, while Spears pays $20,000 a month in child support. Briney managed to get back to work in relatively short order, releasing Circus in 2008.

Charlie Sheen’s alcoholism and violence

In 2011, Charlie Sheen got fired from the popular series Two and a Half Men after a massive scandal.

He was getting paid $1 million per episode while the crew were constantly complaining about his antiques and constant drinking. In January of that year, Charlie had to be hospitalised after a 36-hour binge in a Las Vegas hotel room that brought the filming of the series to a standstill.

The actor is still convinced he got fired unfairly, but suing the producers didn't save his career, as Charlie kept right on getting in all kinds of trouble after getting kicked off Two and a Half Men.