Most Shocking Celeb Memoir Revelations of 2024

Here are some of the most shocking revelations from celebrity memoirs of the year…

In her memoir, Rebel Rising, Rebel Wilson revealed that she was once invited to a “tech billionaire’s party” by a member of the royal family who was “fifteenth or twentieth in line to the British throne.” She accepted and ended up at an extravagant party hosted “at a huge ranch just outside of LA.” Things took a turn around 2 a.m. when partygoers began to bring out drugs

“There’s a huge private fireworks display and then all of a sudden, it’s 2 a.m," she shared. “A guy comes out with a large tray piled with what looks like a ton of candy. I’m like, ‘Ooooh, is that candy?’ And the guy holding the tray says, ‘No, this is the molly.’ He says, ‘Oh, it’s for the orgy … it’s about to start … the orgies normally start at these things about this time.’”

Rebel, who had not yet lost her virginity and felt that there may be hidden cameras around, said she decided it was about time that she headed home and left the party before the orgy started.

Michael Jackson may have been the biggest pop star on the planet but Lisa Marie Presley says he was a virgin when they began dating. In her posthumous memoir From Here to the Great Unknown, Lisa shared that when they got together in 1994, Michael was 35 but hadn’t been physically intimate with anyone -- and Lisa wanted to protect him.

“Michael said, ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m completely in love with you. I want us to get married and for you to have my children,’” Lisa wrote in the book. “I didn't’ say anything immediately, but then I said, ‘I’m really flattered, I can’t even talk.’ By then, I felt I was in love with him too.”

She continued,” “He told me he was still a virgin. I think he had kissed Tatum O’Neal, and he’d had a thing with Brooke Shields, which hadn’t been physical apart from a kiss. He said Madonna had tried to hook up with him once, too, but nothing happened. I was terrified because I didn’t want to make the wrong move.”

Whoopi Goldberg had kicked her drug habit before becoming famous but relapsed in the ’80s when “recreational drug use” became the norm. In her memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, Whoopi says she used to go to celebrity parties where there were copious amounts of hard drugs and no chance of getting caught. She explained that because partygoers knew that the cops weren’t going to storm into a home of a “big-time producer or actor,” the fear of getting in trouble simply wasn’t there, creating an environment she said was “very relaxed” allowing “everyone” to partake.

“I was invited to parties where I was greeted at the door with a bowl of Quaaludes from which I could pick what I wanted,” Whoopi wrote. “Lines of cocaine were laid across tables and bathroom counters for the taking.”

She continued using heavily for about a year before cocaine began to “kick [her] ass,” causing her to hallucinate. Her biggest wakeup call came during a stay at a fancy hotel in NYC, where she got caught doing coke in the closet of her hotel room by a housekeeper. After terrifying the housekeeper, she quit cold turkey.

In Cher: The Memoir, Part 1, the iconic musician admitted that she had suicidal thoughts during her marriage to Sonny Bono. The pair met when Cher was 16 and Sonny was 27 and eventually landed their hit song “I Got You Babe” and their variety show The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. While they had a successful business partnership, Cher says behind the scenes, Bono was controlling and that she often felt “trapped” in what she says was a “loveless marriage.”

Cher recalled a particularly difficult time in their relationship in 1972, where the then 26-year-old singer was in Las Vegas for work with Bono when she reached her breaking point. Stepping onto her hotel balcony, Cher wrote she “was dizzy with loneliness.”

“I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear. For a few crazy minutes I couldn't imagine any other option. I did this five or six times,” Cher wrote, adding that she believes Sonny wanted to kill her too.

She continued, “It was crazy that he was telling me. He went on: ‘I figured I’d plead insanity like Spade Cooley and get seven years in jail before they released me. Then I’d get a book deal and my own show.’”

During that trip, Cher says she had the epiphany that she didn’t have to jump and could just leave Sonny. She credits her family, including her then-young child Chaz, her mother Georgia and her sister Georganne, with bringing her back from the ledge.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress.

Eric Roberts used his memoir, Runaway Train: Or the Story of My Life So Far, as an opportunity to apologize to his famous family. Eric, who struggled with addiction in the past, admits he was once a “dangerous” person and most likely instilled “fear and uncertainty” upon his sisters Julia and Lisa. He also added that the “biggest consequence” of his addiction was “losing” his daughter Emma Roberts.

Eric also reflected on comments he once made about Julia and Emma, saying that they wouldn’t have had careers if not for him. He now says he’s sorry for treating them that way.

“I hope Julia will accept this public apology. It was an asinine thing to have said,” Eric wrote in his book, later adding, “I imagine I will remain as Julia’s brother and Emma Roberts’ dad for the rest of my life. I’d like to make good on that, to move aside proudly and with grace. That’s part of the reason for writing the book.”

In Bethany Joy Lenz's memoir, Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!), she reflected on many shocking moments in her career, including how she spent a decade in a cult that stole $2 million from her. She also shared behind-the-scenes moments from One Tree Hill, including what one executive allegedly told her before she signed on to the show.

Looking back, Bethany says the night before her final chemistry read with Chad Michael Murray, an unnamed executive reached out to her manager and told her that he knew about her Christian values and if she didn’t have an interest in the graphic nature of the show, she shouldn’t come.

“He said, ‘You tell her this show is about f--king and sucking, and if she’s gonna have a problem with that, she shouldn’t come in tomorrow,’” she wrote.

Despite her values, Bethany still agreed to come in because she “loathed ‘Christian’ movies” that “lacked the complexity and nuance of real life. She also felt that playing a “wholesome” character like Haley wouldn’t put her “at risk of being objectified.”

“I believed it was imperative that stories portray relatable darkness and struggle because, to me, this is where redemption can come alive,” Bethany shared. “So, grit didn’t scare me, and the One Tree Hill pilot had grit.

Unfortunately, Bethany was put in some uncomfortable situations which led her to push back against executives — and made her seem difficult to work with.

In Keke Palmer’s memoir, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative, she says one of her white co-stars once made a racist remark toward her. Referring to her only as “Brenda,” Keke says the woman got into a disagreement with someone else on set. Keke attempted to calm Brenda down, telling her that they should all “have fun and respect each other.” In response, Brenda said, “Keke, literally, just don’t. Who do you think you are? Martin F---king Luther King?”

“It was such a weighted thing that she said, but I didn’t allow that weight to be projected on me, because I know who I am,” Keke wrote. “I’m not no victim. That’s not my storyline, sweetie. I don’t care what her a-- said. If I allow what she said to cripple me, then she would.”

As for why she decided not to name the actress who allegedly made the remark, Keke said she didn’t want her unnamed costar’s alleged comment to hold any power, and didn’t want the story to be about her colleague.

Early on in Lisa Marie Presley’s relationship with Danny Keough, the couple unknowingly became pregnant. In her posthumous memoir From Here to the Great Unknown, Lisa explained that she began experiencing pain in her abdomen and doctors thought it was appendicitis. She was rushed into surgery but it was soon discovered that Lisa was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy which had to be terminated. When she later became pregnant again, Lisa says the couple didn’t know what to do and decided to have an abortion.

“It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life. I was devastated,” Lisa wrote. “I did it and we both cried. We were both destroyed and not long after that we fell apart and broke up. I couldn’t live with myself.”

Lisa says she felt so much guilt after her abortion that she felt that she had to get pregnant again and keep the baby in order to redeem herself. She “planned and plotted and schemed” to figure out when she was ovulating, and then followed Danny onto a cruise ship where his band was performing.

“I didn’t care if he wanted to be a part of it or not. I felt that I had to redeem, to make amends, because I still couldn’t believe I had had an abortion. I thought, I’m going to have this child. There is a child I need to be having,” Lisa shared. “I would be talking to the lost child, saying, ‘I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I f--king did that. Please forgive me and stay with me until I get pregnant again.’”

Lisa did become pregnant, admitting that she “trapped him” although she “didn’t really mean to.” The couple tied the knot before welcoming their daughter Riley -- and later, Benjamin.