There are major perks that come with being a celebrity. And that includes the ability to get away with some serious crimes!
Quite a few of your favorite celebrities committed major crimes and got away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Here are some of the wildest stories of criminal celebrities who got away with it.
Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie rose to fame alongside Paris Hilton on their hit reality show The Simple Life. Unfortunately, some of Hilton’s partying ways seem to have affected Richie.
In 2006, police were called after Richie was spotted driving a Mercedes SUV in the wrong direction in a carpool lane on a California highway. She was arrested for driving while under the influence of drugs and plead guilty to the charge.
But she was only sentenced to four days in jail, three years of probation, and a rehab program for two-time offenders. The “two-time” part refers to an earlier incident in 2003 when she was arrested for driving without a license and possession of heroin.
Four days in jail for the latest charge was already a very mild punishment. But Richie ended up being released from jail after serving only 82 minutes!
Khloé Kardashian
Nowadays, Khloé Kardashian mostly makes headlines with news about her relationships. But in 2007, she caused headlines for a different reason. She was arrested for a DUI!
At the time, she was merely sentenced to three years of probation, a mandatory alcohol education course, and roadside cleanup duty. But when she violated the terms of her parole, she was sentenced to up to 30 days in jail.
However, she was released from solitary confinement after only three hours. As People reports, she told Ryan Seacrest this was due to a bomb threat. But the warden thought it was her fans calling in bomb threats and they released her from jail in frustration.
Mel Gibson
In 2006, Mel Gibson was arrested for speeding and suspicion of DUI. That would have made headlines in and of itself. But leaked reports of Gibson threatening the arresting officer and screaming anti-Semitic statements made this into a full-blown scandal.
The whole incident looked bad for Gibson. He blew over the legal limit into the breathalyzer, allegedly had an open bottle of tequila in his vehicle, and allegedly tried to run from officers rather than get into the car.
After all of this, Gibson was only sentenced to probation and rehab and had his license suspended for 90 days. While this was little more than a slap on the wrist, the revelations about Gibson’s bigoted rhetoric did manage to haunt his career for many years.
Woody Harrelson
Today’s Woody Harrelson has worked hard to establish his status as a chill guy and a great actor. But the Woody Harrelson of years past was a real hellraiser!
Harrelson was arrested in 1982 for drunken dancing in the streets of Columbus, Ohio. He ended up breaking out of the police van and running away, and he only had to pay a $390 fine for assault and resisting arrest.
You might think after that, he’d learned his lesson about running from the police. But in 2002, Harrelson had another brush with the law. While in a taxi in London, he decided he wanted out and kicked the door open. He got into another taxi that was eventually stopped by the police. After trying to run away, Harrelson was caught and arrested. But he ended up only having to pay for the damage he caused to the first cab.
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick is famous for playing carefree characters like Ferris Bueller. But in 1987, he experienced the darkest moment of his life.
That year, he and Jennifer Gray were vacationing in Ireland when Broderick drove his car into an oncoming vehicle. As the Associated Press reports, Broderick was allegedly in the wrong lane, and the crash killed the two people in the other car, Margaret Doherty and her daughter Anna Gallagher.
Broderick could have spent five years in prison on charges of careless driving causing death. But he pled guilty to the lesser charge of careless driving and ultimately only had to pay a fine of $175. The surviving family of the deceased called this “a travesty of justice.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
It’s never good when a celebrity gets away with a crime. But it feels even worse when they already have a history of dangerous criminal actions.
This is certainly the case with Floyd Mayweather Jr. He received a suspended sentence for domestic violence in 2002 and then received two more suspended sentences in 2004 for battering two women in a nightclub.
So when he allegedly assaulted Josie Harris in 2010, you might expect they would throw the book at him. And at first, he was facing felony and misdemeanor charges that could have landed him in jail for 34 years.
But he made a plea deal that would only require him to serve 90 days in prison. And that prison stint was actually delayed so that he could box against Miguel Cotto. When he did go to service his sentence, the boxer was released after two months.
Why the early release, though? ESPN reports that his lawyers put forth this argument. The “jail food and water didn’t meet Mayweather’s dietary needs, and lack of exercise space in a cramped cell of fewer than 98 square feet threatened his health and fitness.”
It seems being anywhere near Floyd Mayweather Jr has been a potential danger to women’s “health and fitness” for nearly two decades, but this was a third time when the punishment did not match the crime.