5 strange celebrity meltdowns - AZTV7/Cable 13, Me-TV 7.2, HSN 7.3, Phoenix-Prescott, AZ

By Elisa D. Keller

WORLDNOW – Everybody's been talking about Randy Travis lately, and it's not because of his new album.

Six months after making headlines for public intoxication following a Super Bowl celebration, Travis is in the news again and has even stepped up his game on the scandal-making front.  Reports allege he drunkenly crashed his car before being found lying naked in the road, then fought with police when they wanted to test his blood alcohol level.

Of course, he's not the first celebrity to have a very public fall from grace, and he won't be the last. Here are some of the strangest celebrity meltdowns from the past decade.

1. Mel Gibson

The violent and, admittedly, quite scary Gibson persona we've seen in recent years bears little resemblance to the fun-loving fella who starred in all those action comedies in the ‘80s and ‘90s.  Accusations of anti-Semitism, racism and even domestic abuse have been following the actor, usually coinciding with a fair amount of drinking. Apparently, it's kind of hard to like Max when he's Mad.

2. David Hasselhoff

After his daughter recorded him drunkenly eating a cheeseburger on the bathroom floor, the Hoff became infamous for more than just his odd singing career in Germany. Years later, the video is still a YouTube sensation.


3. Randy Quaid

As a comedic character actor, Randy Quaid was never one to steal the spotlight like some big-name stars.  But that was before he and his wife started defrauding hotels and squatting in guest homes that no longer belonged to them. After the Quaids skipped a couple court appointments, and went on the lam in Canada to avoid warrants and inevitable jail, Randy suddenly became the talk of the town – and not for his Academy Award-nominated acting.

4. Britney Spears

It's a tale as old as time -- a child star grows up and spends the rest of her days getting attention for all the wrong reasons. It started out small, with her getting married for a mere 55 hours in Vegas. And before you knew it, she was losing custody of her kids, doing stints in rehab and shaving her head before a shocked, enraptured nation. Top that, Miley Cyrus. 

5. Charlie Sheen

What can be said about Charlie Sheen that hasn't already been said?  After years of drug abuse and narcissism, the man publicly harassed his boss, got fired and began ranting about "Vatican assassin warlocks" – all with cameras following his every move.  Years from now, people may look back fondly on the handful of months when so much money was to be made selling t-shirts featuring some of his zeitgeist-y turns of phrase: tiger blood, goddesses and the inescapable "winning." But more likely, we'll all still be concerned for his mental health.

 Elisa D. Keller is an Editor at Worldnow.