Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer: What happened to our movie stars?
We crushed over them. Cried over them. Taped posters of them on our walls. But these days, a handful of ’80s heart throbs are dealing with some pretty unsexy stuff — health issues, divorce, abuse allegations. Oh my. If we could turn back time...
Johnny Depp: Back in May, all seemed well for newlyweds Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Then — wham! — came the bombshell. The actress filed for divorce from her “Rum Diary” costar and husband of 15 months. That wasn’t all — she got a restraining order, too, alleging physical abuse. Fans were shocked when a video of him smashing a bottle came to light. We hadn’t heard about bad behavior from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star since the old days — back in 1994, Depp was arrested for trashing his NYC hotel room. He later blamed it on a rogue armadillo that got loose. The exes settled their divorce in August and Heard withdrew allegations, but some damage has been done. the 53 year old has been cast as a villain in the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the next movie set in the Harry Potter franchise, but there has been a backlash over his bad publicity.
Val Kilmer: Remember Ice Man from “Top Gun?” You can’t get much more steely-handsome than that. These days the 56-year-old actor looks way different, and it may have to do with his recent health issues. In 2014, he was called out for looking strikingly thin and Kilmer posted an update, telling fans he was preparing for his stage role as Mark Twain. Last year, he was pictured with a tracheostomy tube, also known as a breathing aid, and covering up his neck. Again, he denied anything was wrong. Last week, his onetime costar Michael Douglas said during a Q&A in London that Kilmer had the same thing he had — tongue cancer. Again, Kilmer denied it in on Facebook saying Douglas was “misinformed,” saying he had a “lump in my throat,” and is still rehabbing. Let’s hope all is well.
Brad Pitt: Sure, the easy on the eyes actor got raked over the coals for leaving America’s Sweetheart for Jennifer Aniston for his “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” costar Angelina Jolie. But the dust settled after the power couple started having a boatload of kids, got married and seemed happy. But then came the ugly stuff. In September, Jolie filed for divorce for “the health of the family.” We later learned Pitt had a meltdown on a private jet and allegedly hit his son Maddox and the FBI got involved. The latest: The L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services has expanded its investigation to other alleged incidents, including interactions between the “Ocean’s 11” star, 52, and his five other kids. Sheesh. Never saw that coming.
Charlie Sheen: Hard to forget the then-budding actor playing an alluring bad boy sitting on the couch at the police station romancing Jennifer Grey in the cult hit “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Sheen went on to have a very successful career in both comedies and dramas, as well as a long and eventually aborted run on TV’s “Two and a Half Men” due to his antics that involved drugs and unsavory types. Last November, the 51-year-old admitted to the world he was HIV positive. Still, he was a hit last week at the World Series Game 7 in Cleveland, dressing as his “Major League” Cleveland Indians character, Wild Thing.
John Cusack: He had us at the boombox. The 50-year-old had the hopeless romantic character down pat in 1989’s “Say Anything.” But strangely enough, we have never seen the rabid Chicago Cubs fan with many women over the years to show us what he’s really got off screen. No kids. No wife. OK, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Scratch him from the list and give him my number.
This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer: What happened to our movie stars?."