16 Extremely Strange Celebrity Headlines That Still Feel Like A Fever Dream

Every day, the celebrity news cycle seems to repeat itself — power couple breakups, costar feuds, and rich celebrities saying out-of-touch rich-celebrity things. Sometimes, however, a TRULY strange story hits the headlines.

Here are 16 celebrity moments that felt absolutely surreal:

1. In 1999, Fabio rode front row on Apollo’s Chariot for its opening day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. However, disaster struck (literally) during a drop when his face collided with a flying goose at around 73 miles an hour. Sadly, the bird died. Pictures of the model covered in its blood became national news.

Fabio later told People, “Now, let me tell you, during that time, every single law firm in America, three or four of the big law firms, they come up to me and say, ‘Fabio, that’s going to be the first easy four or $5 million in your life.’ I said, ‘No.’ … I said, ‘No, it’s principle. I did my job. I’m not going to sue them. I took the job. I signed that contract.'”

2. In an egregious display of fragile masculinity, Jake Gyllenhaal got prosthetic testicles for his German Shepherd, Atticus, after the dog was neutered. On a 2021 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jake explained that, though he didn’t want to get 7-year-old Atticus neutered, the vet insisted on it for the pup’s health. Then, the vet suggested giving the dog “neuticles,” which are silicone or polypropylene implants designed to retain the dog’s “natural look and self-esteem.” Jake said, “I said no, of course. But then I was like, ‘Well, what do they look like?’ I ended up calling my doctor the night before surgery and saying, ‘Can we get these neuticles?’ … Long story short, he has neuticles. … He’s great. He’s fine. He’s healthy. He’s happy. He has no recollection whatsoever.”

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3. Perhaps the most disgusting celebrity story of all time is the infamous incident known as “Poopgate.” In 2004, the Dave Matthews Band’s tour bus dumped 800 POUNDS of human waste onto a boatful of people crossing under a bridge in Chicago. Of the 120 passengers on the sightseeing boat, about two-thirds got completely drenched! In a filing, the Illinois Attorney General said, “The liquid waste was brownish yellow in color, and had a foul, offensive odor. The liquid human waste went into passengers’ eyes, mouths, hair, and onto clothing and personal belongings, many of which were soaked. Some of the passengers suffered nausea and vomiting as a result of exposure to the human waste.”

Passenger and reporter Brett McNeil told Chicago Magazine, “It’s like the bus was towing a rooster tail of toilet waste. We basically hit it like the Maid of the Mist. It was a waterfall of toilet water that we passed under.”

The band members weren’t on the bus at the time, but their driver later admitted to and was prosecuted for the dump. He was sentenced to 150 hours of community service, 18 months of probation, and a $10K fine to Friends of the Chicago River. The band suspended the driver without pay and donated $50K to both Friends of the Chicago River and the Chicago Park District. The memory of Poopgate lives on. In 2023, a commemorative plaque was added to the Kinzie Street Bridge, reading, “This solemn spot reminds us of a day a simple tour turned into a flood of something memorable.”

4. Remember when Justin Bieber had a pet monkey that he just…abandoned in Germany? In 2013, music producer Jamal “Mally Mall” Rashid gifted Justin a capuchin monkey for his 19th birthday. Little OG Mally, who was only 14 weeks old, was the younger brother of Mally Mall’s pet monkey, Bubbz. On a break from his European tour, Justin flew to LA to pick up OG Mally then took him on a private jet to Germany. However, when the plane landed, officials discovered the monkey, and Justin and his crew were detained. When they found out that the singer reportedly didn’t have the proper documents to bring a live animal into Germany, OG Mally was taken into custody and put under quarantine. Justin left the airport for his show in Munich then traveled to Vienna, leaving OG Mally behind.

Justin didn’t get OG Mally’s paperwork sorted out in time, so the authorities transferred the pet to a shelter. Justin continued posting pictures of the monkey, but the animal shelter publicly admonished him for separating little OG Mally from his mom prematurely (he should’ve stayed with her for the first year of his life). Eventually, OG Malley was transferred to a local zoo, Serengeti Park, and German officials fined Justin $8K to cover the costs.

5. In 2000, while his then-fiancé Laura Dern was away filming a movie, Billy Bob Thornton suddenly married his Pushing Tin costar Angelina Jolie — and then the new couple hit the red carpet wearing necklaces containing each other’s blood!

Billy Bob and Angelina were married until 2003. More than two decades later, he told Rolling Stone the truth about the blood necklaces: “We each had a little locket, literally with a drop of blood in them. That’s a romantic little idea, and that’s all that was. But by the time it’s over, we’re vampires. We live in a dungeon, we drink each other’s blood, and this kind of stuff.”

6. The Oscars are quite a highbrow event, but at the 2022 Academy Awards, Will Smith delivered the slap heard ’round the world! After host Chris Rock made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, she rolled her eyes. Then, Will infamously went onstage and slapped Chris across the face. Later that night, Will took home the Best Actor award. However, he was ultimately banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years.

Four months later, Will addressed the incident in a YouTube video. He said, “I’ve reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is that he is not ready to talk — and when he is, he will reach out… I will say to you, Chris: I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk… I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment. I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment…to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.”

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7. In 1999, Matthew McConaughey got a visit from the cops for the crime of having a good time! Following a noise complaint, police went to the then-29-year-old actor’s place in Austin. They reportedly found him dancing around in the nude and playing bongo drums. There was also a bong on the coffee table. They arrested Matthew and charged him with resisting transportation. He “shoved himself backward” into the officer who tried to put him into a patrol car. Matthew spent the night in jail. Ultimately, he pleaded guilty to a city noise ordinance violation, paid a $50 fine, and the misdemeanor charge was dropped. His attorney said, “If the officer had issued him this ticket from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been a problem. The only thing Matthew did wrong was some bad bongo playing.”

In his 2020 memoir Greenlights, Matthew recalled, “It was time to smoke a bowl and listen to the beautiful African melodic beats of Henri Dikongué play through my home speakers. It was time to stand over my drum set and follow the rhythm of the blues before they got to Memphis, on my favorite Afro Cuban drum. It was time for a jam session. What I didn’t know was that while I was banging away in my bliss, two Austin policemen also thought it was time to barge into my house unannounced, wrestle me to the ground with nightsticks, handcuff me, and pin me to the floor.”

He continued, “They escorted me out of my house through the courtyard entry on the way to the street. Still naked and reluctant to submit to the inevitability of my predicament, I got relative and decided it would be a clever idea to run up the walls left and right of the gated passageway and do a somersault backflip over the Cornhusker cop who was guiding me from behind. My thinking was that in mid-flight, while upside down in the air, I would assume a pike position and then slide my cuffed wrists under my butt and up and over my legs, then stick the landing behind the Cornhusker, now with my fettered hands in front of me. … My rationale at the time was that after pulling off such an extraordinary Houdini-like stunt, the officers would be so impressed that they would abrogate the arrest and set me free. I know, stupid, but remember, I’d been celebrating for 32 and a half hours straight.”

8. Noah Cyrus and Lil Xan allegedly broke up over, of all things, a fake Charlie Puth nude! The pair briefly dated in 2018 before their very public split played out over their Instagram stories. First, Lil Xan posted, “I feel like I’m probably being cheated on. Bad things always happen to the good guys…” He then accused Noah of “using” him. On her story, Noah alleged that Lil Xan broke up with her after she sent him a Photoshopped meme that made Charlie Puth appear naked. She said, “I’m heartbroken and confused. [This meme] made him think I’m cheating on him.”

In a live stream, she said, “If you’re in a relationship, never let a man make you feel like you’re less of yourself — or you’re the problem — when you were the one that sat around being there for somebody.” However, she then deleted those posts and made new ones, alleging that Lil Xan was actually the one cheating on her. Then, he denied dumping her over the meme and said he ended their relationship because she was “all over some other dude” and then shared a picture she’d taken with a guy friend.

Charlie later told BuzzFeed, “I’m still so confused over that. I just remember seeing that, you know, they have the little verified section on Twitter, where you can see all the verified accounts. And I saw that picture of me, and I’m like, ‘That is definitely not my body. I’m not that ripped.’ I saw the little eggplant emoji, and I was like, ‘Okay, it’s a joke.’ I kind of just paid it no mind, woke up the next day, and was very confused as to the reason, that was the reason why they had chosen to break up. I’ll never understand that, but whatever. … I really don’t even know them.”

9. In his infamously chaotic 2020 GQ interview, Robert Pattinson shared his “business idea” for “a pasta which you can hold in your hand.” To make the “Piccolini Cuscino,” he microwaved penne for eight minutes, layered sugar and American cheese slices on aluminum foil, put crushed-up cornflakes under the cheese, covered it in red sauce, dumped on the pasta, added more sugar and half a hollowed-out bun, branded the initials “PC” onto the bun with an “incredibly large novelty lighter,” squished it all together with more aluminum foil, then cooked it in a microwave (or possibly toaster oven) for 10 minutes. The foil caused the appliance to shoot bolts of electricity then die. He swore that he was being completely serious, telling the interviewer, “I’m really trying to sell this company. I’m doing this for my brand.”

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In a later interview, Rob doubled down on the seriousness of his Piccolini Cuscino, telling GQ, “I was fully, actually trying to make that pasta. Like, I was literally in talks with frozen-food factories, and hoped that that article would be the proof of concept. My manager was like, ‘Is this really what you want to do? You want your face on handheld pasta? You know you’ve got to go to Walmart and really sell it, for potentially very little return.’ And there was a part of me that was, like, ‘Is there a world where this works?'”

10. Taylor Swift has been at the center of some pretty strange conspiracy theories, but back in 2017, a particularly weird one hit the internet — fans suspected that the singer was traveling around inside a suitcase! After pictures emerged of a large piece of luggage being carried from her Tribeca apartment to a truck while surrounded by security guards, Splash News reported that Taylor was inside because she “remains to be unseen for a long time.” However, the outlet swiftly issued a retraction.

But then, a year later, Zayn Malik, the then-partner of Taylor’s close friend Gigi Hadid, seemingly confirmed the suitcase rumors! Discussing how Taylor avoided paparazzi, he told British Vogue, “She was traveling around in a suitcase.”

Taylor pulled a similar stunt during The Eras Tour, hiding inside a custodial cart before the show.

11. Colin Jost and his former Saturday Night Live costar Pete Davidson are both famously from Staten Island, so, in 2022, they made the baffling decision to spend their real money on a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry. Partnering with a group of investors, they paid $280,100 for the boat, planning to turn it into an entertainment venue. A year later, Pete told Entertainment Tonight, “I have no idea what’s going on with that thing… Me and Colin were very stoned a year ago and bought a ferry. And we’re figuring it out.” On Instagram, Colin said that he was “actually stone-cold sober when [they] bought the ferry.”

However, shortly after, Pete told the podcast Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, “We just got all the plans built. We had them do one of those computer-generated, you know, show-you-what-it-could-be type of thing. And now, we’re out to a few people, and it seems like it’s all going well, but it’s definitely five years away. …

We wanna be able to dock it from April to September, maybe October, in New York, and it will be like a restaurant. There will be a concert venue. There will be a movie theater, upstairs, like, sort of, restaurant area. And then, there’s hotels in it. So, we’ll have a couple of those. And then in the winter, tug it to Miami.”

Host Seth Meyers said that Pete and Colin really “thought this through,” and Pete added, “Yeah, we have to, ’cause we’re in the hole!”

He continued, “Colin called me, and he’s like, ‘Hey, can you hop on this call about the ferry?’ And I was like, ‘We’re still doing that thing?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. This is pretty serious.’ And it is. I had no idea. I saw a link and sent a deposit, and now I’m stuck with a fucking boat. It’s really funny, dude.”

However, his rep told ET that he was joking about being in the hole.

When they purchased the boat, they named it the Titanic 2 on the LLC as a joke. Pete told Family Trips, “That was Colin’s idea. I can’t take full credit for that. It’s funny because Colin’s on all of the calls. He’ll call me and be like, ‘It’s all going well — its name is Titanic 2. Alright, I’ll talk to you later.'” The guys finally got some use out of their ferry in September 2026, when they hosted a free one-night-only comedy show on board.

12. No one can ruin your big moment quite like an ex, which Olivia Wilde unfortunately learned when she was served “Personal and Confidential” child custody papers from her former fiancé, Jason Sudeikis, while she was onstage! Amidst all the next-level drama surrounding her film Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia was presenting the trailer at CinemaCon 2022 when a process server interrupted her to hand her a manila envelope. The director said, “This is for me, right? Very mysterious. I’m going to open it now. Is this a script? … OK, got it. Thank you.” Then, like a true professional, she carried on. Jason reportedly “had no prior knowledge” she was going to be served onstage.

A source told Variety, “Papers were drawn up to establish jurisdiction relating to the children of Ms. Wilde and Mr. Sudeikis. Mr. Sudeikis had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered, as this would solely be up to the process service company involved, and he would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner.”

Olivia later told Variety, “I hated that this nastiness distracted from the work of so many different people and the studio that I was up there representing. To try to sabotage that was really vicious. But I had a job to do; I’m not easily distracted. But, you know, sadly, it was not something that was entirely surprising to me. I mean, there’s a reason I left that relationship.”

She continued, “The only people who suffered were my kids, because they’ll have to see that, and they shouldn’t ever have to know that happened. For me, it was appalling, but the victims were an 8- and 5-year-old, and that’s really sad. I chose to become an actress; I willingly walked into the spotlight. But it’s not something my children have asked for. And when my kids are dragged into it, it’s deeply painful.”

13. Nicolas Cage — who’s not exactly known to spend his money wisely — got into a serious situation over a stolen dinosaur skull. In 2007, he outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for a rare Tyrannosaurus bataar skull, purchasing it for $276,000. However, in 2014, the Department of Homeland Security told him that the dinosaur skull may have been stolen from Mongolia.

Following an investigation that proved it had indeed been stolen, Nic agreed to turn the skull over to US authorities so they could give it back to the Mongolian government. He originally bought the skull from a gallery, and he wasn’t accused of any crimes in connection with it.

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14. Househunting can be stressful, but Katy Perry’s experience ended with the death of an elderly nun. In 1971, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary pooled their own money to purchase a Los Angeles convent, where they lived for decades. The sisters said the archdiocese forced them to move out against their will in 2011 — a detail that would become very important a few years later.

So, the archbishop had Katy meet with the sisters, show them her “Jesus” tattoo, and even perform “Oh Happy Day” for them. It didn’t work. The sisters instead sold the property to restaurateur Dana Hollister, who moved in immediately. Katy and the archdiocese then sued Dana, claiming she had taken advantage of vulnerable, elderly nuns.

In 2016, a judge ruled that the archdiocese had the right to sell the property. Then, in 2017, a Superior Court ruled that Dana should have known her purchase of the convent was invalid and that she “acted with malice” by continuing to claim it. She was ordered to pay $1.57 million to Katy’s company, Bird Nest LLC, and $3.47 million to the archdiocese for legal fees, as well as an additional $10 million in punitive damages. Katy received one-third of that amount, while the archdiocese received the rest.

The surviving nuns, however, continued to publicly dispute the sale and pleaded with Katy to stop. In 2018, Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, one of only two remaining sisters, collapsed and died in the middle of a related court proceeding. In her final interview with Fox11, Sister Catherine said, “Katy Perry, please stop. It’s not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people.”

15. When Ariana Grande tried to honor her hit song “7 Rings” with a Japanese Kanji tattoo, she accidentally got “small BBQ grill” inked on her hand instead! In 2019, the singer showed off her new tattoo, which used the characters that, separately, meant “seven” and “ring.” However, when combined, they meant “shichirin,” aka a little charcoal grill. With the help of her Japanese tutor, she tried to fix it, but Ariana got the placement of an additional character wrong. The new tattoo ended up reading, “Japanese BBQ finger ♡.”

Ariana was also accused of appropriating Japanese culture. On Twitter, she said, “I can’t read or write Kanji obviously. What do you want me to do? It was done out of love and appreciation. What do you want me to say?”

16. And finally, the infamous Jeremy Renner Official app will surely go down in history as one of the most bizarre business decisions a celebrity has ever made! In 2017, the Hawkeye actor released an app where fans could connect more closely with each other and with him. They could also earn or buy “stars” to achieve a higher ranking. However, the app wasn’t the paradise for “Rennies” that it promised to be. The atmosphere was quickly soiled by hate comments and bullying.

The team behind the app tightened its content moderation, but soon enough, trolls discovered a way to impersonate Jeremy and harass other users. For example, one troll posed as Casey Anthony, and then a Jeremy impersonator defended her right to be on the platform. Another user calling himself “Jeremy Renner’s Evil Twin” claimed that he put his “balls all over” the actor’s onion rings.

The real Rennies tried to fight back, but eventually, Jeremy decided to shut the app down altogether. In 2019, he released the following statement: “The app has jumped the shark. Literally. Due to clever individuals that were able to manipulate ways to impersonate me and others within the app I have asked ESCAPEX, the company that runs this app to shut it down immediately. What was supposed to be a place for fans to connect with each other has turned into a place that is everything I detest and can’t or won’t condone. My sincere apologies for this to have not turned out the way it was intended.” Still, the question will forever remain — who even asked for a Jeremy Renner app?

What’s the most bizarre celebrity story you’ve ever heard? Tell us in the comments or in the anonymous comments box below!

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