15 Famous People Who Did "Horrible Stuff" When They Were Alive But Are Praised Now That They're Dead

Trending badgeTrendingPosted 54 minutes agoSubscribe to That Got Dark NewsletterCaret Down15 Famous People Who Did "Horrible Stuff" When They Were Alive But Are Praised Now That They're DeadHugo Boss was a literal Nazi.by Crystal RoBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink A while back, Reddit user banstovia posed the question, "Who is a celebrity who did horrible stuff when they were alive but are praised like saints now that they're dead?" And the folks of r/AskReddit did not hold back with their responses. Here's what they said: 1. Steve Jobs - "Everyone only remembers him as the guy who created and then saved Apple and 'invented' the iPhone. People don't remember how he fucked over his best friend, knocked up his girlfriend and left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant, refused to give the mother of his first child any money, refused to show any outward affection to his daughter, and (although this one is a bit milder in scale) refused to take showers and would put his bare feet up on the conference table. Oh, also, he refused cancer treatment in favor of new-age healing until it was too late, and then he spent a buttload of money to leapfrog his name on the organ donor list." Justin Sullivan / Getty Images -skip6235Steve Jobs is often remembered as the visionary who co-founded Apple, revived it from near collapse, and helped create the iPhone. But his legacy is more complicated. In 1976, while working with Steve Wozniak on a project for Atari, Jobs misled him about their payment - telling Wozniak they had received $700 and splitting it evenly, when in reality Jobs had received a $5,000 bonus. He also denied paternity of his daughter, Lisa, for years and had a distant relationship with her and her mother. Known for his demanding and sometimes abrasive behavior, Jobs was a perfectionist whose brilliance often came with a lack of empathy. Later in life, he delayed conventional treatment for his cancer, choosing alternative therapies first - a decision he would come to regret. 2. James Brown - "Regularly beat his wives." David Corio / Getty Images -CubedMeatAtrocityAccording to the BBC, "A then-70-year-old Brown was arrested in 2004 on domestic violence charges against his backup singer and fourth wife, who was 36 years his junior, Tomi Rae Hynie. He pleaded no contest. This wasn't his first incident either. His violent marriage to Deidre Jenkins was well-documented in his daughter Yamma Brown's memoir, Cold Sweat. He sent his third wife, Adrienne Rodriguez, to hospital, and she had him arrested four times for assault. Backup singer-turned-Marvin-Gaye-collaborator Tammi Terrell was 'savagely beaten' by Brown in the '60s, and in 2005, he was sued for raping a woman at gunpoint in 1988, but the charges were dropped." 3. Coco Chanel - "All those Nazi ties." Bettmann / Bettmann Archive -elvisisking69Coco Chanel's wartime history is complicated and controversial. She had well-documented ties to the Nazis during World War II. Most notably, she had a romantic relationship with Hans Günther von Dincklage, a German intelligence officer based in Paris. French intelligence records later identified her as a possible Nazi agent, though the extent of her involvement is debated.

Chanel also tried to use Nazi anti-Jewish laws to take full control of her Chanel perfume brand, which included Chanel No. 5, from its Jewish owners, the Wertheimer brothers, and she expressed anti-Semitic views throughout her life. After the war, she was questioned about her Nazi connections but never charged. She later rebuilt her fashion empire in the 1950s. In short, while Chanel revolutionized fashion, her wartime actions and beliefs cast a dark shadow over her legacy. 4. Hugo Boss - "In the same vein, he was a literal Nazi." Wojciech Stróżyk / Alamy -The_Shitty_Admiral"Hugo Boss wasn't even a fashion designer, though he became a Nazi before it was fashionable. He just owned a business that made utilitarian clothes and uniforms, including the Nazis' own designs that he made under contract, during the war, using forced labour. After Boss died in 1948, his successors, noticing a lull in the stormtrooper market, shifted to civilian clothes and started to make suits, though the company didn't become a major fashion house until the 1970s."-GammaDeltaThetaHugo Boss, the founder of the fashion brand, was a member of the Nazi Party, and his company made uniforms for Nazi organizations like the SS, SA, and Hitler Youth during World War II. His factory also used forced labor from prisoners of war and civilians under brutal conditions. After the war, Boss was fined and punished for his involvement with the regime. He died in 1948, but decades later, the company publicly apologized for its role in supporting the Nazis and exploiting forced laborers. 5. Paul Walker - "He allegedly liked underage girls." Frank Trapper / Corbis via Getty Images -canuck47According to Jalopnik, "After news of the actor's death broke, the Daily Mail and In Touch Weekly both