Celebrities often reveal surprising sides to their lives through personal stories and behind-the-scenes details. Here are 25 astonishing facts about stars across music, film, and TV that showcase their quirky, dramatic histories.
25 Shocking Celebrity Revelations
- Jean-Michel Basquiat gifted Madonna several paintings during their early 1980s romance as both rose to fame. After the breakup, he requested the artworks back and painted over them entirely in black.
- Jay-Z displays at least one Basquiat painting in his home with Beyoncé. He purchased the 1982 piece “Mecca” for $4.2 million in 2013. Note: Tiffany & Co.’s “About Love” campaign features Basquiat’s “Equals Pi” from 1982.
- Rumors once claimed Fred Rogers served as a Vietnam War sniper and channeled anger issues into children’s TV on therapist advice. In reality, Rogers never joined the military. He studied music composition at Rollins College in 1951, joined a TV station in 1953, and launched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in the late 1960s.
- Carol Burnett describes her over 60-year friendship with Julie Andrews, marked by collaborations like Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and mutual award support. During The Sound of Music filming, Andrews sent Burnett dirty limericks to make her laugh, Burnett shared on Good Hang with Amy Poehler.
- Elvis Presley sported natural blonde hair until stylist Larry Geller dyed it dark in the 1950s using a mix of shampoo, vitamin capsules, 99% pure aloe vera, and herbs. Geller explained, “I used to go to the health food store and get a benign base shampoo and… shake it up.”
- Jeff Conaway gave Stockard Channing real hickeys during Grease makeout scenes, visible in the malt shop sequence. Channing recalled that Conaway “was really feeling his oats.”
- Tina Turner taught Mick Jagger dance moves during the Rolling Stones’ 1960s England tour. Turner recounted, “The Rolling Stones requested that Ike and Tina do the… tour with them… Mick says to me, ‘Teach me how to do The Popcorn.'”
- Harry Styles accidentally bit off the tip of his tongue while experimenting with mushrooms at Shangri-La studios during Fine Line recording. He attempted to sing despite blood gushing from his mouth, later joking, “So many fond memories.”
- In Honey Don’t!, Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza’s bar sex scene relied on a props team member kneeling with a jar of coconut oil. Qualley explained, “Aubrey’s got to lift her finger up and have it be wet… it was really funny.”
- Carrie Fisher filled her California home with eccentric decor, including a player piano in the bathroom, Prozac-themed art in the kitchen, and a traffic light hanging from a tree out front. She showcased these in the 2016 documentary Bright Lights.
- Tallulah Bankhead reportedly dusted her pubic hair with Marlene Dietrich’s gold wig powder and flashed it at dressing room passersby. Bankhead once quipped, “Going down on a woman gives me a stiff neck, going down on a man gives me lockjaw, and conventional sex gives me claustrophobia.”
- Barbra Streisand cut the nails on her left hand to learn guitar for her 1976 film A Star Is Born, where she composed the Oscar-winning “Evergreen.” A deleted scene, released in 2018, shows her right-hand nails plucking the tune. Streisand noted, “When I had to learn the guitar… I only had to cut [my nails] on one hand.”
- Lady Gaga co-wrote “Shallow,” the theme from the 2018 A Star Is Born, earning the Best Original Song Oscar in 2019.
- Jane Fonda sat beside Marilyn Monroe in Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio classes. Fonda recalled on Oprah’s Master Class in 2012, “She’d have no makeup on, dark sunglasses, and a scarf around her head. She was too scared to get up and do anything.”
- Big Sean’s home, previously owned by Slash, includes a basement nightclub with black walls, a stripper pole, and skull lights. Sean retained most features but replaced the couches, saying he “didn’t know what the fuck [Slash] was doing down here.”
- Sabrina Impacciatore improvised the “Peppa Pig” line as Valentina in The White Lotus Season 2. She told Access Hollywood, “Mike [White] said: ‘You can improvise’… Jennifer [Coolidge] could not stop laughing.”
- Beyoncé’s “Smoke Hour ★ Willie Nelson” from her 2024 album Cowboy Carter nods to Black pioneers of country and rock, incorporating elements from Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Chuck Berry, and Roy Hamilton.
- Sarah Jessica Parker deliberately tripped in Sex and the City to channel comedians like Steve Martin and Jennifer Saunders, fitting Carrie Bradshaw’s chaotic persona. Parker explained, “Her apartment is such a mess that she should trip over shoe boxes.”
- The first episode of Stranger Things Season 5, which premiered on Netflix on November 26, 2025, featured Diana Ross’s 1980 hit “Upside Down,” boosting its Spotify streams by 510%.
- Joni Mitchell penned “Woodstock” after missing the 1969 festival due to a Dick Cavett Show commitment. She told Life in 1994, “I don’t know if I would have written the song ‘Woodstock’ if I had gone… it afforded me a different perspective.” The track became a hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and appeared on her album Ladies of the Canyon.
- Oprah Winfrey idolized Mary Richards from The Mary Tyler Moore Show in her twenties, even hanging an “O” in her apartment like Mary’s “M.” During a 2008 cast reunion, they surprised her with a signed gold “O.”
- Bowen Yang detailed Saturday Night Live afterparties in a 2021 interview, noting a steakhouse start followed by password-protected events. His favorite: RuPaul’s hosting with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12 queens, ’90s house music, and dancing on tables for Cecily Strong’s birthday.
- Lil Nas X drew inspiration for “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” from the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name. In a 2021 Genius interview, he shared, “The song is called ‘Call Me by Your Name,’ which is themed after the movie… I’m calling them by my own name.”
- Liza Minnelli originated “New York, New York” in the 1977 film of the same name, years before Frank Sinatra popularized it in 1979. The film version nods appeared in Arrested Development, where Minnelli guest-starred.
- Stevie Nicks hid a gram of cocaine in her boot during the 1970s. By 1986, a surgeon warned of a hole in her nose, stating one more hit would be fatal. On Oprah’s Master Class, Nicks reflected that her drug use showed in her watery eyes despite others seeing beauty.
