Thursday, Aug 20, 2020, 11:55 am

By:Mike Litzler

Did you know that many top celebrities have spent time in prison? There are some really big Hollywood names in this list. Going to prison isn't a small thing. It's a potential career and life spoiler for a common man. In fact, a common man can never think of serving time in prison. However, for some celebrities, going to prison is not a big deal. They have spent months in jail despite being the fact they were popular at that time. Here are the fifteen celebrities who went to prison. 

1.Christian Slater

Christian spent 59 days in jail out of a three month sentence in 1997 and was forced to go into rehab after it as part of his sentence. His crime was to assault his girlfriend when he was high as well as being drunk hence the rehab part. He seems to have kept himself quite clean since then, so perhaps learnt a lesson where so many other celebrities simply do not pay attention and keep doing things wrong.

2.Paris Hilton

Ah good old Paris, sent to prison for three days in 2007 followed by having to wear an electronic bracelet for another 40 days so as she could be monitored. She ended up in jail after having failed to stick to her probation terms linked to being in rehab and she was also caught speeding and driving without a license. You do have to think that she would have got longer if she was a normal person.

3.Rip Torn

This has to be one of the funniest excuses ever given for a crime. Basically Rip was sent to prison for four days, was ordered to rehab, and has a two year suspended sentence hanging over him for breaking into a bank. He claims he thought it was his home as he was drunk, but he was also carrying a gun without having the correct permit. The idea of somebody mistaking a bank for their home is just bizarre, but then Rip is a bizarre kind of person.

4.Wesley Snipes

Wesley was sent to prison for tax evasion and for basically not bothering to send in his tax returns. It is believed that he avoided millions of dollars, but he has now been in prison for three years, so in a way the tax office managed to get their own back since his career will probably also be finished by the time he re-emerges.

5.Richard Hatch

Richard was of course the first winner of the first 'Survivor' show, but that is what led to his downfall. In actual fact he was sent to prison for three years from 2004 to 2007 for failing to pay tax on the $1 million he won on the show. It is quite ironic that it happened to him leading to an even longer stint of survival than he was anticipating and you would have thought he would have been given some advice to avoid this from happening in the first place.

6.Mark Wahlberg

Mark spent a total of 45 days in jail even though he was initially sentenced to a total of 2 years. This happened in 1986 and he was charged with assault and attempted murder after beating up a guy in the street with a wooden stick. He says that this is when he realized he had to turn his life around and to be fair he has managed to do that since the 80s.

7.Ja Rule

Back to the rapper list and Ja Rule found himself going to jail for a total of 28 months in 2011 up until 2013 due to him being found guilty of tax evasion as well as possessing a weapon without a license. It is still a case of waiting to see how it has an impact on his career, but you know that he will probably use it to his advantage like all of the others and make a profit out of being to prison.

8.Robert Downey Jr

There was a period of time where Robert did not have his troubles to seek and in 1999 he was forced to spent one year in prison even though he could have ended up serving three. This was all linked to him missing a drugs test, he was an addict at the time, and this formed part of his probation for an early charge of trespass after he broke into a neighbors home and passed out. At least he did his crime with some style and it led to him getting off drugs.

9.Lil Wayne

It seems to be quite common for a rapper to have some kind of criminal conviction and in the case of Lil Wayne he found himself in major trouble in 2007. He was found guilty of drug possession along with having a pistol on his tour bus and this led to him having to spend five months in jail followed by him being supervised for another two years once he was released. As like 50 Cent it probably enhanced his reputation.

10.Martha Stewart

Martha has had her fair share of troubles in recent years and in 2004 she served five months in jail and then had to be supervised for a further two years after that. She spent time in prison after being found guilty of making false claims in a corporate fraud case, so this led to charges of conspiracy along with obstructing the law leading to her being sent to prison.

11.50 Cent

50 Cent has actually been sent to a special boot camp in prison and he stayed there for six months in 1994. The charges against him were having a starter gun in his house along with both heroin and crack cocaine although whether they were all owned by him is unknown, but he took the rap for it anyway. It does of course blend in with his image, so overall it worked out quite well for him.

12.Frank Sinatra

This one is a shock, but in 1938, Frank Sinatra was sent to prison for having an affair with a married woman. He was only in there for a total of 16 hours, but this was actually a crime back then, so off he went to be locked up. It shows how the laws have changed in just a few decades, but you do think he would not have learnt his lesson and probably had more affairs throughout his life.

13.Zsa Zsa Gabor

This is perhaps not a major surprise, but Zsa Zsa Gabor spent a total of 72 hours in prison in 1990 for a couple of different reasons. First, she had slapped a police officer, then she was driving a vehicle that was not registered, she herself had no license, and beside her was an open can of alcohol. How all of this added up to only 72 hours is a mystery as you do think that normal people would have got a lot longer than that.

14.Paul McCartney

In 1980, Paul McCartney found himself in jail in Japan for a total of 10 days. Why? Simply because he was found to be carrying half a pound of marijuana when he was in Tokyo airport. His sentence was short and sweet before being sent out of the country, but it has not stopped him from performing there again after this time spent in prison.

15.Tim Allen

Tim Allen has been to prison a couple of times, but perhaps the main thing was for drug trafficking after being caught in possession of 1.4 pounds of cocaine. This happened in 1979 and he served two years at the time, but he clearly has not learnt his lesson as he has been in trouble a bit since then even though he has tried to have a clean cut image.

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