Being a celebrity is hard, and we're saying that without the drip of sarcasm we usually inflect in that sort of statement. Seeing as how no one's ever followed us around with a camera unless they were trying to get Facebook photos, we can't begin to imagine what it's like to have a 24/7 stream of paparazzi detailing your every fart.

So it's kind of understandable when people like Britney Spears lose their shit and beat cars with umbrellas, or the occasional phone-throwing incident. And when that happens, that's when good PR reps step in, talk to the press, give a statement to TMZ, and generally tell everyone that her client is going through a stressful week.

Sometimes, though, not even a publicist can save these people from themselves. Below, the top 10 celebrity fuck-ups of 2008, all of them unspinnable, even by Liz Rosenberg standards.


Jennifer Aniston

Crime: Remaining Bitter About Angelina

Jennifer Aniston is just plain unlucky in love, especially when it comes to her ex, Brad Pitt, who she still can't seem to let go of. Even though the split was four years ago, Aniston still brings up not-so-subtle snipes against Angelina Jolie during any available interview. Mr. and Mrs. Smith might as well have been her Waterloo for how much she can't let it go. This leads to some pretty awkward situations.

How big is the train wreck: Either Aniston is as psycho as that 30 Rock episode made her out to be, or else she realizes that the mileage she's still getting out of the Jolie-Pitt arrangement is what lands her those GQ covers. So maybe Aniston isn't a PR nightmare, she's a wet-dream.

Angelina Jolie

Crime: Demanding Positive Coverage from People

Not for nothing, at least Aniston is in good (bad?) company with her rival, Angelina Jolie, who had a big PR oopsie when it was revealed that she might have given People an exclusive on her baby pictures if it agreed to only do positive coverage of her. And that's not the first time Angelina made weird demands that involved a gag-order from the press. So, shilling baby pics is fine, just don't you dare make any demands on the integrity of the buyer? Whatevs.

How big is the train wreck: Well, when you do your own public relations while remaining one of the most bankable celebrities in the world, you have to be doing something right.

Lara Flynn Boyle

Crime: Face melt

Dude, what happened to Donna Hayward's faaaaaace? Seriously, we've always known LFB had a problem with too much plastic surgery: She is to collagen what Mickey Rourke is to…well, collagen as well. But when these pictures came out in March, there was a collective gasp from the room. Would aging naturally have produced something so horrifying?

How big is the train wreck: Pretty bad. We doubt there are many roles left for Lara, unless you can convince Harmony Korine or Todd Solondz to make a dark comedy about a female Michael Jackson.

Heidi and Spencer

Crime: Fake marriage for The Hills

Oh, these two chuckleheads. When will they learn that you can't create a realistic narrative on television when it's supposed to be about your real life, the physical evidence of which is strewn around every tabloid like a trail of slug sludge? From the "surprise" elopement in Mexico, to the court ceremony in CA, everything about Speidi's fake wedding was documented not just by MTV, but hungry, hungry paparazzi, who were able to check with their sources and find out that a legal marriage between Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt does not exist in any registry, anywhere.

How big is the train wreck: Bad. But not as bad as when Heidi announced her singing career.

David Duchovny

Crime: Sex addiction while playing a sex addict

Yet another Twin Peaks actor that had a disastrous year. If Kyle MacLachlan gets run over, we'll know there's officially a Lynchian curse. Duchovny is currently on Showtime's Californication as a sexy/sleazy writer who manages to boff his way all through L.A, and Mr. Mulder may have been typecast, at least according to the press release sent out in August which announced Duchovny was entering rehab for a sex addiction. Ironically, it was rumors of his wife Téa Leoni's infidelity that made it into the tabloids.

How big is the train wreck: Let's just say, Duchovny's name will be associated with the hilarious incident of sex rehab for a long time coming. Though truth be told, that sort of just makes us want him more.

Josh Brolin

Crime: Public drunkenness while impersonating our president.

It may have been last year that Brolin finally broke into the A-listers with his portrayal of Llewelyn Moss in No Country for Old Men, but Josh hasn't stopped to take a breather since. The son of James Brolin played the president in Oliver Stone's biopic W., and Harvey Milk's assassin in Milk, both of which might net him a couple of awards come Academy time. But it was while filming for W. that Brolin and another cast member got arrested for fighting and public drunkenness. The running gag? He was just getting into character.

How big is the train wreck: Doubtful anyone still remembers the arrest, or W. for that matter. Now if Brolin had accidentally shot someone while getting into Dan White's character in Milk, that may have actually made the news.

Plaxico Burress

Crime: Shooting himself in the foot
Poor Plaxico. The New York Giants' wide receiver was merely minding his own business in NYC's Latin Quarter club when he shot himself in the leg with a concealed firearm. He then spent a good long while trying to find a hospital that would take him anonymously. Of course, the papers found out about the embarrassing, er, misfire anyway.

How big is the train wreck: A concealed weapons charge? You tell us. Still, he had better PR control than Sean Avery.

Christian Bale

Crime: Mom Punching

Need we say more? Christian Bale may or may not have assaulted his mum and sister, but the story leaked at such a bad time: only days after The Dark Knight's release.

How big is the train wreck: Pretty big. Now we that we know that Bale is more like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho than he is the handsome and troubled Bruce Wayne, it's way less likely we'll be going over to his place to listen to some Huey Lewis & the News anytime soon.

Verne Troyer

Crime: Sex tape

Why oh why did Mini-Me have a sex tape? And why was the rest of the world subjected to it? All celebrity sex tapes are gross and pointless reminders that these are people who cannot even do the most daily functions without a cameraman following them, but there was something extra sad about Troyer's um, release. Who would watch this except for the novelty value?

How big is the train wreck: Pretty small, actually.

Michael Phelps

Crime: Overexposure

Oh, Michael Phelps. Your own crime was flying too close to the sun. Well, that and being everywhere we turned this summer/fall. It was super annoying how everyone thought you were a celebrity and could act, leading to cameos from Saturday Night Live to Entourage to the President's Christmas video. Jesus christ man. We used to squint and think that all those gold medals made you cute, but now we know: you are lumpy-headed merman. Congrats.

How big is the train wreck: Not that big, if you promise to fire all 1,000 of your publicists, disappear from the public's eye for a bit, and only show up again when it's time to do a PSA about overeating in America. Because we all know how many calories you eat, for some reason. 12,000. You eat 12,000 calories per day.