StarAugust 7, 2006

Four decades later, will the Polanski saga ever come to an end?

(Warning: This post includes graphic description of rape and a mention of the name ‘Woody Allen’)

With a scandal-ridden reality star storming Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s easy to forget that Hollywood’s harbored, and continues to protect, other notoriously awful men, but one of Tinseltown’s most enduring rape cases has found its way back into headlines this week… with another voice adding to the oft-ignored echoes.

On Tuesday, a woman choosing to identify herself as only Robin M.held a press conference at the Los Angeles office of attorney Gloria Allred, alleging that in 1973, at sixteen years old, she’d been sexually assaulted by Roman Polanski.

While Robin’s words were chilling, they didn’t come as a surprise considering Roman’s long history of abuse… and his self-imposed exile to avoid punishment. But where did this all begin? And what does it spell out for the filmmaker’s future?

Let’s take a look.

I. The Michael Jackson Effect

Samantha Geimer writes in her 2013 memoir The Girl:

“Think about the kids who had sleepovers at Michael Jackson’s house and all the accusations that followed. Think about their parents. Were they bad or stupid people? No. They just wanted to believe that being famous made you good.”

Geimer, known decades ago as Samantha Gailey, has remained the central focus of a forty-year-old rape case hanging over Hollywood’s head.

In February 1977, Roman Polanski was looking for young girls.

Following a popular spread of his fifteen-year-old fling Nastassja Kinski for French Vogue, Roman had been on the hunt for other ingenues to supposedly photograph for another publication: Vogue Hommes.

Vogue later denied there ever being any assignment.

Through a mutual friend, the filmmaker had learned of thirty-year-old Susan Gailey, a television actress with bit parts in Starsky and Hutch, Police Woman, and a series of Ourisman Chevrolet ads…

…in addition to a thirteen-year-old daughter, Samantha.

After meeting at a Hollywood bar, Polanski paid a visit to Gailey’s home on February 13th, showing the mother-daughter duo a copy of Kinski’s Vogue shoot, and offering to give the aspiring teen actress the same star treatment he’d given his girlfriend, just two years her senior.

A little over a week later, he returned.

On February 20th, Roman escorted Samantha to a nearby hill. Near the top, though, the two stopped to begin their shoot. While the pictures started off innocuous enough - one of them even becoming the cover of Samantha’s memoir - eventually Roman asked his potential muse to remove her shirt.

It was then Gailey decided she wasn’t interested in being photographed by Polanski again.

Despite her apprehension, on the afternoon of March 10th, Roman returned once more.

Seeming to be in a rush, the filmmaker ordered the thirteen-year-old to grab her clothes and then they headed to the home of actress Jacqueline Bisset, who’d made her debut in a previous Polanski project, 1966’s Cul-de-sac.

After another hourlong photo session, Roman grew concerned by the dimming light and told Samantha he had a plan.

After phoning someone, the filmmaker told Gailey to grab her belongings and the two headed down the street to 12850 Mulholland Dr., Jack Nicholson’s house.

Upon arriving at the Chinatown star’s pad, the duo was greeted by neighbor Helena Kallianiotes, Nicholson’s Five Easy Pieces costar and a caretaker for several homes in the Mulholland area.

After chatting for a while, Polanski pulled a bottle of champagne out of the fridge and poured three glasses. Despite being only halfway through with hers, though, Helena took off… leaving Roman and Samantha alone to continue their shoot.

As Gailey gripped her champagne glass, Polanski requested the thirteen-year-old go topless - continuing to snap away before suggesting the two take a peek at Nicholson’s jacuzzi.

First, however, he wanted to phone Samantha’s mom.

At around 6PM, Susan Gailey received a phone call from her daughter. Suddenly, the filmmaker butted in and told the mother that they didn’t get many pictures, so he was going to try and use some “artificial light” near the jacuzzi.

“I thought, why a Jacuzzi? But I didn’t say anything. I mean I just didn’t,” Susan later recalled in court.

After hanging up, Polanski stepped inside Nicholson’s bathroom and pulled out a container. Inside? A broken-up tablet labeled Rorer 714.

The two split the quaalude before the filmmaker guided Gailey outside and asked her to take off her underwear.

After photographing Samantha in the jacuzzi, Roman decided to hop in… naked.

Slinking to the bottom, Polanski grabbed Gailey’s waist - causing the thirteen-year-old to claim she had asthma and needed to leave immediately.

As she dried herself off in the bathroom, though, Roman told her to lie down in a room across the hall. When Samantha responded that she had to return home and take her asthma medication, the filmmaker told the teen: “Soon.”

Scared, Gailey sat down on the bedroom couch, soon joined by Polanski… and his incessant advances.

As the filmmaker kissed her, he pulled off Samantha’s underwear and then began to sodomize her.

The thirteen-year-old continuously begged Polanski to stop, but he ignored her cries and proceeded to rape her - only pausing to ask Gailey if she was “on the pill.”

As he finished, he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

The teen quickly put her underwear back on as Roman crept over. It was Jack’s on-and-off girlfriend, Anjelica Huston.

After briefly talking, Roman shut the door and proceeded to rape Samantha a second time.

Finally, he was ready to take her home.

As Gailey wandered back into the living room, Huston was busy on the phone - pausing to ask the teen: “Are you the girl Roman is taking pictures of?”

Then she walked outside, got in Roman’s and cried.

As he drove her home, Polanski asked Samantha to keep the evening’s events their “secret,” adding: “You know, when I first met you, I promised myself I wouldn’t do anything like this with you.”

Once they arrived at Gailey’s home, though, Samantha darted inside and told her mother: “I told him I had asthma because I didn’t want to get in the jacuzzi. I just wanted you to know that.”

Roman followed suit, approaching Susan and inquiring about her daughter’s supposed medical condition. Confused, she muttered, “Yeah, it’s really too bad.”

Years later, in his 1984 memoir Roman by Polanski, the filmmaker questioned why Samantha had lied to begin with: “Why she did so baffles me to this day.”

II. Hollywood Justice

The night of March 10th ended with a 911 call.

After overhearing a conversation between Samantha and her seventeen-year-old boyfriend, Steve, Gailey’s older sister Kim would inform their mother of what had happened at Nicholson’s home earlier that evening, and Susan would inform the police.

The next morning, Detective Philip Vannatter - later a player in the O.J. Simpson case - would arrive at his desk to find a fresh report, detailing how patrol officers responded to a call the previous evening about a San Fernando Valley teen who’d been raped by Roman Polanski. After consulting prosecutors in the district attorney’s office, Vannatter was granted a warrant to search the hotel where the filmmaker had been staying.

Upon spotting Polanski in the Beverly Wilshire lobby, though, the detective decided to make an arrest.

En route to Roman’s suite, the filmmaker attempted to dispose of a quaalude - marked Rorer 714. “Why don’t you drop it into my hand instead of the floor?” Vannatter asked, and the search was on.

After raiding Suite 200, police searched Nicholson’s Mulholland abode. There, once again, was Anjelica Huston. Upon an impromptu search of her purse, though, police discovered a gram of cocaine… and the actress was cuffed.

She later agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for the dropping of the drug possession charge, and in her 2014 memoir Watch Me, Huston would simply write off the rape she’d found herself a bystander to as just Roman’s “business,” adding, “.. and I can say that with some happiness.”

Roman’s so-called “business,” however, would become a media sensation.

While Polanski never denied having sex with the thirteen-year-old, he’d maintain it was entirely consensual and the farthest thing from rape. And as fast as Roman had been arrested, media outlets clamored to dig up dirt on the victim at the center of it all. Reporters for the National Enquirer, amongst an array of European tabloids, would brand the thirteen-year-old a “liar” and “Lolita,” in addition to Susan Gailey - falsely construed as a domineering stage mom trying to make a buck.

Spearheaded by Polanski’s attorney, Douglas Dalton, questions of Samantha’s sexual history and past drug use would arise - lawyers insinuating the teen must’ve been a heavy user considering she took the quaalude the filmmaker had offered her, and furthermore pushing Roman’s “consensual” narrative by emphasizing Gailey’s sexual activity with her boyfriend.

As the misplaced blame intensified, the young girl’s attorney, Lawrence Silver, penned a letter to the judge presiding over the case - Laurence J. Rittenband - urging him to accept a deal in which Polanski would plead guilty to a lesser charge of “unlawful intercourse with a minor,” mostly for the safety of his client.

And on August 8th, 1977, Roman Polanski pleaded guilty.

The new focus of the case, though, would rest on the filmmaker’s sentencing - and that would depend on what the probation officer, Irwin Gold, saw fit.

In the bizarre September 1977 report, Gold would gush about Polanski and his ability to overcome tremendous adversity throughout his life - in addition to his supposed creative genius. And in the most troubling excerpt, the officer would praise Hollywood, claiming that not since “Renaissance Italy” had there been such a gathering of creative minds “in one locale” - and Roman was one of the key players.

To conclude the obvious love note, Gold attached a psychiatric evaluation suggesting Polanski wouldn’t be able to deal with the “stress” of prison, and support was echoed through additional positive letters of reference from several famous friends - producers, past employers, and actress Mia Farrow, who’d been attached to Polanski’s next project:

Judge Rittenband dismissed the report as a joke.

All the while his fate was being decided, Roman continued to grab headlines. From brawling with a paparazzo to receiving a standing ovation from celeb pals at a Tinseltown eatery, to finally being photographed tossing back drinks at an Oktoberfest celebration as he was supposed to be working on a Dino de Laurentiis-produced remake of The Hurricane…

… Rittenband had enough.

Shortly before Christmas, Polanski would begin an imposed ninety-day mental evaluation at Chino, checking out just forty-two days later on January 29th, 1978. Staffers unanimously agreed probation would best suit the filmmaker, but the judge saw the urging as just another “whitewash” of Roman’s crime, and wanted Polanski to finish serving out his sentence.

Dalton told his client the news, and after one last night of partying with Nicholson, Roman bought a pair of oversized sunglasses and darted off to LAX, catching the last seat on a London-bound British Airways flight. By the following morning’s hearing, he’d be in France…

… all to avoid a measly forty-eight more days in the pen.

III. Abroad

Nearly forty years to the day he fled, the legal consequences of Polanski’s stupidity continue to haunt him.

Five days after the director skipped town, Rittenband called a press conference to reveal his plans to sentence Polanski in absentia, turning Roman from one of Hollywood’s most sought after filmmakers to America’s most wanted fugitive.

As a legal tug-of-war continued stateside, though, Roman began work on his next project, an adaptation of the 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbevilles - the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who is raped by an older man… amongst other things clearly appeasing Polanski’s interests.

It would later be nominated for six Oscars.

And as fast as the filmmaker’s case grabbed headlines, it took a backseat to decades of accolades and star-studded casts. While his attorneys would make efforts every few years to resolve the saga, prosecutors refused to entertain the idea until Roman returned to America. He opted to stay abroad.

The next time he’d find himself in cuffs would be 2009.

En route to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at a Swiss film festival, Polanski was busted at Zurich airport on September 26th, 2009. The arrest came on the heels of a request made four days earlier by L.A. investigators, asking that Swiss authorities apprehend the filmmaker.

Despite the long-awaited break in the case, though, the legal battle would continue and conclude with the filmmaker being released from custody the following July - leaving his comfy Swiss chalet behind to continue working the Cannes Croisette.

IV. Young Girls

In a 1979 interview with Martin Amis, Polanski reflected on the arrest that started it all:

“I realize, if I have killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But fucking, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to fuck young girls. Juries want to fuck young girls - everyone wants to fuck young girls!”

While the veracity of his theory is up for debate, support wasn’t lost on the director in the aftermath of his crime. Despite his European exile, the filmmaker’s ability to court Hollywood’s biggest names hasn’t slowed down, ranging from Harrison Ford to Kim Cattrall, Sigourney Weaver to Adrien Brody, Ewan McGregor to Jodie Foster, Helena Bonham Carter to Christoph Waltz - and Ben Kingsley, a lot.

And then there was that big win at the 2003 Academy Awards, met by a standing ovation:

And how could we forget that little petition in 2009?

In the wake of the Roman’s Zurich bust, a lengthy list of filmmakers, stars, and other Hollywood-types signed a petition urging for Polanski’s freedom in the name of art… or something like that. Here are some of the names:

• Woody Allen
  

• Alejandro Inarritu
  

• Isabelle Huppert
  

• Wes Anderson
  

• Darren Aronofsky
  

• Jonathan Demme
  

• David Lynch
  

• Martin Scorsese
  

• Monica Bellucci
  

• Pedro Almodovar
  

• Guillermo del Toro
  

• Xavier Dolan
  

• Wong Kar Wai
  

• Tilda Swinton
  

• Jerry Schatzberg
  

• Julian Schnabel
  

• Alexander Payne
  

• Harmony Korine
  

• Natalie Portman
  

• Ethan Cohen
  

• Mike Nichols
  

• Harrison Ford
  

• Harvey Weinstein
  

• John Landis
  

• Terry Zwigoff
  

• Steven Soderbergh
  

• Michael Mann
  

• Adrien Brody
  

• Diane von Furstenberg
  

• Salman Rushdie
  

• Terry Gilliam
  

Just to list a few! I personally wouldn’t mind if Faye Dunaway gave them the same piss treatment she gave Roman.

But the support wasn’t limited to just signatures. In an interview with The Atlantic, Gore Vidal branded Polanski’s victim a “young hooker.” Meanwhile on The View, Whoopi Goldbergtried to twist our definition of “rape”:

And of course Johnny Depp rushed to the director’s defense:

As if we really needed another reason to hate him.

Surprisingly, Hollywood’s rare voice of reason came from Scientologist Kirstie Alley:

JUST FOR THE RECORD….RAPE IS RAPE…this is one HOLLYWOOD STAR who does not CELEBRATE or DEFEND Roman Polanski..his ART did not RAPE her

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

THERE is NO SUCH THING AS CONSENSUAL SEX with a 13 year old girl..it is RAPE and Polanski is a Coward. HE made 2 bad choices RAPE and FLEE

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

and GOOD MORNING FIRE ANTS..FIGHT FOR WHAT U BELIEVE IN..stand up for CHILDREN and their security..can’t agree with people who CONDONE RAPE

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

now HERE is a MOVIE.a Director who is still revered and defended after RAPING a 13 year old girl.who still is awarded Movies highest honors

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

and what makes ANYONE think this was his ONLY offense? Pediphiles NEVER strike once..may ONLY be CAUGHT once..guarantee not 1st offense

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

you can always tell when you have pediphiles on line..they covertly defend the perpetrators..YOU are not unseen and you are NOT forgiven

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

we are NOT in the barter business of trading BRILLIANT movies in exchange for heinous crimes against children..NOT the point. NOT HOLLYWOOD

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 30, 2009

Even a broken E-Meter is right twice a day!

And Alley would also be spot on about thirteen-year-old Gailey not being Polanski’s only offense, let’s take a look at his rap sheet - shall we?

V. A Very Polanski History

In response to the filmmaker’s 2009 arrest, and unsettling wave of Hollywood support, another Polanski victim came forward: Charlotte Lewis.

In 2010, the actress revealed in a press conference - led by none other than Gloria Allred - that she’d been assaulted by the filmmaker when she was just sixteen years old, auditioning at the time in Polanski’s Paris apartment for his 1986 film Pirates. After plying her with champagne, Roman told the teen: “If you’re not a big enough girl to have sex with me, you’re not big enough to do the screen test.“

She claimed the director told her that’s how all of his leading ladies scored their roles, and tales of his depraved behavior didn’t end there.

In 2002, the filmmaker sued Vanity Fair after the magazine recounted an instance in August 1969 in which Roman groped a Scandinavian model at a Manhattan restaurant, promising to ”make another Sharon Tate“ out of her. At the time, he’d been en route to Tate’s L.A. funeral.

Immediately, attorneys for the magazine fired back that the filmmaker was a liar and ”fugitive for morality.“ However, Polanski claimed the story was an ”abominable lie“ that dishonored his memory of his late wife.

Whatever memory that might be, though, is questionable at best.

Prior stories of the short-lived marriage paint a picture of endless emotional abuse on Polanski’s part, with the director often berating his wife - branding her a ”dumb hag“ on one occasion - and when Sharon realized she was pregnant, Roman was the last to find out… the actress fearing his reaction.

At the advice of friends, Tate waited until she was too far along for an abortion - but Roman would still demand one anyways. After his wife refused, he decided to sleep with one of her friends: Michelle Phillips.

And even after Tate’s brutal death, Polanski wouldn’t take a break from sex… or young girls.

To drown his sorrows, Roman would hitch it out to Gstaad, Switzerland - describing it in his autobiography as the ”finishing school capital of the world with hundreds of fresh-faced, nubile young girls of all nationalities.“ The same book would brag of threesomes with teenagers, unsurprising considering further stories of a fling with an air hostess less than four weeks after his wife’s burial, and introducing a teenage Tatum O'Neal to his porn collection.

Yep, Vanity Fair really shat on his memory.

Roman would nonchalantly dish on these experiences, whilst slamming Samantha Geimer, in a 1984 interview:

What a class act.

VI. What’s Next?

As for the end to this saga, it doesn’t appear to be in sight - well, until Roman drops dead at least.

This past week, a judge ruled against a request from Geimer to end the forty-year legal battle, and the presence of a third Polanski victim just complicated things a hell of a lot more. But if one thing’s for certain, we’re only just scratching the surface of the filmmaker’s many crimes, and it’s safe to say there’ll be a few more revelations to come.

Gifs & Graphics:batfleckwayne& chlorination

Nicole Richie turned herself into authorities to begin a four-day jail sentence.

After a quick vet visit to drop off her dogs, and a McDonald’s run with baby daddyJoel Madden, Nicole headed to Lynwood’s Century Regional Detention Facility to face the music.

At 3:15 PM, the reality star checked in - lawyer Shawn Holley right by her side:

And at 4:37 PM, she was released.

Yep, she served 82 minutes.

While reports claimed even Nicole was surprised by her short stint in the clink, a spokesperson for the L.A. Sheriff’s Department claimed Richie was “cooperative” and treated like any “other inmate.”

Shortly after being fingerprinted and posing for a mugshot, the starlet was guided to a holding cell where she sat for a little over half an hour… before officers gave Nicole the boot.

Even the porn parody, Paris and Nicole Go to Jail, was longer:

Happy 10 Years!

StarOctober 29, 2007

On This Day In 2007Miss Teen USA contestant Caitlin Upton had a little trouble during the Q&A portion of the pageant.

While she was still able to snag third runner-up, her televised gaffe made its way onto YouTube, scoring over 7 million views within days, and earning a handful of parodies and late-night jokes.

She was later able to redeem herself with an August 28th appearance on The Today Show, where she gave the question another go:

And by the end of the year, the video had raked in nearly 20 million views and a contract with Trump Modeling Agency, Donaldtelling Howard Stern that Upton was an “eleven” and hotter than Charlize Theron.

Happy 10 Years!

Anti-Scientology demonstrators in New York, September 2008

I’m not sure what you’re referring to? I never made a Britney Spears biopic. I have free time, but not that much free time.

Harry Whittington apologizes for being shot by Dick Cheney, February 2006

OK!November 12, 2007

Owen’s troubles and the tabloid blame game.

In a year crammed with arrests, sex tapes, and rehab stints, was there anything left capable of shocking Hollywood? Well, an almost unbelievable headline would do just that.

Amidst the neverending tales of Lohan and Spears, a surprising face emerged as the latest victim of Tinseltown’s tabloid frenzy by summer’s end. On August 26th, a 911 call was made from the home of Owen Wilson.

The caller? His brother Luke.

Owen had tried to kill himself.

Shortly after noon that Sunday, paramedics stormed the actor’s Santa Monica residence to discover the bedridden star with his left wrist slashed and an empty bottle of Valium by his side.

After being rushed to the nearby St. John’s Hospital, a distraught Luke and Andrew Wilson waited by their brother’s side. “Owen Wilson cut his wrists with a knife,” one staffer whispered to another - and by sundown, word hit the web.

Before day’s end, the Enquirer and Star released joint reports breaking the story, so shocking that many refused to believe it was even true.

But it would only get stranger. After being transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a stabilized Wilson was joined by his parents and attorney Mark Geragos.

And by the following afternoon, Extra would independently confirm the news, in addition to a statement from Wilson’s camp:

“I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time.”

But what did happen? And how did things even get to this point?

As fast as the story hit the 24/7 celebrity news cycle, a picture of a troubled star would emerge, and each detail seemed more shocking than the last.

While Perez Hilton alleged the actor was hooked on meth, Us Weeklyone-upped the drug factor by claiming the relatively scandal-free star had been dabbling with heroin and cocaine - and his struggles contributed to the demise of his relationship with You, Me and Dupree costar Kate Hudson.

“We’ve all been worried about him possibly doing drugs again,” a source dished to People, citing Wilson’s erratic behavior during a past romance with Sheryl Crow, alongside stints at Promises Malibu and Minnesota’s Hazelden. But by the end of 2006, pals feared Owen had slipped back into old habits.

As fast as he went public with his latest relationship, it all came crashing down.

While Hudson was busy in Australia filming Fool’s Gold, Wilson returned to the party scene - cultivating a set of friends deemed as “concerning” by some sources, and by June 2007, the actress pulled the plug.

“He pulled away from friends,” one pal revealed of the actor post-split, and his behavior would only grow more worrisome with the coming weeks. Last-minute interventions, one of which was supposedly held by Owen’s close pal Woody Harrelson, proved futile. And on August 24th, the star would make one of his last public outings. Two days before Wilson’s hospitalization, the actor pulled up to St. Monica Church and walked inside.

But while it seemed Owen had been the one at fault for his breakup, gossip sites rushed to place blame on Kate.

Daily Mail ran pictures of the actress kissing new boyfriend Dax Shepard, questioning if their highly-publicized fling had pushed Owen over the edge. Meanwhile, New York Daily News alleged Kate had been trying to get in touch with her ex, only for the Wilson family to shun her: “The family doesn’t want her anywhere near him.” But one person avoiding the Hudson hate train would quickly become the most surprising player in the saga… Courtney Love.

In interviews with Us Weekly and Daily Mail, the rehab-hopping rocker placed blame for Owen’s troubles on her ex-boyfriend, one of Wilson’s pals, Steve Coogan.

According to Love, Coogan had furnished her with drugs after her release from a lockdown rehab facility in 2005, and she suspected Steve had similarly influenced Owen after the duo costarred in 2006’s Night at the Museum - to which Coogan responded with a letter from his lawyer:

That about sums it up.

And all the while the blame game played out in the press, Wilson remained under 24-hour surveillance at Cedars-Sinai, welcoming a revolving door of well-wishers - from family…

… to celebrity friends:

In addition to calls and flowers from Magic Johnson, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, and Marley & Me costar Jennifer Aniston.

And as fast as Owen checked in, he was out. On August 29th, the actor quietly slipped out of the medical center and was driven back to his Santa Monica pad by brother Andrew.

But the quick exit spurred a new round of tabloid speculation, with cameras closely tailing the star as he made his first post-hospital outings:

While Perez claimed Owen was going to give rehab another shot, In Touch fired back that the actor was simply enlisting a $750-a-day sober coach - both claims quickly shut down by Wilson’s rep.

Meanwhile, the Enquirer, who helped break the story to begin with, now reported that the star’s suicide attempt was far from his first - and Star bizarrely alleged the actor’s cuts weren’t the result of self-harm, but from a rough case of adult chicken pox.

Maybe that last one is what sent these anchors into giggles:

And cue the apology:

But whatever the case maybe, the star would continue to keep a low profile for the next few weeks after his quiet exit.

From movie nights with Woody Harrelson to some fun in the sun with Anthony Kedis, it seemed Wilson was slowly putting his darker moments behind him - and his friends were more than willing to help.

And while he was forced to drop out of his next project, Tropic Thunder, due to a conflicted filming schedule with his hospital stay, he didn’t miss out on promoting The Darjeeling Limited.

But it wouldn’t be too long before Owen landed back in the glossies, this time for far less depressing reasons:

Gifs:batfleckwayne

StarApril 19, 2004

Vanessa heats up the Internet.

Hollywood High is back in session, and one starlet is debuting a new look.

By August 2007, High School Musical mania was in full force. After a record-breaking TV sequel, the Disney Channel darlings had made the move from J-14 to People, and two stars in particular were catching the eyes of glossies and gossip sites everywhere.

On the heels of Hairspray, Zac Efron had jumped from teen heartthrob to bonafide star on the rise. Meanwhile, his squeaky-clean girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens would unexpectedly shed her safe image, just as her hoards of fans were getting ready to start the fourth grade.

On August 31st, a report from the Enquirer would set the web abuzz with rumors Baby V had pulled a Pete Wentz.

“Vanessa took some suggestive shots of herself in the buff as a surprise for Zac,” the tabloid dished. “Vanessa’s only 18, so she had no idea how her flirtatious act could threaten the future of the multimillion-dollar plans Disney has for the show.” The magazine went on to claim a third party had obtained the sexy snaps, and it was only a matter of time before they surfaced.

Hudgens’ fans weren’t buying it, though.

After days of quiet, it seemed as if the story had joined the ranks of the Enquirer’s many other bogus bits… until September 6th.

As Vanessa joined Zac and Nikki Blonsky in Australia to promote Hairspray, the starlet got a call from her manager… and he had some bad news: the pictures leaked.

(And the fully nude shots you could look for on your own - I don’t need Chris Hansen, a laundry basket-toting decoy and sweet tea waiting for me when I come home.)

Within hours, a scantily-clad Baby V had taken over the Internet:

And before the day was done, Hudgens issued a statement via her publicist:

“This was a photo which was taken privately. It is a personal matter and it is unfortunate that it has become public. I want to apologize to my fans, whose support and trust means the world to me. I am embarrassed over this situation and I regret having ever taken these photos.”

But the fallout was only beginning.

As fast as the snaps hit the web, rumors swirled of the starlet’s fate. While many buzzed it was the end of her career, some suggested that this was a ticket to superstardom à la Paris Hilton.

But while the future seemed foggy, the stories continued to pour out about V’s uncensored history.

One of Hudgens’ ex-flames, Adam O'Neal, dished to the Enquirer about an incident in January 2004 when a 15-year-old Vanessa emailed him a picture of herself stark naked - the very same shot being amongst the now-infamous leaked photos.

And People quickly doubled down on the drama by running a report that V had also sent onetime costar Drake Bell a few shots, too.

His rep denied it altogether.

But the starlet’s XXX portfolio only continued to grow with the coming days. After hawk-eyed fans noticed ’Justin’ inscribed in Hudgens’ necklace, another Baby V boytoy came out of the woodwork: Justin Friedlander.

While they’d only dated briefly back in the actress’ Thunderbirds days, Friedlander admitted he’d gotten the Bell/O'Neal treatment - but insisted he wasn’t responsible for the mysterious leak, either - leaving many wondering, who was?

In spite of the mystery, attention would quickly shift back to the teen idol in the heat of it all. Amidst buzz she was set to be canned from the third installment of High School Musical - and possibly be replaced with Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon - V’s rep quickly fired back that the story was “so 100 percent not true.”

But while Disney was willing to keep their cash cow on board, a few strings came attached.

After a daylong lockdown at Disney offices, the starlet begrudgingly accepted a major pay cut, and also had to do some major damage control…

Yep, it was time for Jesus.

Amidst church runs and camera-ready family bonding, the newly-anointed paparazzi magnet would stay tight-lipped on the scandal, even ripping a page from the Lohan playbook by canceling on Jay Leno - but it wouldn’t be too long before fans heard from the starlet herself.

Days after V’s shots burned up the web, a precorded Tyra Bankssit-down included some tips from Hudgens on how to stay clear of scandal:

But unlike her tabloid counterparts, Vanessa seemed to have some supporters in her corner.

Boyfriend Zac kept mum during an interview with an Australian morning show:

Fellow Disney darling Miley Cyrus would come to Baby V’s defense with some kind words:

And an incarcerated Joe Francis thought Hudgens had Girls Gone Wild potential, offering V a whopping $500,000 to “join the GGW brand and lifestyle.” Fitting, considering one of the charges he’d been facing included filming underage girls.

But Hudgens would wisely ignore the offer, and instead enjoy her newfound notoriety - even earning a spot amongst the “Most Searched” of 2007, right beside other hot topics like Anna Nicole Smith and Iran.

It wouldn’t be until the following January that Vanessa would comment on the situation, telling Seventeen that it was a “traumatic” experience - and sharing her mother’s wise advice in the wake of it all: “Well, everyone can be naked if they want to.”

Mama Hudgens taught her spawn well.

Gifs & Graphics:batfleckwayne& drugproblem

Steve-O talks about Lindsay Lohan stealing his cocaine, September 2007

Out of the original cast, Paige. But I loved Darcy Edwards’ short-lived reign of terror before she disappeared to Kenya and was never heard from again - much like Shenae Grimes’ career, I guess.

Here’s what the Teen Choice Awards looked like in 2007!

Hilary Duff and Nick Cannon hosted:

And some of the attendees included Chingy:

Sophia Bush and the cast of Superbad:

LC and Ceiling Eyes:

Fergie performing Big Girls Don’t Cry:

Jordin Sparks:

Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers:

Larry Birkhead, since teens love Anna Nicole’s post-mortem paternity battle:

Sum 41:

Introducing Avril Lavigne, of course:

Zanessa:

Sean Kingston:

And Nikki Blonsky from the movie Hairspray™:

David Spade:

Who was fearful of Zac Efron’s power:

Jessica Alba and Dane Cook:

Sanjaya, whose ol’ faux-hawk lost “Choice OMG! Moment” to bald Britney:

Kelly Clarkson performing Never Again:

Megan Fox:

Snoop Dogg:

Shia LaBeouf:

And while nominee Lindsay Lohan couldn’t make it due to her third rehab stint of the year, the show still paid tribute to the fallen teen queen:

Us WeeklyOctober 23, 2006

Britney’s comeback disaster.

It was MTV’s idea, according to The New York Times, and Spears’ label was understandably weary.

Only weeks prior had Britney Spearsbrawled with paparazzi and brought a magazine photo shoot to its knees - but MTV thought the spiraling star seemed ready enough for its annual Video Music Awards, and Spears’ attorney Gary Stiffelman agreed.

Ignoring Jive’s concerns, Brit Brit accepted the invitation to Vegas, setting the latest - and most disastrous - Spears saga into motion… and cameras would accompany her every step of the way.

On August 15th, less than a day after rumors of a comeback performance hit the web, X17 spotted its biggest cash cow strutting into Beverly Hills’ Tower Hotel with a new man by her side:

Criss Angel.

“Another night, another hookup,” proclaimed Us Weekly, while other glossies buzzed Angel was simply going to add the magic touch to Brit’s highly-anticipated performance, both stars conveniently sharing a manager. Whatever the case may be, the following day would usher in another late-night appointment, and the rumor mill went into overdrive.

As the next two weeks welcomed scattered studio visits, club hopping, and rendezvous with Angel and an army of choreographers, whispers of what Brit Brit was cooking began to pile up.

Us dished about a canned medley of Brit hits, centered around her 2004 cover of My Prerogative, as a montage of tabloid headlines and ex-boyfriends would play in the background - while another alleged axed act included a duet with Justin Timberlake, a source from the singer’s camp quickly firing back that the story was “totally false.”

But the last, and most likely, game plan would be what the New York Daily News described as an “abracadraba act.” Angel would guide Spears in and out of a series of mirrors, making it seem as if the pop star vanished and then reappeared several times - the cherry on top being a complicated dance number requiring harnesses.

Things seemed surprisingly hopeful on August 27th when Spears, manager Jeff Kwatinetz, and representatives for MTV gathered for a rehearsal of the big number. “Everyone was psyched,” claimed a source close to Jive. “Was it great? No. Was she back to her best? No. But that girl had turned things around and was TV-ready.” With a little over ten days to spare, it seemed as if the troubled star would actually be able to stick a decent landing.

“She showed a semblance of sticking to her regimen,” a Spears source snitched… until she arrived in Vegas.

The first sign of trouble would come on August 31st, when Spears was scheduled to appear at DJ AM’s new Sin City hotspot, LAX.

While Brit had been booked a month prior to pump up the party, the hours leading up to the club’s opening welcomed reports of last-minute laziness. “Britney has flaked on Vegas for sure,” Perez Hilton blogged. Why? “Because she just felt like it.”

By 10PM, management got word Spears still hadn’t boarded the plane - but less than twenty minutes later, reports claimed she’d suddenly changed her mind.

Over two hours late, Britney finally walked the club’s red carpet - owner Steve Davidovich begging her to pose for the cameras. The pop star begrudgingly flashed her signature smile… and then darted inside with her posse.

Mostly ignoring her hosting duties, Brit quickly retired to the club’s VIP area - sharing lollipops with Criss and swaying to her new single, Gimme More, which had leaked online the day prior.

But as fast as she’d come, she’d gone.

Within an hour of arriving, Spears swapped clothes with a party pal and stumbled back to L.A. - with only a week until showtime.

And much like her LAX appearance, Brit’s remaining performance prep began to tailspin.

After touching back down in Los Angeles, the countdown had begun. As gossip sites anticipated the moment that could make or break Spears’ already fragile career, it seemed the pop star had all but forgotten her looming performing duties.

Late nights at Club Opera and Taco Bell replaced prep, and when it came time for a crucial last-minute rehearsal on September 4th, Spears arrived four hours late - prompting Angel to storm out and leave Brit with only five days to find a backup plan.

Day by day, minute by minute, whatever little hope remained for the star’s comeback fast unraveled - and with no way out, Spears decided to put the final nail in her own coffin.

On September 6th, the network finally confirmed the rumors: Britney Spears would grace the VMAs stage once more.

But behind the scenes, crisis mode had commenced.

That Friday, the pop star touched down in Vegas to begin what seemed like her last round of prep - but what friend-cousinAlli Sims would instead describe as a “laid-back girls weekend.”

As dancers rehearsed mercilessly on the afternoon of September 7th, Spears arrived with minutes to spare.

Decked in jeans and a hat, the performer lazily walked through the planned choreography.

And then decided to do what she does best: party.

As fast as she’d arrived in Sin City, Spears scoped out the hotspots with pals Alli and Lucy Walsh. “She wanted to go out to the ‘in places’,” a source told Us, and who better to guide her than Diddy?

After ditching her dancers, Britney kicked off her first night in town dancing and chugging champagne at Body English - only resting when SexyBack started blaring from the speakers. From there, Spears hightailed it to Pure with Criss Angel, and then met up with Puff Daddy - finally calling it a night at 3AM.

And Saturday would go even worse.

On September 8th, with only a day remaining, Brit waltzed into rehearsals hours late… and a frozen margarita in hand. “The dance number was spectacular - without her,” dished one spy, while another noted Spears refused to do anything she deemed too “complicated” - which left the already weak routine incredibly bare. “You guys know this isn’t going to happen,” Britney said… and then walked off.

On the eve of her big performance, Spears joined Diddy, Pharrell, Cassie, Paris Hilton, and producer Dallas Austin for another all-night bender.

First it was Body English, then Tao, and finally Jet - where Brit reportedly downed two vodka sodas, a couple of kamikazes, and screamed: “Y'all, this is so much fun!”

Even the pop star’s party pals seemed concerned for Sunday’s opener, warning Brit that she should probably be getting rest, but Spears ignored the pleas and proceeded to end the night in Diddy’s suite at the Palms, finally making it back to her own room at 6AM… with only twelve hours till showtime.

By the afternoon of September 9th, Britney was still fast asleep.

As the clock ticked, phone lines buzzed between MTV producers and Spears’ reps - all worried about the evening’s performance.

With only hours remaining, Brit finally surfaced - still tired and hungover. Making her way backstage, Spears caught a glimpse of ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, another one of the night’s performers, and the nerves began to set in.

Once in her dressing room, the star ordered her partner-in-partying Alli to guard the door - Britney didn’t want to see anyone. As Spears’ reps approached, they were turned away one by one - and when Timberlake reportedly stopped by to wish his ex luck, Britney refused to come out.

The disaster had begun.

Meanwhile, in the hotel’s casino the red carpet procession was just getting started. As stars lined up for MTV cameras, the network excitedly aired clips from Spears’ Friday rehearsal - “Britney is back!” they proclaimed.

Inside Spears’ dressing room, though, tensions were at an all-time high.

With a little over an hour remaining, the pop star’s camp descended into absolute chaos. Tossing back tequila shots, a frantic Brit began to lash out at everyone around her - even brother Bryan Spears. And when hairstylist Ken Paves finally arrived, extensions in hand, Spears’ attitude worsened.

“I don’t like him! I want his assistant,” Britney barked, but the assistant pledged her loyalty to Paves. And as the coiffeur attempted to smooth things out, Spears snapped once again, telling Ken he was “annoying” and demanding he leave.

The next image to emerge of the disaster zone would be a bodyguard shoving Paves outside, and as fast as Spears’ management caught word, the hairstylist had already darted back to his hotel room - ignoring producers’ last-minute pleas.

But with the clock still ticking and a stylist gone AWOL, it dawned on MTV that their show was about to start and their opener didn’t have hair. Quickly, Nelly Furtado’s stylist rushed to help, gabbing extensions from the hotel’s hair salon and hurriedly gluing together a blonde hairpiece… which Britney would eventually mess up.

But it would be Spears’ next, and final creative change that would garner the most headlines.

Weeks before the show, the pop star had secured a form-flattering corset from Dita Von Teese’s stylist Trish Summerville. Suddenly, with minutes to spare, Britney had a change of heart. After Alli ordered everyone to leave the room so Spears could change in private, the door clicked shut and with less than ten minutes on the clock, Britney ditched the planned outfit, deeming it “not sexy enough.”

As her team nervously waited outside, the door crept open and Spears exited… in a sequined bra and hot pants.

“What the fuck?” one person shouted.

Britney’s reps quickly begged her to change back, but it was too late. “We’ve got to get her on stage!” an MTV assistant shouted - and within moments, Spears was led away.

Minutes turned to seconds, and at 6PM - in front of an audience of her peers, and cameras broadcasting to millions more - Britney Spears stood ready for her first televised performance in years.

“Somewhere, Kevin Federline is laughing,” began the Associated Press’ review of the evening.

TMZ kept it simpler:

As Spears stumbled through the performance that could save her career, dead silence overcame the audience. “Everyone was stunned. We couldn’t believe what was happening right in front of our eyes,” claimed one industry exec. Backstage, producers and production assistants watched in awe: “What the fuck is wrong with her?”

“Is she on something?” another asked.

But Britney remained oblivious to the trainwreck unfolding in front of millions… until she caught a glimpse of herself in a monitor. “Oh, my God! I looked like a fat pig! I looked like a fat pig,” she reportedly cried as she ran backstage.

She realized she fucked up.

As handlers and label reps guarded the sobbing pop star’s dressing room, Sarah Silverman took the stage, taking aim at the car crash the world had just witnessed.

But the comedian’s harshest words would be saved for Spears’ two children, dubbing them both “mistakes”:

And it would only get worse.

As the Internet erupted into Britney backlash, the pop star quickly abandoned the show to continue partying, stepping out with brother Bryan for another long night - capping her post-performance festivities at 3AM…

… and underwear-free:

But even another crotch shot couldn’t distract the world from what it’d witnessed earlier that evening.

“She was awful,” blasted The New York Times in their Monday recap of the show.

“She looked more like Edie Sedgwick in the post-lobotomy scenes of… Ciao, Manhattan,” added the L.A. Times.

“Has-been Britney,” K-Fed joked to a pal.

“I have no words,” exclaimed Kanye West

And even Dave Grohl remarked: “You know those things that you put batteries in and they just vacuum the floor without anyone touching them? That’s what I think of Britney Spears.”

Those would be some of the nicer reviews.

Spears’ performing abilities quickly fell to the wayside as media outlets excitedly ripped into the pop star’s appearance - the press-on nails, the sprayed-on abs, and most viciously: Britney’s weight.

“Lard and clear… she looked flabulous,” blasted The Post. “Tele-tubby,” joked the Chicago Sun-Times. “Out-of-shape,” noted the Washington Post - and E! News kept it short and sweet: “The bulging belly she was flaunting was SO not hot.”

Hunting season was in full force, and everyone was rushing to take a shot at Britney.

As journalists and TV anchors stirred about Sunday’s primetime fiasco, fans scrambled to find a scapegoat for Spears’ lackluster comeback. First it was the tale of the broken heel, as suggested by the LiveJournal celebrity gossip community Oh No They Didn’t:

And then X17 took a stab, claiming the real reason Britney bombed was because she heard Sarah Silverman’s material early - prompting one of Brit’s new handlers, Sam Lutfi, to shout at the comedian backstage.

That claim would quickly be refuted, however… as Silverman revealed she didn’t even rehearse her jokes ahead of time.

Other theories floating around the web included pill-popping, a fight with Criss Angel, and even an allergic reaction to eyedrops Brit had been using to help her allergies - but none would fly past the pop star’s most vocal critic: Perez Hilton.

The blogger, who’d once described Britney as an “all-you-can-eat buffet that never runs out of food,” immediately took to his website to slam Sunday night’s opener - dubbing her “Shitney” and placing her image beside that of Miss Piggy’s:

But Hilton’s harshest words would come in a now-infamous open letter he penned the morning after:

In the scathing attack, the blogger remarked Britney was “pathetic” and a “bitch,” and took one last dig at Spears’ “beer belly” before plugging his VH1 show What Perez Sez.

Hours later, Hilton would receive an unexpected response.

On September 10th, YouTuber and MySpace personality Chris Crocker uploaded the aptly-titled “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” to YouTube:

While Crocker had already uploaded “Leave Britney Alone pt.1” to MySpace the night prior, the YouTube sequel would quickly join a geography-challenged Miss Teen USA in viral video history, raking in millions of views before the week was done - and replacing his patron saint Spears as a media punching bag.

From Glenn Beck to Seth Green, digs and parodies of the sobbing Britney fanatic ran rampant:

And within a week of the video’s debut, the aspiring actor - who’d also confessed to being a past pal of Hilton’s - announced he’d signed a deal with a production company, hoping to land a TV show of his very own.

No sooner than his announcement did he join the ranks of Bobby Trendy and Paris Hilton impersonatorNatalie Reid as a TMZ darling, gleefully greeting cameras outside the very same hotspots where photographers would often find Spears - and even joining the others for a Britney-themed “art show” later that month, seeming to be more of a parody of the pop star’s spiraling mental health than an appreciation for a woman in distress:

“Britney does not think Chris Crocker is funny,” a pal would later tell Us. “She thinks he’s creepy and that his videos are an obvious attempt at fame.”

“Call it the Perez effect,” Entertainment Weekly dubbed it. “Celebrity is now only a Britney blog post away,” and even Spears’ supposed fans were eager to cash in.

But perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the pop star’s struggles would be the very network that had once propelled Spears to stardom.

“She stole the show whether you liked it or not. The only thing you heard about the following day was Britney,” Idol judge Simon Cowell noted of the year’s Video Music Awards, and in a whopping 23 percent ratings increase over 2006’s show, MTV’s annual gala managed to score 7.1 million viewers - numbers they so desperately needed.

“They knew she’d be out partying. It seems like [the performance] was really meant for attention,” one insider claimed - to which a rep for the network snapped: “No one wanted to see [Britney] succeed more than her fans and MTV.” But the timing seemed questionable at best.

And as for the woman at the center of it all, in the show’s aftermath a devastated Spears made a somber return to her Beverly Hills gated community.

Shielding herself from a world so eager to mock her, Rolling Stone claimed the pop star would often ask friends: “Was I terrible? Was it terrible?”

She knew the answer.

Within days of the disaster, word hit gossip sites that Spears had been dumped by her management, her divorce lawyer - and possibly a judge, with rumors swirling that Britney was likely to lose custody of her two boys - and to that, Perez excitedly scribbled: “SUICIDE WATCH!”

As fast as one Britney saga had come to an end, another was just getting started.

Gifs & Graphics: batfleckwayne, drugproblem, & hotasice

Today, Heidi Montag turns 31! Here’s how The Hills star celebrated her big day ten years ago.

In 2007, Heidi rang in the big 2-1 alongside boyfriend Spencer Pratt:

The two kicked off festivities with a romantic gondola ride at the Venetian:

And an intimate dinner at Social House:

Before hitting up LAX for some dancing!

With the typical Speidi PDA:

And while rival LC was busy shilling her new clothing line, Heidi decided to do some self-promo of her own… treating less-than-impressed clubgoers to a live rendition of her new single Higher:

But despite pleas with the crowd to “be easy” on her, the burgeoning pop star was met with boos from nearly everyone - except for Perez and Holly.

In spite of the rough reception, though, the birthday girl managed to finish the night with a smile - and some champagne.

Happy Birthday Heidi!