The True Scandals Behind These Shows & Movies

Most people forget that before we had Ellen the talk show, we had Ellen the sitcom on the ABC network. Consisting of 109 episodes, this show ran for nearly four years and also starred Entourage star Jeremy Piven. In season three, "The Puppy Episode," Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on TV and in real life at the same time, shocking home audiences in 1997. After two seasons of strong ratings, the show added the parental advisory warning after the "Coming Out" episode, and the number of viewers drastically declined. Ellen once said that she didn't know her show was cancelled until she opened up the paper and read the news. After noting that she went into a depression following the show's cancellation, the comedian was able to regain her career and now is one of the most successful talk show hosts, and is considered to be one of the most iconic LGBT leaders in history.

Many consider the film Georgia Rule to be the beginning of the end for Lindsay Lohan's career. Three short years after the success of Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan was riding high and enjoying her fame and fortune to the fullest extent. During production on the set of Georgia Rule, the actress spent her nights clubbing when she had to be on set the next morning. She would often call out sick, citing dehydration and exhaustion. This led James Robinson, CEO of Morgan Creek Productions, to chastise the actress in an open letter for her unprofessional behavior and costly irresponsibility. The document threatens legal action against Lohan with plans to hold the actress fully accountable for any monetary damages due to delays during filming. Her antics on and off set didn't end there, her career has struggled ever since.

Often, what we see on-screen is only one part of the whole story. There are more than a few TV shows or movies that have a whole lot more going on behind the cameras than what's going on in front of them. Here are just a few examples of movies or TV shows that have some scandalous backstories that put some of Hollywood's best to shame.

Many people got swept up in HBO's miniseries, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki. What most audiences don't know is that the film All Good Things (2010), starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst, is also based on the life and times of the "alleged" murderer Robert Durst. The real estate heir, who witnessed his mother's suicide as a young child, became entangled in three separate murders and disappearances in his lifetime. First, his first wife Kathy Durst disappeared, and then there was the dismemberment of his neighbor, Morris Black. After that, the December 2000 death of Durst's friend, Susan Berman, looked like no accident. The real estate tycoon unintentionally confessed to three murders while being recorded during The Jinx's filming, providing a scandalous, shocking season finale of the six-episode series on HBO. Durst was arrested in March, 2015, with the help of former prosecutor and judge Jeanine Pirro shortly after the finale aired.

Oh, Dustin Diamond. The actor who played the lovable Screech on Saved by the Bell became anything but adorable. In 2015, he was sentenced to four months of jail time after stabbing a bar patron in Wisconsin on Christmas Day in 2014. Prior to this incident, the former Screech was known for his pornographic films involving threesomes. But he isn't the only shame of Bayside High: other cast members were involved in their own off-screen dramas. There was alleged marijuana smoking on-set, alleged steroid-use, and rape allegations that plagued the set of the popular '90s sitcom.

Many know Emma Watson for her memorable role as Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise, but the actor has proven she can play more mature parts, too. Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, starring Watson, Leslie Mann, and Taissa Farmiga, is based on the true events of robberies that resulted in over $3 million of goods being stolen by a group of fame-obsessed teenagers in the Hollywood Hills in 2009. One of the real-life thieves, Alexis Neiers, was starring in Pretty Wild, an E! reality show. Scandal abounded when the reality star became a convicted felon for her role in the burglaries of the homes of Orlando Bloom, Paris Hilton, Megan Fox, and Lindsay Lohan. Hollywood loves a good scandal, and the first filmmaker to nab the rights to this story was none other than Francis Ford Coppola's daughter Sofia.