Celebs We Are Seriously Worried About Going Into 2025

The entertainment world lost some major figures during 2024, including such stars as "Beverly Hills, 90210" cast member Shannen Doherty, beloved comedian Bob Newhart, "Young Frankenstein" standout Teri Garr, and the voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, to name just a few.

As the year grinds to an end and 2025 beckons, it's easy to look ahead and wonder what fate may have in store for some famous folk who have experienced tough times during the past year. In some cases, these celebrities are simply coming to the end of their lives as old age, and its accompanying ravages take their toll. For others, there are medical crises and dire diagnoses that have caused worries. Then, there are those who have candidly discussed their deep struggles and personal demons, while others have exhibited behavior in public that can only be described as disturbing. 

For fans who tend to follow the ups and downs of their favorite stars, there can indeed be cause for concern. Read on for a rundown of some celebs we are seriously worried about going into 2025.

Star of one of the all-time great TV sitcoms (his namesake "The Dick Van Dyke Show") and one of Hollywood's most beloved movies ("Mary Poppins"), Dick Van Dyke is a showbiz force of nature who's still going strong after celebrating his 99th birthday in December of 2024. The beloved comedian refused to let any moss grow on him during 2024, which included a surprise appearance on "The Masked Singer," winning a Daytime Emmy Award, and appearing in the music video for Coldplay's "All My Love."

In that touching video, Van Dyke sang a duet with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and even showed off a few of his dance moves — while barefoot, no less. He also spoke candidly of his own mortality, revealing that he's hit an age at which he's come to terms with his inevitable exit. "I'm acutely aware that I, you know, could go any day now," Van Dyke stated. "But I don't know why it doesn't concern me," he added. "I'm not afraid of it. I have that feeling, totally against anything intellectual ... that I'm going to be alright."

Having been freed from the financial shackles of her controversial conservatorship in 2021, troubled pop star Britney Spears has continually made headlines for odd online behavior. There was that time she danced while brandishing knives (which led to a police welfare check), and, more recently, a video she posted via Instagram in which she made a bizarre statement about her birthday. After revealing she was moving to Mexico to escape the paparazzi ("They've always been incredibly cruel to me," she complained), Spears marked her 43rd birthday by claiming to be a whole other age. "It's my birthday, I'm not turning 42; I'm turning five this year, and I have to go to kindergarten tomorrow," she said.

Simultaneously, a rumor surfaced claiming that she was preparing to return to Las Vegas for another residency (her wildly successful "Britney: Piece of Me" residency ran from 2013 until 2017). However, a source later told the Daily Mail that there was no truth to the speculation of a Vegas comeback. 

Meanwhile, a source told Page Six that Spears' friends were growing increasingly concerned about her erratic behavior. "Everyone worries about her, people love her. A lot went on behind the scenes that the people with good intentions, who were trying to release her from her conservatorship, weren't aware of — and I think it's obvious she needs some serious professional help," the source said.

Jimmy Carter was America's 39th president, serving just one term in the White House between 1977 and 1980. While opinions are starkly divided about his performance as POTUS, his post-presidential life was an inspiration to all, as he monitored foreign elections and, alongside his wife, Roslyn Carter, built numerous houses for Habitat for Humanity. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the age of 91, Carter was experiencing what he believed to be a cold, which led him to undergo an extensive physical examination in 2015. That led to a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma, leading him to go under the knife to remove a tumor from his liver. Sadly, doctors discovered it had spread to his brain in four places; however, immune therapy treatment extended his life. 

In 2023, both Carter and his wife entered end-of-life hospice care. In November of that year, Roslyn died, aged 96. He remained in hospice, where he marked his 100th birthday — the first time in history that an American president ever reached that milestone. As his grandson, Jayson Carter, pointed out, turning 100 after spending more than a year-and-a-half in hospice care is the textbook definition of defying the odds. "Not everybody gets 100 years on this earth, and when somebody does, and when they use that time to do so much good for so many people, it's worth celebrating," he said, as reported by the Associated Press.

Pope Francis has led the Roman Catholic Church since 2013. The erstwhile Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires has experienced many setbacks with his health in recent years. For the pontiff, who turned 88 in December 2024, those health issues can be traced back to his youth, when, at age 21, he had part of a lung removed due to pleurisy. Over time, that led to repeated respiratory problems in later life, including two incidents in 2023 that forced him to cancel engagements. That same year, he underwent surgery to repair an abdominal hernia and has had chronic knee and back issues stemming from sciatica. As a result, he's often used a cane or a wheelchair to get around.

In December 2024, Pope Francis sparked fresh concerns about his health when he appeared at a ceremony to install new cardinals, sporting a sizeable bruise on his chin. According to Reuters, the Vatican press office insisted it was nothing to worry about, that he'd accidentally bumped his chin on his bedside table. Hopefully, 2025 will offer a respite from the kind of medical maladies that have plagued him over the past few years. 

The founder of CNN, Ted Turner, became famed for his brash style — and let's not forget, his 10-year marriage to Hollywood icon Jane Fonda. Years after their 2001 divorce, Turner revealed that he'd been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. An Alzheimer's-like illness that degrades mental and physical abilities, Lewy body dementia is the same disease that Robin Williams had been battling before his death. 

"Tired. Exhausted. That's the main symptoms. And forgetfulness," Turner told journalist Ted Koppel in a 2018 interview with "CBS Sunday Morning." The fact that Turner has kept largely out of the public eye in recent years does not bode well, given that his disease is as debilitating as it is fatal, with typical life expectancy after diagnosis ranging between five and eight years.

That said, Turner's daughter, Laura Turner Seydel, shared an optimistic update on her father's condition in 2022. "Fortunately, he does not have as severe a case as Robin did," she said via CNN, referencing the severity of Williams' iteration of the illness. "It's a much milder case, slower progressing, and as we speak, he is fishing in Montana," she added. "Nature, as we know, is so healing, especially when you have chronic stress and anxiety, which he does."

King Charles III had only been England's monarch for little over a year when Buckingham Palace made a shocking announcement: a recent prostate procedure had revealed an unspecified form of cancer. According to the palace statement in February 2024, he planned to postpone all his public engagements and focus on undergoing treatment. 

By the end of the year, however, disturbing rumors began to surface, indicating that the king's prognosis was far more serious than what the public had been led to believe. One of these claimed that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer — and had just two years to live. "Many courtiers believe Charles' cancer is worse than they're making it out to be," an insider told InTouch Weekly. "Even before the diagnosis, there were concerns about his health."

That does indeed seem dire but reports of Charles' imminent demise could be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. Confronting that speculation, rumor-busting website Snopes.com contended that particular claim was, as of yet, unproven. 

"Saturday Night Live" alum Pete Davidson has been highly candid about his struggles with mental health, which includes depression and a diagnosis of bipolar personality disorder. He's had other issues, evident when he checked himself into rehab during the summer of 2024, canceling an upcoming standup comedy tour.

All in all, 2024 hasn't been great for him professionally. After the Peacock streaming service had greenlit a second season of his very personal, quasi-autobiographical TV series, "Bupkis," Davidson reportedly walked away, forcing the show's cancellation. "When 'Bupkis' was set for Season 2, and Pete suddenly backed out of it, people were furious with him," a source told The Sun. According to that source, Davidson has since been struggling to find work after gaining a reputation for being difficult. "The guy is just really hard to work with," the source added.

That aligns with a report from New York Daily News gossip columnist Richard Johnson, who cited a source who claimed that when Davis canceled his own show, he effectively canceled himself. "Now it seems Hollywood is taking a break from Davidson," wrote Johnson, noting that his management team was desperately trying to get him a hosting slot on "SNL" in hopes of reviving his flailing career.  

Christina Applegate's life changed irrevocably in 2021 when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that she'd been living with undetected for years prior to that. Since then, fans have watched her physical condition deteriorate, using a cane when appearing at various Hollywood functions. 

What she hadn't made public until more recently is how much pain she's been in. During an appearance on the "MeSsy" podcast — which she co-hosts with former "Sopranos" star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS — she offered stark details. "Everybody has, like, different ways of [the disease] showing up," Applegate said, via ABC News. "I lay in bed screaming," she added, citing "the sharp pains, the ache, the squeezing."

While Applegate may look glam on the red carpet, the situation within her body is a far different story. "I can't even pick up my phone sometimes, 'cause now it's traveled into my hands," she said, detailing how she was gradually losing control of her own body. "So I'll, like, try to go get my phone or get my remote to turn on the TV or whatever, and I can't — sometimes I can't even hold 'em. I can't open bottles now," she added.

In 2023, French-Canadian singer Céline Dion canceled an upcoming mega-tour and revealed why: she'd been diagnosed with a rare ailment known as stiff person syndrome. That ailment, she revealed, caused her to suffer frequent muscle spasms that could be triggered by loud noises, causing her to suddenly stiffen up and freeze and lose control of her muscles — potentially harming herself if she were to fall over.

She opened up more about what she'd been going through in the 2024 documentary, "I Am: Céline Dion," discussing the debilitating health crisis that had taken her off concert stages and away from recording studios. While there is no known cure, she'd been undergoing treatment. "Her body was enduring something that was unimaginable," recalled the documentary's director, Irene Taylor Brodsky, while appearing on "Today." "And I wasn't sure if she was going to survive it."

While Dion made a triumphant comeback performing at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024, her future remains uncertain. As she said in the documentary (via Canada's Juno Awards blog), she's hopeful that won't be the last time she performs for an audience. "I miss it so much," she said. "The people, I miss them. If I can't run, I'll walk. If I can't walk, I'll crawl. I won't stop."

Bestowed with nicknames ranging from the Blizzard of Oz to the Prince of Darkness, rock veteran Ozzy Osbourne wasn't exactly a paragon of healthy living during his heyday. That hard-living lifestyle seemingly caught up with him in later life, with the former Black Sabbath frontman experiencing a laundry list of health concerns over the past few years. These include chronic nerve pain from a 2003 ATV accident and, that same year, being diagnosed with Parkinson's. He's also undergone multiple surgeries, which have impeded his ability to walk and also exacerbated his Parkinson's; when he performed after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, he sat on an elaborate demonic throne, unable to stand.

The rocker's wife, music manager, and TV personality Sharon Osbourne admitted that her husband's spate of health issues had delayed their attempts to move from LA to the U.K. "It just seems that every time we're set to go, something happens with Ozzy's health," she said in an episode of "The Osbournes Podcast."

Osbourne has maintained a low profile in the midst of all those health woes but made a rare public appearance in October 2024 to sign autographs at a fan event. And while that may give fans hope that he may someday return to the stage, that seems increasingly unlikely as the months pass. In fact, Osbourne doesn't expect he'll be around for much longer. "At best, I've got 10 years left and when you're older, time picks up speed," he said in a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone UK.

Journalist Ronan Farrow's 2017 investigative piece for The New Yorker about the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein not only sparked the #MeToo movement but also proved to be the beginning of Weinstein's downfall. Weinstein was ultimately convicted on three charges of rape and sexual assault and imprisoned in NYC's notorious Rikers Island. 

Since his trial and subsequent incarceration, Weinstein's physical condition has deteriorated dramatically. When attending court, the once-robust film producer — who turned 72 in March 2024 — has appeared far older, requiring a walker for mobility (and has insisted it's not to generate sympathy). According to a legal filing from Weinstein's attorneys, he's suffering from multiple health ailments, including leukemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease, obesity, hypertension, and more. While behind bars, Weinstein has been hospitalized twice and underwent emergency heart surgery. 

As NBC News reported, his lawyer, Imran H. Ansari, likened Rikers to "a gulag where the prisoners are treated like animals." In his statement, Ansari wrote, "When I last visited him, I found him with blood spatter on his prison garb, possibly from IV's, clothes that had not been washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided clean underwear — hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe medical conditions and susceptibility to illness." Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Ansari claimed that Weinstein was being deliberately mistreated and feared that his client would die behind bars. "You don't need to be a doctor to say this, but if you're not going to get the medical treatment for terminal illnesses like cancer, like leukemia, and it goes unchecked and it's not treated properly, the inevitable outcome from that is death," he said. 

Elton John has experienced his share of health issues in recent years, ranging from prostate cancer to a potentially deadly bacterial infection, to injuring himself after falling to undergoing knee surgery, and more.

However, in the latter months of 2024, the "Tiny Dancer" singer revealed that he was now suffering from vision loss brought about by an eye infection. "I unfortunately lost my eyesight in my right eye in July, because I had an infection in the south of France, and it's been four months now since I haven't been able to see," he explained during an interview with "Good Morning America," also admitting that "my left eye is not the greatest." 

While he's been advised that there's a high likelihood his vision will eventually return, it's placed him in a holding pattern that was hampering his ability to record new music. "I can do something like this," he said, referring to his appearance at the opening night of his new stage production, "The Devil Wears Prada: The Musical." "But going into the studio and recording, I don't know." Here's hoping that his vision returns and that this rock icon experiences better health in 2025 than he did in 2024.