by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffI’m an innately nosey and chronically online celebrity and pop culture journalist, with my specialist areas including deep-diving lyrics and calling out Terrible Men™.

This article mentions allegations of sexual assault, racism, violence, animal cruelty, and other sensitive topics.

It’s fair to assume that literally no celebrity on the planet actually wants to get canceled, and likely goes out of their way to curate a public image that is as un-controversial as possible.

However, every so often, a famous person casually volunteers information about themselves that is so problematic, it’s hard to understand why they’d so openly share it. Here’s a recap of some of the most shocking, divisive, or downright offensive stories that celebs decided to tell the world for literally no reason:

Lena Dunham’s reputation will arguably always be blighted by her controversial revelations about her younger sibling — who is now known as Cyrus and uses they/ them pronouns — from her 2014 memoir, Not That Kind Of Girl.

Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images

Readers were understandably left shocked when Lena recalled intimately touching Cyrus when she was 7 years old and they were a toddler. She also admitted to bribing her young sibling with candy and compared herself to a “sexual predator.” One of the most renowned excerpts from the book reads: “One day, as I sat in our driveway in Long Island playing with blocks and buckets, my curiosity got the best of me. [Cyrus] was sitting up, babbling and smiling, and I leaned down between [their] legs and carefully spread open [their] vagina. [They] didn’t resist and when I saw what was inside, I shrieked.”

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“My mother came running. ‘Mama, Mama! [Cyrus] has something in there!’” the passage goes on. “My mother didn't bother asking why I had opened [Cyrus’s] vagina. This was within the spectrum of things I did. She just on her knees and looked for herself. It quickly became apparent that Cyrus had stuffed six or seven pebbles in there.”

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In another extract, Lena wrote: "As [Cyrus] grew, I took to bribing [them] for [their] time and affection: one dollar in quarters if I could do [their] makeup like a 'motorcycle chick.' Three pieces of candy if I could kiss [them] on the lips for five seconds. Whatever [they] wanted to watch on TV if [they] would just 'relax on me.' Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl I was trying."

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Lena hit back at the backlash on X at the time, tweeting: “The right wing news story that I molested my little sister isn't just LOL- it's really fucking upsetting and disgusting." She later added: "And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid's vagina, well, congrats to you.”

X @Lenadunham / Via x.com

“Usually this is stuff I can ignore but don't demean sufferers, don't twist my words, back the fuck up bros. I told a story about being a weird 7 year old. I bet you have some too, old men, that I'd rather not hear. And yes, this is a rage spiral,” she continued. “Sometimes I get so mad I burn right up. Also I wish my sister wasn't laughing so hard.”

A few days later, Lena issued a more traditional statement where she apologized for her comments. She said: “First and foremost, I want to be very clear that I do not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstance. Childhood sexual abuse is a life-shattering event for so many, and I have been vocal about the rights of survivors. If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention.”

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Lena then added that she was “also aware that the comic use of the term ‘sexual predator’ was insensitive, and I’m sorry for that as well,” before concluding: “As for my sibling, [Cyrus], she is my best friend, and anything I have written about her has been published with her approval.”

Mike Pont / Getty Images

And Lena actually looked back at the whole situation in her 2026 memoir, Famesick, where she admitted that her revelations had had a negative impact on Cyrus's life. Lena wrote: "I was shocked when a conservative media site analyzed the book carefully, pulling choice passages and coming to the conclusion that I had engaged in sexually inappropriate childhood behavior with my sibling."

Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images

“I didn't consider what I'd written to be particularly salacious. And anyway, what about the things I hadn’t included? I’d decided against describing the time, age four, I announced to a group of near-strangers that my punishment at home for misbehavior was having ‘a fork stuck up my vagina.’ (It was not.) I don't know where I came up with that, but I've always been confused by anyone who doesn't recognize that children are inherently innocent, and yet their imaginations are endless and deranged,” she we

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