Property damage, the creation of new laws, and even death: when the paparazzi chased after these celebrities, the consequences would not soon be forgotten.
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00:00Property damage, the creation of new laws, and even death. When the paparazzi chased
00:05after these celebrities, the consequences would not soon be forgotten.
00:09Perhaps the most famous incident ever involving the paparazzi was the 1997 accident that killed
00:13Princess Diana Dodie Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul. As Diana's son Prince William
00:18recalled in the BBC documentary Diana, Seven Days,
00:21"'About every single time she went out, there'd be a pack of people waiting for her.
00:24And I mean a pack. Like a pack of dogs. Followed her. Chased her. Harassed her. Called her
00:29names. Spatted her. Tried to get a reaction to get that photograph of her lashing out,
00:32to get her upset."
00:33Diana was a massive payday for the paparazzi throughout most of her life. Photos of her
00:37sold for as much as $656,000, and they were especially ruthless in her final hours. After
00:43her death, the world wanted answers, especially when it was revealed that some photographers
00:47had climbed on the car to get pictures of the dying occupants. Nine paparazzi had their
00:51manslaughter charges thrown out of court, while three were convicted on charges of invasion
00:55of privacy, and they were fined only one euro each.
00:59Few celebrities have been subjected to the paparazzi circus as much as Britney Spears.
01:03In 2006, for example, she was photographed driving with her young child on her lap. The
01:07pop star explained in a statement to People magazine that she'd been playing with the
01:10baby while her bodyguard went into Starbucks, and things got out of hand. She put it,
01:14"'Because of a recent incident when I was trapped in my car without my baby by a throng
01:18of paparazzi, I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would
01:22put both me and my baby in danger.'"
01:24Then in 2007, there was a collision between two paparazzi who were chasing Spears, one
01:28on a motorcycle and one in a Range Rover. And then the following year, four paparazzi
01:32were arrested for reckless driving, with the arrest report citing them for getting too
01:36close to her car.
01:37"'Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.'"
01:40At the height of her fame, Lindsay Lohan was another favorite target of the paparazzi.
01:44During one incident in 2005, Lohan called the police to report she was being harassed
01:48by another driver. Shortly afterwards, that driver deliberately ran his car into hers
01:52in the hopes of getting a photo. Injuries were minor, but the photographer was still
01:55arrested.
01:56Pretty much the same thing happened just a few months later. Even though witnesses said
01:59that Lohan was being harassed by the paparazzi at the time of the crash, it was ultimately
02:03ruled that they weren't responsible for her hitting the van. Those incidents happened
02:07in West Hollywood, and in 2008, paparazzi threats prompted a motion to create a so-called
02:11personal safety zone that restricted how close it could get to their targets.
02:16After a motorcycle accident in August 2014, David Beckham released a statement in which
02:20he confirmed that he had not been injured after being swarmed by paparazzi on the Sunset
02:24Strip in Los Angeles. Witnesses said that employees of a nearby tattoo parlor came out
02:28to help the soccer player pick up his bike, which he reportedly lost control of while
02:32dodging paparazzi and trying to avoid hitting the car.
02:35And this wasn't the only serious incident that Beckham endured. Back in 1999, he was
02:39facing an eight-month driving ban and a fine after he was found guilty of speeding on Greater
02:43Manchester's A34. He initially pleaded not guilty and appealed, explaining that he was
02:48trying to avoid getting hit by the paparazzi that had been following him. He also noted
02:52that this was a daily occurrence that should be considered a defense in his speeding case.
02:56Ultimately, the speeding conviction remained, though the driving ban was overturned.
03:00Scarlett Johansson has learned the hard way that fame can come with a massive price. In
03:052019, she stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live with some of her Avengers castmates, and afterwards,
03:09some uninvited guests were waiting for her. As her reps revealed in a statement to Entertainment
03:13Tonight,
03:14At one point in time, the paparazzi overpowered her security, and for her security reasons
03:18and for her security team, they were taken to the Hollywood police station. At that point,
03:22she was later able to leave the station.
03:24All the hysteria just turned scary for Scarlett Johansson.
03:27Nobody was arrested, no charges were filed, and no one was hurt, but Johansson didn't
03:31pull any punches. She claimed that she was followed by a group of five blacked-out cars
03:35who were tailing her and her daughter in an attempt to find out where she was staying.
03:38As she put it in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter,
03:41The paparazzi consistently go to increasingly dangerous lengths to stalk and harass the
03:45people they are photographing. The paparazzi put people's lives at risk. Until the paparazzi
03:49are considered by the law for the criminal stalkers they are, it's just a waiting game
03:52before another person gets seriously injured or killed.
03:55In April 2005, Reese Witherspoon was leaving the gym when she was accosted by paparazzi
04:00who cut her off from her car. Gym employees had to come out and help clear a path, and
04:04according to witnesses who spoke to the New York Daily News, they didn't give up after
04:07she got in her car. The witnesses claimed that they took off after her, nearly forced
04:11her off the road, and followed her home. Security in her gated community got involved, as did
04:15the police. And that October, Witherspoon was involved in an even more tragic accident.
04:20She and her daughter were at a birthday party when a chase ended with one man arrested for
04:24a series of charges. One of those charges was battery of a five-year-old who was reportedly
04:28hit by paparazzi when she got in the way of a photo.
04:31Witherspoon spoke about the incident in an interview, as she claimed,
04:34He became so aggressive. He began pushing and shoved our tour guide. It was an awful
04:38experience."
04:39The photographer entered a plea of not guilty, and then he disappeared after not showing
04:43up for court later that same month. He was later found dead in his apartment.
04:47In 2015, Caitlyn Jenner rear-ended another vehicle, which was then hit by a third vehicle.
04:52The driver of the car that Jenner hit died at the scene. According to the official investigation,
04:57she was not at fault and wasn't going to face criminal charges. But that wasn't the end
05:02Jenner claimed that she had seen the paparazzi trailing her, and a representative from the
05:05Los Angeles Sheriff's Department told CNN,
05:07As far as we're concerned, they're not a factor at this time.
05:10But then, in early 2016, Jenner sued the paparazzi. While there was no high-speed chase, she claimed
05:15that their relentless presence was enough of a distraction that it ultimately caused
05:18the crash. In a separate lawsuit settled in 2018, she was ordered to pay $800,000 to one
05:24of the families involved in the multi-car collision.
05:26Something like this, a tragedy like this, you'll never get over it. You just learn to
05:30live with it the best you possibly can.
05:32Chris Brown has a history of fights, assaults, and restraining order violations, so it's
05:36hardly surprising that he's been a target of the paparazzi. In 2013, it was reported
05:40that he towed his car in an accident caused by paparazzi. His representatives released
05:44a statement that read,
05:45The occupants jumped out with cameras and aggressively approached his vehicle. In an
05:49effort to remove himself from the situation, he began to back down an alley, at which point
05:53he was cut off by two additional vehicles.
05:55According to Brown, he then lost control, crashed into a wall, and totaled his car.
06:00TMZ obtained a recording of the 911 call that he made, in which he claimed that the photographers
06:04who were chasing him took off after the crash. The subsequent investigation into the incident
06:08was ultimately inconclusive.
06:10In 2007, Sienna Miller presented an award at the BAFTAs, and then she headed out to
06:14an after-party. At the time, she'd been so hounded by paparazzi who sat outside her home
06:19all day and night that she felt she had no choice but to move. She was constantly being
06:23tailed by photographers who wanted to learn her new address. After calling for help on
06:26that particular night, her boyfriend's brother, Otis Ferry, came to escort her home. He would
06:31later testify in court. It then became very clear that there were quite a few vehicles
06:35and they were absolutely stopping at nothing to get after us.
06:38Miller and Ferry eventually found themselves stopped in traffic. Ferry got out of his car
06:41to confront the photographers. He then grabbed the key out of one of their cars and threw
06:45it. He was brought up on charges of criminal damages, but was later cleared thanks in part
06:49to Miller's testimony.
06:51In 2012, Justin Bieber was in a Ferrari being tailed by paparazzi in what turned into a
06:55high-speed chase down the 101 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles City Councilman
07:00and LAPD veteran Dennis Zine told CNN that he fully expected the chase to end with an
07:05accident. Bieber was clocked at around 100 miles per hour, with a handful of other cars
07:09chasing him. When the singer was pulled over, the officer allowed the paparazzi to take
07:12photos while Bieber got a ticket. Bieber then called 911 when they continued the chase and
07:17told the dispatcher,
07:18"...they're being very dangerous, swerving around other cars to get to me. They're driving
07:21really recklessly. They just will not stop following me."
07:24911 emergency, what are you reporting?
07:26Hello, um, I have, like, five cars following me.
07:30Multiple people were cited for high speeds and swerving across lanes and off the road.
07:34The incident also led to the first charges filed against a photographer under new laws
07:38designed to protect celebrities.
07:40In 2011, just a few months after Tori Spelling announced that she was pregnant with her third
07:44child, she was involved in an accident that she blamed on the paparazzi. Her two older
07:48children were in the car with her when she hit the wall of their school. As she claimed
07:52on Twitter,
07:53"...paparazzi chased me with the kids to school. I was trying to get away from him and had
07:56a pretty big accident."
07:58He then still got out to try to get pics. Ten school moms chased him away. What will
08:02it take? Someone dying from paparazzi to stop?
08:05A source told People magazine that Spelling had been pulling into the school when the
08:08photographer pulled in behind her. Her representatives noted that she went to the doctor and confirmed
08:12that everyone was fine. Then, in 2021, Spelling posted a scathing condemnation of the paparazzi
08:18on her Instagram, as she claimed that she'd been picking her son up from her preschool
08:21when she was followed. As she put it,
08:23"...if you insist on following us adult humans everywhere then please know the boundaries
08:26of privacy that these kiddos deserve."
08:29Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dominated the celebrity news cycle again in May 2023, as
08:34they claimed that they'd been in an incredibly dangerous high-speed chase through New York
08:37City. Chris Sanchez, one of the members of their security team, told CNN,
08:41"...the public were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were
08:44jumping curbs and red lights."
08:46The NYPD confirmed in a statement that there had been no accidents and that no one was
08:50hurt. Meanwhile, The Washington Post spoke with a taxi driver who had taken Harry and
08:54Meghan part of the way, who claimed,
08:55"...they kept following us and were coming next to the car. They took pictures as we
08:59stopped and were filming us. I don't think I would call it a chase. I never felt like
09:02I was in danger. It wasn't like a car chase in a movie."
09:05The Los Angeles Times was given a statement by Backgrid USA, an agency that employs freelance
09:11paparazzi. They claimed that their review of the photos revealed nothing dangerous,
09:14as they stated,
09:15"...the paparazzi had no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was
09:19their cameras."
09:20A few of the photos even show Meghan Markle smiling inside a cab.
09:23There were no reported injuries, no crashes, and no arrests.