Most Infamous Interviews

Richard Nixon resigned after the Watergate scandal forced impeachment. Gerald Ford pardoned him, meaning the American public never got a chance.The case did not close.Nixon insisted he was not guilty two years after resigning, though this left the question of his guilt open.

In 1977, Richard Nixon accepted a large payment to interview with David Frost for his memoir. Nixon thought Frost, a soft interviewer, would easily fix his image and tell his story. Frost had different plans. He got author James Reston, Jr. to help. The two spent ten months planning an interview that acted like a prosecutorial interrogation.

This was the first time Nixon faced public questioning about the Watergate events.45 million AmericansViewers watched the interview, split into four 90-minute parts, where Frost cornered Nixon and finally got him::

I let down my friends… I let down the country. I let down our system of government, and the dreams of all those young people who should enter government but now think it corrupt… I let the American people down, and I must carry that burden my whole life.

The 1995 BBC interview featuredPrincess DianaThe interview with Diana was double trouble. The princess admitted to an affair and talked about her mental health and her split marriage. Reporter Martin Bashir also faked bank statements showing a newspaper paid a member of Diana's brother's staff for the interview.

When asked about her marriage to the future King of England, Dianaresponded surprisingly:

[Bulimia] was a sign of what happened in my marriage. I cried for help but sent the wrong signals; people used my bulimia as an excuse. They decided that was the issue—Diana was unstable…

[I knew Prince Charles started seeing Camilla Parker Bowles again], but I could not act on it. A woman's instinct works well. There were three of us in the marriage, so it felt crowded…

We struggled to keep it going, but we both ran out of energy. Perhaps the legal separation offered relief, as we finally agreed. But my husband asked for it, and I backed it.

After 14 years of refusing interviews, Michael Jackson sat down in 1993 for an exclusive show with Oprah Winfrey. They agreed not to discuss the questions Winfrey planned for Jackson on stage. As the interview grew personal, many fans thought the talk show host took things.First, she questioned Jackson about his skin color:

First, she questioned Jackson about his skin pigmentation:

Are you bleaching your skin? Do you want lighter skin because you dislike being Black?

Jackson's voice shook as he answered:

I know there is no skin bleaching. I have never seen it. I do not know what it is. I have a skin disorder that destroys skin pigmentation. I cannot fix this. But when people make up stories that I do not want to be who I am, it hurts me.

Winfrey asked if the pop star was still a virgin. Jackson answered:

How could you ask that? I am a gentleman. It is private. People should not talk about it openly. Call me old-fashioned if you want, but that is very personal. I am embarrassed.

In 2002, Diane Sawyer accused Whitney Houston and her husband, Bobby Brown, of using recreational drugs, specifically crack cocaine. The interview caused fan controversy immediately and kept the outrage going after her death.

Fans felt Sawyer's questioning tactics were unfair. They thought the interviewer tried to humiliate Houston by showing her a thin photo, hoping to get a reaction. Houston responded, but not how Sawyer expected.

After Sawyer pushed Houston by accusing her of anorexia and bulimia, Sawyer shifted the topic to drug use. Sawyer forcefully questioned Houston about crack use.Houston fought back without flinching.Whitney Houston appears in the list of most infamous interviews.

Yeah, my bones. I am 5'7 and thin. I understand what you mean. I believe what you feel. I believe that. But do you know? Do you really know…

I will admit I have partied. But there were times I felt a lot of emotional stress. My eating habits were terrible…

Let's be clear. Crack is cheap. I made too much money to ever smoke crack. We do not use crack. We do not do that. Crack is garbage.

President Bill Clinton's lasting legacy from 1998 was his public affair with one of his interns.Monica Lewinsky is in the list of most infamous interviews.He first denied the relationship. Then, he was impeached for the affair after admitting it on live television.

Accusations started from recorded talks between Lewinsky and her colleague Linda Tripp about the relationship. Lewinsky stayed quiet during Clinton's trial. When she finally spoke to Barbara Walters in 1999, her reply was not as sorry as the media thought:

Some days I regret the relationship started. Other days I regret telling Linda Tripp.

Regarding being questioned by FBI agents, Lewinsky shared:

I was terrified. I have never been so scared in my life. I wanted to die. I wanted to kill everyone in the room… I was just very scared.

The former White House intern became an employee and discussed her feelings toward Clinton.

Sometimes I feel warm toward him. Sometimes I am proud of him. Other times, I hate him. He makes me sick.

In a 1965 interview forPlayboy Magazine, James Bond starSean ConneryConnery admitted slapping a woman was okay if it was “justified”:

If a woman is a b*tch, hysterical, or bloody-minded constantly, then I would do it.

Comments caused controversy. The actor stood by his first statement many times during his career. Years after Connery’s interview withPlayboy, Barbara WaltersWalters questioned his earlier remarks on camera during a 1987 interview. The actor kept his original position, explaining to the host:

I have not changed my opinion… not at all… I do not think it is that bad. It depends totally on the situation and if it deserves it… if you have tried everything else…

Women are good at this. They cannot leave it alone. They want the final word, but you give them the last word, and they are not happy with it. They want to say it again and get into a very provocative situation. Then, I think it is absolutely right… It is the last option. He will not do it because he wants to.

Though he later reported toVanity FairIn 1993, Walters took his comments out of context. Connery still did not seem to grasp why his view was so controversial, saying:

Sometimes women push things to the limit. That is what they seek, the final clash—they want a smack.

The actor did not fully reject his views on physically abusing women until 2006until 2006, when he stated, “I do not believe that any level of abuse against women is ever justified under any circumstances. Full stop.”

During his press tour forWar of the Worldsin 2005, Tom Cruisesat down for what became an infamous interview with then-Todayshow host Matt Lauer. Lauer asked Cruise about Scientology's views on mental health and psychiatry. Lauer also questioned the negative remarks Cruise made in an earlier interview about actress Brooke Shields taking medication for postpartum depression.

In a heated reply, Cruise said:

I have never agreed with psychiatry. Before I was a Scientologist, I never agreed with psychiatry. When I began studying the history of psychiatry, I started seeing more and more why I did not agree with psychiatry. About the Brooke Shields issue… Look. You must understand, I truly care about Brooke Shields. I think, 'Here is a wonderful and talented woman,' and I want her to succeed. I know that psychiatry is a pseudoscience.

When Lauer mentioned that Shields thought seeing a counselor and taking antidepressants helped her, an angry Cruise shot back:

Matt, you must grasp this. You lack knowledge of psychiatry's history. I do. It masks the problem. There is no chemical imbalance.

Vitamins, exercise, and other things help mental illness. Postpartum depression is real. Drugs are not the answer. These drugs are very dangerous. Brooke has misinformation. She does not grasp psychiatry's history. She does not understand it like you do, Matt.

You need more responsibility in knowing things. You talk to people.

Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, denied using performance-enhancing drugs to win races throughout his career. When Armstrong admitted cheating during an Oprah Winfrey interview, he gave a limited confession and accepted some blame for his actions.

Armstrong confessed to doping from 1999 to 2005. He denied allegations that he bullied teammates into taking steroids. He also denied bribing the International Cycling Union and a Swiss laboratory to hide positive drug tests.Winfrey asked Armstrong.if he used steroids to win his tour titles. The cyclist simply said, "Yes." But he did not stop there:

I see this situation as one large lie I repeated often. I did not start the doping culture, nor did I try to stop it. The sport now pays the price. I apologize. I had no access to anything others did not have.

The truth is gone now. This story felt perfect for so long. I was a bully. I tried to control the story. If I disliked what someone said, I tried to control that. I said, 'that's a lie, they're liars.' I knew I would win those tours. I deserved it. I watch that clip of me denying accusations and see an arrogant prick. That is not me now.

These people believed in me. They believed me. They have every right to feel betrayed. I will spend my life earning back trust and apologizing.

In 2008, the Republican party picked Sarah Palin to run with John McCain as the Vice Presidential candidate. Katie Couric questioned Palin's knowledge and her views on many political topics in a CBS interview. Palin often stumbled over words, unable to answer Couric's specific questions.

The CBS interviewer asked Palin.Palin answered.to give specific examples from McCain's 26 years supporting more Wall Street regulations, the Alaska native avoided the question before finally giving up.

He acts as a maverick. He takes shots from his own party and the other party, seeking to make people grasp the need to reform government.

When Couric asked her initial question, Palin replied:

I will try to find some for you and bring them to you.

Couric also asked what Palin meant in an earlier interview when she linked her Alaska living experience to foreign policy. Palin answered with a short geography lesson:

Alaska has a very narrow maritime border with Russia, and on the other side, there is the land border with Canada. It is funny that a comment like that was made to reporters.

When asked about the media and newspapers Palin used to form her views, the Republican Vice President nominee could not give a direct answer:

I have read most of them. I appreciate the press and the media. I have seen all of them that have been in front of me these years. I get our news in Alaska from various sources.

The interview was so strange that whenTina Fey.Tina Fey reenacted the conversation by playing Palin on Saturday Night Live.Saturday Night Live., the show saw a large jump in viewers. Fey's portrayal of Alaska's governor was so real that many thought some of Fey's memorable lines were Palin's actual words.

Ten years later,Couric thought aboutthe experience, saying her tough interview questions aimed at Palin played a key part in the democratic process:

…On a human level, I felt bad for her because she clearly struggled. Someone said it was like watching an unprepared seventh-grader try to recite his exams, but that insulted seventh-graders and oral tests. She did that poorly…

On the other hand, I did not get why John McCain did not do more, or why the McCain campaign did not thoroughly check her in a much more serious way. Clearly, she was not ready for prime time; she was out of her depth.

Before his infamous 2011 statements became common phrases, Sheen was hospitalized in a drug incident. WhenABC interviewed Charlie Sheen.the.Two and a Half Men.star Sheen continued the strange on-camera actions the media had linked to his drug use. Sheen claimed he was clean, yet he admitted he could take up to 7 grams of cocaine in one session because he had "tiger blood." The actor claimed he was "winning" when asked about bipolar disorder.

The actor also made damaging comments aboutTwo and a Half Men.creator Chuck Lorre, which led to Sheen's firing from the show at the peak of his career.

In 2021, Sheen drew headlines again. The internet compared Ted Cruz's statements about a Mexican vacation during a Texas power outage (which he blamed on his daughters) to South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham's claim that he was "into winning" with Sheen's famous catchphrase.

This interview and its effect on his career and pop culture...Sheen stated.:

People told me, ‘Hey, man, that was so cool, so fun to watch. It was cool to be part of and support that energy. We stuck it to the man…’ My thinking is, 'Oh yeah, great. I’m glad I traded early retirement for a hashtag.'

Les Moonves, former CBS CEO, and his lawyer Bruce were at my house. They said, ‘OK, the Warner jet is fueled on the runway. Wheels up in an hour and going to rehab, right?’ If I could go back, I would have gotten on the jet. That big left turn in that moment caused a very unfortunate sequence of public and insane events.

Instead of the public taking his struggles seriously, Sheen became national entertainment. He recalled:

I was a guy needing someone to reach out and say, ‘Hey, man, there’s tons of other stuff going on. How can we help?’ Instead, they showed up with banners and songs, all fanfare celebrating what I thought was a public display of a mental health moment.

I had four kids and two divorces while trying to manage being on the most popular show in the universe. It was a lot. Sometimes you pick a target; you need a scapegoat; you need someone to blame. It can't be me; it has to be him, them, or those people. That is not the right path.

Actress.Kate del Castillo.Del Castillo arranged for actor Sean Penn to meet Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman during his 2015 prison break. This decision later led to El Chapo's capture. During this, del Castillo insisted Penn intentionally betrayed her.

Though the actress agreed to introduce Penn to El Chapo, she thought it connected to making a film about the drug lord's life. Instead, Penn published the interview inRolling Stone.magazine, leaving del Castillo alone afterward. The actress recounted the events onRed Table Talk: The Estefans.:

Suddenly, Sean began saying, ‘Tell him that I want to interview him for'Rolling Stone.magazine…’ I thought, ‘Wait, this wasn't in the script…’ I could not show my face because Guzman would notice something was wrong. He would pick it up, and Penn would die in a blink.

The Mexican government protected Penn because he was reporting forRolling Stone.Mexican authorities thought del Castillo was linked to a money laundering scheme with El Chapo and kept investigating. She told the Estefan family she had to quit acting in Mexico and leave her family to avoid the government.

I have no money. Lawyers and the Mexican government consume everything. He used me as bait, then he never protected me. He risked my life, my parents’ lives, my sister’s life, and everyone around me. Everyone knows if something happens to me or my family, it is notEl cartel.. It is going to be the Mexican government.

Before Prince Harry and Meghan MarklePrince Harry and Meghan Markle spoke openly with Oprah Winfrey about their experiences with the royal family. Much of life behind castle walls stayed a secret. Their interview showed shocking claims that the family mistreated the couple because they rejected Meghan due to her race.

Harry said signs showed they would lack support in their union from the start. Royal family members get regular pay for public events. Harry and Meghan did not get funds. The prince explained his family advised Meghan keep acting.

There was not enough money to pay for her. My family cut me off financially. I have what my mum left me; without that, we could not have done this.

The couple claimed that despite racist tabloid attacks and false claims about their relationships with Prince William and Kate Middleton, the royal family refused to fix the news coverage or give security and titles for their first son. Meghan said:

The family will lie to protect other family members, but they would not tell the truth to protect my husband and me. We discussed our son’s situation: 'He won’t get security, he won’t get a title,' and thoughts about how dark his skin might be when he is born.

Harry mentioned someone asked, “What will the kids look like?” Meghan also shared she was so unhappy she considered suicide. She recalled:

I was ashamed to tell Harry. I knew if I did not say it, I would do it. I just did not want to be alive anymore.

When Meghan asked a senior royal for inpatient care, they told her it would hurt the family's image.