PRPG:

The All-Time Most Scandalous and Famous Celebrity Rumors, Finally Debunked

March 2, 2016

Despite what you may have heard, Uncle John was not the original Ty-D-Bowl Man. (How do these rumors get started, anyway?)

Celebrity Rumors

Was 1970s shock-rocker Alice Cooper actually Ken Osmond, the teen actor who had played Eddie Haskell on wholesome 1950s sitcom Leave It to Beaver?

 No. Alice Cooper’s real name is Vincent Furnier. The rumor spread because Cooper said in a magazine interview that as a child he was obnoxious “like Eddie Haskell.” He didn’t mean it literally.

Is Alice Cooper actually Ken Osmand?

Did Gene Simmons of KISS have a cow’s tongue surgically grafted onto his own?

 No. Gene Simmons of KISS has a signature stage move. He sticks out his giant tongue and wiggles it around. And while it seems like something a member of the notoriously salacious KISS might do, Simmons’ tongue is freakishly long naturally. Nor is a “tongue graft” a medical procedure that existed in the ’70s…or today.

Gene Simmons and his magnificent tongue

Is Jessica Chastain Ron Howard’s daughter?

No. When picking up awards for her role in Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain thanked her mother, Jerri Chastain, and her father, Michael Hastey. But Hastey isn’t her biological father—a man named Michael Monasterio is. Chastain had a falling out with him years ago, and they don’t speak now. The idea of Chastain’s father not being her real father, coupled with the fact that she strongly resembles Howard’s actual daughter, fellow red-aired A-list actor, Bryce Dallas Howard, helped the rumor spread.

Is Jessica Chastain actually Ron Howard’s illegitimate daughter?

Was actor Jamie Lee Curtis born with both male and female organs?

No. According to Hollywood lore, Curtis was born “intersex” — she had male and female reproductive parts, and she had surgery shortly after birth to remove all traces of malehood. The only “proof” for this far-fetched story is that Curtis’s parents — Hollywood icons Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh — gave her a gender-neutral name, supposedly until she could have the necessary surgeries.

Jamie Lee Curtis

Leigh explained the name in her memoir, which could be the source of the rumor. She and Curtis wanted to name their baby before it arrived, and since they didn’t know the gender before birth, they picked a gender-neutral name.

 

Hungry for more books about interesting and famous people? Then check out Strange History, available now from Portable Press.