Charlie Sheen
Good looks require little more than genetic luck, but being a jerk? That takes some effort. Just look at all the hard work veteran bad boy Charlie Sheen has put into it over the years. Even ignoring his past penchant for prostitutes and that one time he accidentally shot former fiancée Kelly Preston in the arm, Sheen’s body of jerk-work is impressive. At least it seems so, if even a fraction of what ex-wife Denise Richards claims is true. While neither party walked away dirt-free from their public mudslinging matches, the e-mails Richards filed with the court left Sheen looking positively villainous. “You are a pig,”
he allegedly wrote. “A sad, jobless pig who is sad and talentless and sad and jobless and evil and a bad mom, so go (expletive) yourself, sad jobless pig.” Whew!
Terrence Howard
Bad behavior and hunky Terrence Howard go hand-in-hand. Rumor has it his “difficult” reputation might be the reason filmmakers decided to “go another way” and recast his role in “Iron Man 2,” but there’s no need to rely on rumors to make the jerk case for Howard. He seems happy enough to that himself. In an interview with Elle magazine, Howard revealed his preference for women who look like him (“Because the most beautiful thing in nature is your own reflection.”) and then followed that gem up his jaw-dropping relationship deal breaker. “Toilet paper — and no baby wipes — in the bathroom,” he insisted. “If they’re using dry paper, they aren’t washing all of themselves. It’s just unclean. So if I go in a woman’s house and see the toilet paper there, I’ll explain this. And if she doesn’t make the adjustment to baby wipes, I’ll know she’s not completely clean.”
John Mayer
No jerk list would be complete without kiss-and-tell troubadour John Mayer. Sure, he’s got those dreamy brown eyes and smoldering good looks, but Mayer does his best to counter them by tongue-wagging about his celebrity lady loves. His worst offense to date came after he and on-again, off-again girlfriend Jennifer Anniston split. Surrounded by paparazzi, Mayer decided to give a seemly impromptu press conference about the big news.
“If you guys are going to run stuff and run every lie under the sun, have somebody stand up for somebody,” the singer said. “Have me as a man who ended a relationship stand here and write some truth. Have me stand up for somebody and write that Jennifer Aniston is the smartest, most sophisticated person I think I’ve ever met.” See what he did there? Sure, he said a bunch of nice stuff, but not without adding, “I totally broke up with her.” Jerk.
Rick Salomon
Given Pamela Anderson’s taste in men, it’s practically a given that her momentary-husband, Rick Salomon, is jerk material. But it was Salomon’s relationship with Paris Hilton that really launched his reputation. When a sex tape featuring him and his heiress ex made its way to the Web, Salomon seemed shocked. He filed suit against the company behind the release and the Hilton family, too (for daring to suggest he took advantage of the young socialite). That is until he swapped his shock for a piece of the profits. Yes, Salomon decided to re-release the video himself under the oh-so-classy title “1 Night in Paris,” and eventually dropped all that blustery legal action. Heck, he even let an unhappy Hilton in on the deal.
Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe? A jerk? Hey, just look at his rap sheet. In 2005, the easily irritated Australian heartthrob was arrested in New York City for smacking a hotel employee with a telephone. Though he later referred to Naomi Campbell-worthy incident as
“possibly the most shameful situation that I’ve ever gotten myself in,” even he had to add, “and I’ve done some pretty dumb things in my life.” Wonder if Mr. Temperamental Tendencies was referring to his
past public fights. Or maybe some of his
verbal outbursts? Surely it wasn’t the alleged
flight attendant abuse. He denied that one. There are just so many jerky choices.
© 2012 msnbc.com.
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