A sex scandal is a scandal in which a public figure becomes embroiled in a situation where embarrassing sexual activities (or allegations of them) are publicized. These often involve adultery or some other form of affair. They may or may not be legal.
Sex scandals are often associated with movie stars and politicians, and are often believed to be the result of great power and wealth leading to poor judgement or a belief that rules do not apply to them.
Sex scandals involving politicians can become political scandals, particularly when there is an attempt at a cover-up, or suspicions of illegality.
List of famous sex scandals
Entertainers
- Woody Allen: In 1992 he left his long-term partner Mia Farrow after she discovered his secret affair with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Farrow accused him of being a pedophile (she is 35 years his junior) and of abusing their seven-year-old daughter Dylan.
- Hugh Grant: picked up a prostitute and was subsequently arrested by Los Angeles police.
- Michael Jackson: alleged to have engaged in sexual activities with a teenage boy in 1993 (a civil complaint that was settled out of court), and again with another one in 2003 (a felony complaint); in the latter case Jackson was arrested and released on bail. Jackson claims that there were never sexual activities, and defends nonsexual sleepovers as harmless.
- George Michael: arrested in 1998 for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public restroom in a Beverly Hills city park.
Politicians
- John E. Brownlee, a former Premier of Alberta, was forced to resign in 1934 after allegations that he seduced a young woman.
- Gary Condit, a California congressman, was revealed to be having an affair with his intern, which was alleged may have also led to her murder.
- Edwina Currie revealed in 2002 that she had had a four-year extramarital affair with John Major who would later become Prime Minister. Commentators were quick to accuse Major of hypocrisy, referring to his previous Back to Basics platform (a form of moral absolutism).
- The Lewinsky scandal, in which sitting American President Bill Clinton engaged in a variety of sexual activities with his intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton's denial under oath made it worse and created, apart from the embarrassment, a legal problem that led to his impeachment.
- The Munsinger Affair, 1960s scandal involving several Canadian cabinet ministers and Gerda Munsinger, a Soviet spy.
- The Profumo Affair—British Secretary of War John Profumo attempted to cover up his affair with a showgirl.
- Uno Sosuke, Prime Minister of Japan, resigned in 1989, after less than three months when a geisha revealed that she had an affair with him.
- Alexander Wood, a magistrate in Upper Canada who was part of a gay sex scandal in 1810
- Grover Cleveland paid child support to a woman with whom he had an affair with in 1874.
Other public figures
- The Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, in which priests have been accused of molesting altar boys and other young church workers.
- The scandalous libertine existence of the sadistic Marquis de Sade in the 1700s.
- The Cleveland Street scandal of 1889 in London, in which a homosexual brothel apparently had a clientele of highly-placed personages, including Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Clarence.
- HRH The Prince of Wales.
- Under a court order, certain details of the scandal cannot be released where it may be viewable by the British public. It is alleged that Diana, Princess of Wales had tapes on which an aide has claimed he has seen the Prince of Wales in bed with one of his male servants.
- Divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales after it was revealed both had been cheating on each other during their marriage.
See also
