January has been quite the busy month for celebrity scandal, despite still having a week left. From movie stars to athletes to singers, the melting pot of pop culture has seen no shortage of hoopla throughout the decades, and this month has been no exception. Naturally there have been too many to count, but three in particular have overshadowed the rest.
Heisman hopeful Manti Te’o has caused a mega-controversy when it broke that his girlfriend, who the world believed to have died from leukemia, had actually never existed. Things are still completely unclear as to the purpose of the fabrication—some speculate it was to aid Te’o in his quest for the Heisman trophy; others say that it’s to cover up his actual sexual orientation. The Notre Dame quarterback spoke to Katie Couric recently , talking about how the relationship blossomed online and he never knew that Lennay Kekua wasn’t a real person. He was genuinely in love with her, he says, and he has no idea how to deal with the mess. But honestly, Manti Te’o could just avoid all this mess if he’d just stop talking about it.
Lance Armstrong shocked (but only not so much) the world when he admitted to Oprah that he really did drug up for his races. He used performance enhancers, blood transfusions, and the list goes on. He lost his medals for his success in the Tour de France last year, and now has to deal with the fact that everyone sees him as a fraud. He’s already suffering the repercussions of his actions through the loss of his multi-million dollar endorsements, and has defamed the cycling community. Armstrong’s confession comes after months of vehemently denying any involvement with drugs. His behavior just goes to show that Oprah can get anyone to do pretty much anything!
Beyoncé caused tons of questions after her performance at the presidential inauguration. Her rendition of the National Anthem left people asking if she had actually sung or if she had been lip syncing. Her reps have yet to comment on the situation, probably because she’s Beyoncé and no one really cares either way. Analysts have decided, after thorough examination, she was singing live but singing to a track.  But let’s be real, the only mistake Beyoncé has ever made was naming her daughter Blue Ivy.
With all these major (and not so major) scandals, we can only imagine what’s to come in the next eleven months!