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6 Other Extorted Celebs
From Cameron Diaz all the way back to the 19th century, Letterman ain't the first
By Evann Gastaldo
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Posted Oct 7, 09 12:10 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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David Letterman isn’t the first celebrity to be brazenly blackmailed. Mental Floss lists six other notable cases:
- Cameron Diaz: A photographer who snapped bondage-themed nude photos of the actress threatened to sell them to magazines if she wouldn’t buy them for $3.5 million—he ended up in jail for three years.
- Bill Cosby: Autumn Jackson, 23, claimed to be his illegitimate daughter and wanted $40 million not to tell the press. Cosby admitted to an affair with Jackson’s mother, but denied fathering Autumn; she was sent to prison.
- Louie Anderson: The comedian shelled out $100,000 to a blackmailer who said Anderson propositioned a man in Las Vegas—but when the extortionist came back for more, Anderson went to the cops and he was caught.
- Elvis Presley: A dermatologist Presley fired threatened to release compromising photographs and tapes, but eventually left him alone after Elvis refused to pay—and it turned out he wasn’t even a doctor.
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti: The 19th century poet and painter may have been blackmailed by his agent into digging up his wife’s coffin to retrieve a journal full of poems.
For the complete list, click the link below.