SPOT LIGHT: Eddie Murphy, Eminem, Sylvester Stallone Among 10 Successful Celebrity Comebacks

ENEWSGHANA’s Derrickmanny Everywhere takes a spotlight on some celebrities who went down into the tunnel and later bounced back even stronger than before. It appears most celebrities doesn’t prepare for fame, they sees it as an advantage that has come their way. But on the contrary, it’s something that one needs to prepare for, if not it will take you by storm and drain you. To begin with a quote, Emily Dickinson once said, “Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate”: here one moment, only to be chewed up and spat out the next. But then again, what did she know about fame?

Here are 10 successful celebrity comeback stories.

1. Dave Chappelle
Dave is unique in that his celebrity exile was entirely self-imposed, leaving behind his hit Comedy Central show (and not to mention US$50 million) to attend a “spiritual retreat” in South Africa. But the funnyman has since returned to doing what he loves best: stand-up, releasing five specials on Netflix since 2017, including the recent Sticks and Stones, which has a 99% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

2. Rob Lowe
After a sex tape scandal in 1988 stalled his career, Rob Lowe seemed destined to be remembered as nothing more than a member of the Brat Pack. That is until he was cast as Sam Seaborn in the wildly popular Aaron Sorkin political drama The West Wing in 1999, which led to further success on Parks and Recreation, playing the eternally optimistic and health-conscious Chris Traeger.

3. Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy was the biggest stand-up comedian of the ’80s and is credited with helping save Saturday Night Live thanks to classic characters like Buckwheat, Gumby, and Mr. Robinson. But the funnyman’s career took a sharp downturn in the 2000s with a string of box-office bombs, including I Spy, Showtime, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, and Norbit, despite the fact that he earned an Oscar nomination in 2006 for Dreamgirls. But with rumours that he might be returning to stand-up, and buzz for the film Dolemite Is My Name, based on the life of Blaxploitation filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, Murphy seems poised to come back in a big way.

4. Eminem
Revival was an apt name for Eminem’s ninth studio album, considering it was his first release in four years after 2013’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Though it received mixed reviews from critics, it was the rapper’s eighth consecutive album to top the U.S. Billboard 200, selling nearly 200,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week on the charts.

5. Vanessa Williams
In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first African-American to win the Miss America pageant, only to have to resign the crown less than a year later when it came to light that Penthouse magazine would soon be publishing unauthorized photos of her. But Williams refused to let the scandal keep her down for good, as she went on to become a successful singer and actress, releasing her debut album, The Right Stuff, in 1988 and earning three consecutive Emmy nominations for her role on Ugly Betty. Williams returned to the Miss America pageant in 2015, 32 years after she was forced to give up her title, to serve as head judge.

6. Sylvester Stallone
Like The Italian Stallion himself, there’s no keeping Sylvester Stallone down. After ascending to superstardom with Rocky in 1976, becoming just the third person ever to receive Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for the same film, Sylvester Stallone would have to wait nearly four decades before earning another nod from the Academy, this time for playing an aging Balboa in Creed. Sly has reprised another of his iconic roles last year in Rambo: Last Blood.

7. Robert Downey Jr.
The road to becoming Iron Man was a long and bumpy one for Robert Downey Jr., who was in and out of rehab and jail throughout much of the ’90s as a result of substance abuse issues. Fortunately the actor was able to turn his life around in 2003 when his future wife, Susan, gave him an ultimatum: either he got sober, or she would leave him. He chose her, and would go on to become one of the highest-grossing actors of all time.

8. Michael Keaton
With 2014’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Michael Keaton reminded everyone of why he was one of the biggest stars of the ’80s and ’90s, with films like Beetlejuice, Batman, and Batman Returns. Since his Oscar-nominated performance in the Alejandro G. Iñárritu film, Keaton has starred in The Founder and Best Picture-winner Spotlight.

9. Matthew McConaughey
It’s known as the “McConaissance”: Matthew McConaughey went from being that guy in every cheesy rom-com throughout the 2000s to one of the most critically acclaimed actors of the 2010s, winning accolades for his performance as detective Rust Cohle in Season 1 of True Detective and earning his first Academy Award for playing AIDS patient Ron Woodroof in 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 29: Matthew McConaughey attends HISTORYTalks Leadership & Legacy presented by HISTORY at Carnegie Hall on February 29, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for HISTORY)

10. Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore started acting when she was less than a year old, and by the time she was seven she was one of the biggest child stars in the world. But all that fame came at a high cost, as she became addicted to drugs and alcohol and found herself in rehab at just 13 years old, and again at 14 following a suicide attempt. But you wouldn’t know any of that by looking at the actress today. Most recently, Barrymore starred in the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet alongside Timothy Olyphant.

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