Worst Celebrity Siblings of All Time

Being rich and famous won't prevent you from being embarrassed by siblings.

Celebrities are not like us. But even the biggest celebrities, at the greatest heights of fame, have at least one thing in common with the rest of us. Mainly, they can still be embarrassed by their family members.

For time immemorial, the siblings of some of the world’s most famous people have found ways to embarrass themselves and, in turn, their famous family members on a worldwide scale.

While some of the embarrassments might seem mundane, like being rude or entitled, some of it can veer into the scary and dangerous. These are the worst celebrity siblings of all time.

30. Chet Hanks

Richard Shotwell / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Colin Hanks

Famous sibling highlights: Golden Globe Award nominee, Emmy Award nominee, Screen Actors Guild Award nominee

Bottom line: Chet Hanks (also known as Chet Hanx) is the oldest child of actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson and the younger brother of Golden Globe-nominated actor Colin Hanks (his mother is Samantha Lewes). And Chet has gone out of his way to embarrass himself and his family over and over again.

From the bizarre — speaking in Jamaican patois at the 2020 Golden Globes — to the downright scary, including domestic violence incidents with an ex-girlfriend, Chet doesn’t seem to know when to quit.

That’s too bad, because Chet actually has quite a bit of talent when it comes to acting. The evidence is his roles on a pair of Showtime series with “Shameless” and “Your Honor,” both critically acclaimed shows.

29. Abigail Van Buren

Robert Kaiser / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Ann Landers

Famous sibling highlights: Ask Ann Landers syndicated column

Bottom line: This one might get a little confusing, but please try and follow along.

Identical twin sisters Esther Pauline “Eppie” Friedman and Pauline Esther “Popo” Friedman both became nationally syndicated advice columnists. Eppie went by the pen name Ann Landers for the “Ask Ann Landers” column, and Pauline went by the pen name Abigail Van Buren for the “Dear Abby” column.

Here’s the thing. Eppie started writing her “Ask Ann Landers” column in 1955, and as its popularity skyrocketed, Pauline started her “Dear Abby” column and went about approaching newspapers offering her column at a lower rate if they would drop her sister’s column.

Not cool, Dear Abby. Not cool.

28. Ronnie Ramsay

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Famous sibling: Gordon Ramsay

Famous sibling highlights: Office of the Order of the British Empire, three-time Catey Award winner, Forbes Highest-Earning Celebrities

Bottom line: Gordon Ramsay once made $70 million in a single year off his food and television empire, but that hasn’t been a cure-all for helping family members through their problems.

Gordon’s younger brother, Ronnie Ramsay, has struggled with drug addiction for years, including a drug bust in Indonesia that netted him six months in jail in 2007.

In 2014, Gordon Ramsay fully disclosed some of the lower points of his brother’s drug addiction, including when his brother refused to attend their father’s funeral in 1997 unless Gordon scored him some heroin.

27. LiAngelo Ball

Liusjenas Kulbis / AP Photo

Famous siblings: LaMelo Ball, Lonzo Ball

Famous sibling highlights (LaMelo Ball): NBA Rookie of the Year, NBA All-Rookie Team

Famous sibling highlights (Lonzo Ball): NBA All-Rookie Team, AP All-American, All-Pac-12, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Naismith Prep Player of the Year, McDonald’s All-American, California Mr. Basketball

Bottom line: Being the middle child can be tough. Imagine being LiAngelo Ball sandwiched between two NBA stars in older brother Lonzo Ball and younger brother LaMelo Ball, the 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year and one of the top young basketball players in the world.

Even lacking the elite talent of his brothers, LiAngelo still managed to sign with UCLA in 2017 and seemed like he could eventually be a decent contributor for the Bruins. But he got arrested for stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store in China during an exhibition trip early in his freshman year and never played for the Bruins again.

This is the thing about China. Their laws are a lot different than ours. LiAngelo was facing up to 10 years in prison before he bounced back to the U.S. and has been riding his brothers’ coattails ever since.

26. Vijay Chohal-Ingam

ATLBlackStar / Twitter

Famous sibling: Mindy Kaling

Famous sibling highlights: Six-time Emmy Award nominee, two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner

Bottom line: Mindy Kaling is one of the most talented actress/comedians/writers working in Hollywood today. She has written two New York Times bestselling memories, starred in “The Office,” and also created and starred in “The Mindy Project” on Fox from 2012 to 2017.

Her brother, Vijay Chohal-Ingam, capitalized on his sister’s fame when he wrote a book about his own idiocy. He wrote a book claiming he pretended he was Black in order to get into St. Louis University Medical School, where he dropped out in 1999.

Kaling, rightfully, objected to her brother trying to publish the book.

25. Daniel Baldwin

Charles Sykes / AP Photo

Famous siblings: Alec Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin

Famous sibling highlights (Alec Baldwin): Academy Award nominee, BAFTA Award nominee, Tony Award nominee, three-time Emmy Award winner, three-time Golden Globe Award winner, eight-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner

Bottom line: Considering that one of the Baldwin brothers actually killed someone recently, you have to do some pretty incredible acts to become the “embarrassing” Baldwin brother. Daniel Baldwin pulled it off by a slim margin.

The younger brother of Alec Baldwin, Daniel also has been an actor for a long time and his considerable troubles began in 1998, when he was arrested for cocaine possession after being found naked and running through the halls of a New York hotel.

Subsequent arrests followed in 2006 and 2007 for multiple charges, including auto theft.

24. Thomas Markle Jr.

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Famous sibling: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Famous sibling highlights: “Suits” (2011-18, 108 episodes)

Bottom line: Meghan Markle was an actress on a middling legal drama on the USA Network (“Suits”) when she began dating, then eventually marrying Prince Harry, and becoming one of the most famous women in the world.

If you know anything about their relationship, then you’ve probably heard that Markle’s family hasn’t exactly been supportive of her in recent years. Most notable among those were her father and brother, Thomas Markle Sr. and Thomas Markle Jr.

They both have gone out of their way to embarrass and trash-talk the Duchess of Sussex in the press.

23. Jamie Lynn Spears

Sanford Myers / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Britney Spears

Famous sibling highlights: Grammy Award winner, American Music Award winner, two-time Billboard Music Award winner

Bottom line: Few celebrity stories in the past year have taken ahold of us like the battle to end the 13-year conservatorship of Britney Spears that’s been led by her father, Jamie, but the collateral damage of that fight has included Britney’s younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears.

Britney accuses the former “Zoey 101” star of not helping her enough throughout her battle, which Jamie Lynn has denied. There’s evidence to back up Britney, though, and it comes mainly in the form of Jamie Lynn’s memoir, “Things I Should Have Said” that’s scheduled for release on Jan. 18.

Weird timing, right?

22. Prince Harry

Stefan Jeremiah / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge

Famous sibling highlights: Future King of England

Bottom line: Rumors had circulated for years about a rift between Prince Harry and Prince William, the two sons of the late Princess Diana, but the fissure between the brothers came fully into the spotlight in January 2020 when Harry and his wife, American actress Meghan Markle, announced they were moving to the United States and stepping away from their royal duties.

Things had seemed to cool down considerably through the pandemic, but Harry made the genius move to do a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he accused the royal family of being, among other things, racist.

This included his brother, who is very much not racist, getting thrown under the bus.

21. Charlie Sheen

Chris Pizzello / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Emilio Estevez

Famous sibling highlights: Golden Globe Award Best Picture nominee, five-time ALMA Award nominee, Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture nominee, Venice Film Festival Golden Lion nominee

Bottom line: Charlie Sheen is arguably the more famous of the siblings when it comes to him and Emilio Estevez — their father is legendary actor Martin Sheen — but Charlie definitely the more problematic sibling of the two.

While the two brothers were A-List film stars throughout the 1980s and 1990s, only Emilio aged gracefully. Charlie continued his party-boy ways through the ensuing decades with a string of arrests and public missteps.

He only fell out of the public eye following his disclosure that he was HIV positive in 2015.

20. Tove Christensen

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Famous sibling: Hayden Christensen

Famous sibling highlights: Two-time MTV Movie Award winner, Golden Globe Award nominee, two-time Golden Raspberry Award winner

Bottom line: As far as movie stars go, “Star Wars” mainstay Hayden Christensen has flown decidedly below the radar throughout his career. You might even be surprised to find out he’s going to reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in an upcoming Disney+ series.

If only other members of Hayden’s family were as well-behaved. Older brother Tove, a movie producer, was arrested in 2009 for shoving his girlfriend to the ground, then dragging her 30 feet along the ground in his car as she tried to reach back in to get her purse.

In another case of rich people getting out of trouble, he was sentenced to 20 days of community service after he pled no contest to the charges.

19. Ozzie Canseco

AP Photo

Famous sibling: Jose Canseco

Famous sibling highlights: Two-time World Series champion, American League MVP, American League Rookie of the Year, four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, two-time MLB home run leader six-time MLB All-Star

Bottom line: Former American League Most Valuable Player Jose Canseco was one of the best players in baseball during the steroid era. His identical twin brother, Ozzie Canseco, also had a cup of coffee in the majors but became more well-known for creating headlines for off-field incidents with his brother.

In 2001, Ozzie was part of a nightclub brawl alongside his brother that left two California tourists in a broken heap, then was caught driving with a suspended license and in possession of anabolic steroids in 2003.

The chef’s kiss for the twins was when Ozzie was caught trying to impersonate Jose at a celebrity boxing match in 2011.

18. John Draper Witherspoon

AP Photo

Famous sibling: Reese Witherspoon

Famous sibling highlights: Academy Award winner, BAFTA Award winner, two-time Golden Globe Award winner, Emmy Award winner, two-time Critics Choice Award winner, Screen Actors Guild Award winner, three-time People’s Choice Award winner

Bottom line: One of the more talented and respected actresses of her generation, Reese Witherspoon has been at the top of the Hollywood food chain for two decades.

It was early in her career that older brother, John Draper Witherspoon, ran into some serious trouble. He pled guilty to aggravated burglary and sexual battery in 2002 after he broke into a woman’s home and sexually assaulted her.

John Draper Witherspoon received two years probation and has stayed out of the news since then, aside from his famous younger sister posting pictures of him on her social media accounts.

17. Aaron Carter

AP Photo

Famous sibling: Nick Carter

Famous sibling highlights: Nine-time Grammy Award nominee, two-time Billboard Music Award winner, American Music Award winner

Bottom line: The late 1990s were mostly a wasteland for popular music. The most popular acts in the world were boy bands ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys, with Backstreet’s youngest member being New York native Nick Carter.

Nick’s fame grew so much that he was able to make his younger brother, Aaron Carter, famous — to the point where Aaron sold four million copies of his first two albums by the time he was 14 years old.

It was all downhill from there. Aaron has been arrested at least a dozen times since the height of his fame for incidents ranging from drugs to domestic violence to tax evasion. Not great for the overall Carter family brand.

16. Christopher Ciccone

Chris Pizzello / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Madonna

Famous sibling highlights: Seven-time Grammy Award winner, two-time Golden Globe Award winner, 20-time MTV Video Music Award winner, three-time American Music Award winner

Bottom line: Superstar singer/actress/firebrand Madonna was less than impressed when younger brother Christopher Ciccone decided to write a tell-all book about their relationship in 2008 after she refused to hire him as her tour director.

All signs point to Madonna having essentially bankrolled her brother’s entire life from the moment she gained any fame, so it must have been a slap in the face when “Life With My Sister Madonna” came out. A book in which he trashes his sister but alternately cashes in on her fame once again.

The end result? The book got blisteringly bad reviews and, more than anything, showed Ciccone’s main emotion toward his sister and her worldwide fame was nothing more than jealousy.

15. Ron Gallagher

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Famous sibling: Gallagher

Famous sibling highlights: Showtime one-hour comedy specials, Comedy Central Greatest Stand Up Comedians of All Time

Bottom line: If you grew up in the 1980s, then you’re familiar with the stand-up comedian Gallagher — a one-trick act who shot to fame for creating the “Sledge-O-Matic” routine in which he destroyed fruits and vegetables with a sledgehammer onstage, covering the front rows of the audience with bits of them.

Most notably, Gallagher would end his shows by destroying a watermelon. His act became so popular he made crazy popular one-hour specials for cable. And got his act promptly ripped off by his younger brother, Ron, who began to copy the act and tour as Gallagher Too or Gallagher Two and made promotional materials that made it unclear if it was the O.G. Gallagher performing.

Good Gallagher eventually had to sue Bad Gallagher and got an injunction that forbade him from copying his act in any way or even making his physical appearance resemble his brother in any way.

14. Jermaine Jackson

AP Photo

Famous siblings: Randy Jackson, Michael Jackson, Tito Jackson, Janet Jackson

Famous sibling highlights: King of Pop … enough said

Bottom line: Of all the talented Jackson siblings and in-fighting that went on among them, Jermaine Jackson took the back-stabbing cake.

In the early 1990s, Jermaine’s brother, Randy, was in a relationship with Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza, and they had two children.

Jermaine began a relationship with her while she was still with his brother, then eventually married her. And they had two sons together, Jaafar and Jermajesty.

13. Conrad Hilton

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Famous sibling: Paris Hilton

Famous sibling highlights: Teen Choice Award winner, five-time Golden Raspberry Award winner, MTV Movie Award nominee, Billboard Music Award nominee

Bottom line: Conrad Hilton is the younger brother of reality television star/DJ Paris Hilton and one of the heirs to the Hilton hotels fortune, although in the last decade he’s seen a good chunk of his inheritance go toward legal fees.

Conrad’s problems began in 2015, when he was hit with a restraining order from his ex-girlfriend, Hunter Daily Salomon, who is also the daughter of Paris’ ex-boyfriend, Rick Salomon, then showed up at the family’s home and threatened to kill himself.

In 2017, Hilton stole Salomon’s Bentley and drove to his ex’s home, which police said was part of a “crime spree” and led to a berserker court appearance with famed O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro at his side.

12. Olivia de Havilland

Marcus Goodrich / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Joan Fontaine

Famous sibling highlights: Academy Award for Best Actress (1941), New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress (1941)

Bottom line: The real blame probably lies with Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine’s mother, Lilian, for pitting her daughters against each other at such an early age, but it was older sister Olivia who kept the bad vibes rolling into adulthood.

While Lillian put the family’s chips behind Olivia as an actress, when Joan tried her hand at acting as well, Lillian wouldn’t even let her use the family name.

And it was Joan who put the first Academy Award on the family mantle. She won Best Actress in 1941 for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Olivia eventually won hers as well, but not without essentially shunning her younger sister in the interim.

11. Jackson Mahomes

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Famous sibling: Patrick Mahomes

Famous sibling highlights: Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, NFL MVP, NFL Offensive Player of the Year, two-time NFL All-Pro, three-time Pro Bowl, Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year

Bottom line: Jackson Mahomes is the younger brother of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — one of the greatest talents at his position to ever play the game.

Unfortunately for Patrick, the majority of his bad press in the last few years has come via his social media-addicted younger brother, who seems to find new and interesting ways to embarrass his family.

Since the start of the 2021 football season, Jackson Mahomes has been investigated for tossing water on Baltimore Ravens fans after a loss, danced on the Washington Football Team’s Sean Taylor memorial and threw a temper tantrum at a Kansas City cocktail bar.

10. Roger Clinton

Danny Johnston / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Bill Clinton

Famous sibling highlights: 42nd President of the United States, Governor of Arkansas, Attorney General of Arkansas, two-time Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album winner, two-time Time Magazine Man of the Year

Bottom line: There are several presidential siblings who made the list — Roger Clinton was the younger half-brother of President Bill Clinton.

Given the codename “Headache” by the Secret Service during his brother’s presidency, Roger served time in prison for cocaine trafficking before his brother was elected president and saw his conviction receive a pardon when he left office.

Roger hasn’t stopped embarrassing his brother since he left the White House. He has two DUI arrests since 2001.

9. Liam Gallagher

Scott Garfitt / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Noel Gallagher

Famous sibling highlights: Three-time Grammy Award nominee, six-time Brit Award winner, three-time MTV Europe Music Award winner

Bottom line: Few celebrity feuds over the last 25 years have been as entertaining as the one between brothers Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher, both members of the rock supergroup Oasis.

While Noel has had his missteps over the years, Liam needs to shoulder most of the blame here. Liam slammed a tambourine set on Noel’s head during their first U.S. tour in 1994. Liam heckled Noel during an “MTV Unplugged” performance. And Liam didn’t show up for the start of a scheduled U.S. tour in 1998 because he was house hunting with his fiance.

And who wrote the majority of the No. 1 songs for Oasis, including “Wonderwall”, “Champagne Supernova” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”? That would be Noel.

8. Andrew Cuomo

Richard Drew / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Chris Cuomo

Famous sibling highlights: CNN Cuomo Prime Time, ABC News Chief Law and Justice Correspondent, ABC 20/20 co-anchor, Good Morning America news anchor

Bottom line: Here’s one surefire way to get put on a list of the worst celebrity siblings of all time — cost your sibling their job.

That’s what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo did in 2021 when he got younger brother Chris Cuomo fired from CNN for enlisting his help in defending himself against a growing list of sexual harassment allegations that ultimately forced Andrew to resign from the governorship.

CNN suspended Chris Cuomo indefinitely when his role in his brother’s scandal came to light and fired him shortly after.

7. Malik Obama

Ben Curtis / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Barack Obama

Famous sibling highlights: 44th President of the United States, U.S. Senator from Illinois, three-time New York Times bestselling author, Harvard Law Review President

Bottom line: Malik Obama is one of a trio of presidential siblings to make the list alongside Roger Clinton and Billy Carter. All of them embarrassed their much more famous and accomplished siblings in new and interesting ways.

Malik, the older half-brother of former U.S. President Barack Obama, had a particularly troubling betrayal of his family when he began to promote the false “birther” theory about his brother, including tweeting out fake birth certificates to show the president was born in Kenya.

6. Darryl McCauley

AP Photo

Famous sibling: Dane Cook

Famous sibling highlights: Four-time No. 1 U.S. Billboard Comedy Album,

Bottom line: Whether you like him or not, Dane Cook is one of the most popular comedians of all time. His 2006 comedy album “Retaliation” became the highest-charting album of its kind in three decades, and he was just the second comedian in history to sell out Madison Square Garden following Andrew “Dice” Clay.

With that success has come an enormous amount of money — $12 million of which Cook was able to prove his older brother and former manager, Darryl McCauley, stole from him alongside McCauley’s wife, Erika.

McCauley was sentenced to 5-6 years in prison in 2008 and ordered to pay restitution to Cook.

5. Rob Kardashian

Evan Agostini / AP Photo

Famous siblings: Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner

Famous sibling highlights: 11-time Teen Choice Award winners, MTV Movie & TV Award winners

Bottom line: Even for a family that’s as polarizing as the Kardashians, Rob Kardashian stands out as being particularly loathsome and problematic.

Kardashian, the son of O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner, was notable among the show’s participants only for his lack of personality. But Rob ratcheted up the “He did what?!” factor when he began dating rapper Blac Chyna, then impregnated her. She already had a child with Tyga, the ex-boyfriend of Kylie Jenner, one of his younger half-sisters.

Kardashian was kicked off of Instagram in 2017 when he posted revenge porn against Chyna — he should have been arrested.

4. Marcus Vick

Steve Helber / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Michael Vick

Famous sibling highlights: NFL Comeback Player of the Year, four-time Pro Bowl, AP All-American, Big East Offensive Player of the Year, Big East Rookie of the Year

Bottom line: Marcus Vick had a great opportunity to follow in older brother Michael Vick’s footsteps as a star quarterback at Virginia Tech and in the NFL. Instead, Marcus chose to follow in his brother’s footsteps as someone who found it hard to stay on the right side of the law.

At Virginia Tech, Marcus was suspended for the entire 2004 season after a string of misdemeanor convictions, then an arrest for having sex with an underage girl. In four years at Virginia Tech, Marcus was arrested at least a dozen times and eventually kicked out of school.

Undrafted in the NFL, his legal problems have persisted since. He’s been arrested at least a half-dozen more times for guns, drugs, DUI and having sex with an underage girl (again).

3. Billy Carter

AP Photo

Famous sibling: Jimmy Carter

Famous sibling highlights: 39th President of the United States, Governor of Georgia, three-time Grammy Award winner, Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom

Bottom line: As Jimmy Carter came into the national spotlight as the governor of Georgia, then as the president of the United States in the 1970s, so did his younger brother, Billy.

Billy, who was deep in the family peanut business, embarrassed his president brother over and over again (usually when drunk) but crossed the line into international incident territory when he was shown to have borrowed money from the Libyan government while his brother was in office.

There were Senate hearings over the matter — nicknamed Billygate — that essentially showed Billy acted against the best interests of the U.S.

Billy Carter died of cancer in 1988, at 51 years old.

2. Matthew Nolan

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Famous sibling: Christopher Nolan

Famous sibling highlights: Five-time Academy Award nominee, five-time BAFTA Award nominee, six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, 10-time Saturn Award winner

Bottom line: “Dark Knight” trilogy director Christopher Nolan’s older brother, Matthew, seems like a character pulled directly from one of his movies.

Matthew was charged with kidnapping and murdering an American businessman in Costa Rica who was caught up in an international ring of diamond thieves and drug trafficking. Matthew also used fake documents to travel between countries and assume a false identity. The crime led many to believe Matthew was a hired assassin.

When he was captured by the FBI and sent to a jail in Chicago, Matthew was given an additional 14 months to his sentence when his jailers uncovered an elaborate escape plan from his 11th-floor cell that included razors, a harness, a metal clip and 31 feet of rope.

1. John Wilkes Booth

Andrew Harnik / AP Photo

Famous sibling: Edwin Booth

Famous sibling highlights: American Theater Hall of Fame

Bottom line: The Booth family was one of the great acting families of the 1800s. Patriarch Junius Brutus Booth was a famous English stage actor and one of his sons, Edwin Booth, became known as perhaps the greatest American stage actor and still earns praise for his brilliant portrayal of Prince Hamlet.

Unfortunately for the Booths, Edwin’s younger brother, John Wilkes Booth, was also an actor who Edwin looked down on for his lesser talents and political views. While Edwin Booth once saved Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert, from sure death at a train station, younger brother John Wilkes Booth became Abraham Lincoln’s assassin.