10 Celebrities in Jail Before or After Fame

Some fans look up to celebrities as role models, but not all are upstanding citizens worthy of that respect. There are many highly publicized accounts of stars sent to jail for relatively minor antics – Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton spring to mind. However, there are several famous faces who have been arrested for more serious crimes, either before or after they became public figures. Here is a list of 10 stars who have served time behind bars. Some of these celebrities in jail may surprise you.

1. Mark Wahlberg (Unprovoked Assault)

Before becoming a successful actor, Wahlberg was the frontman for the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Before that, though, he was a gang member who peddled drugs and was addicted to coke. Coming from a rough Boston neighborhood in a family of 9 children (many of whom also served time), he dropped out of school at 14. During the next two years, he had had over two dozen run-ins with the law. Matters reached a head when, at the age of 16, Wahlberg assaulted two Vietnamese men, blinding one in the process. He was sentenced to two years of jail for this unprovoked assault, which was eventually reduced to a 45 day stint in the slammer.