Top 10 Controversial Personalities of 2011

While the lid was blown off Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelity with housekeeper, the news of the ultimate ‘Playboy’ Hugh Hefner’s ‘runaway bride’ had the world in splits. On the home front, Poonam Pandey promised a full monty following India’s cricket world cup victory which she conveniently forgot all about when the moment arrived. Pakistan’s Veena Malik’s Indian connect, nude photo shoot notwithstanding, proved to be a lucrative affair, for her of course. Here are the personalities of the world that evokedshock, scorn, sniggers, and were a subject of satire. We list but in noparticular order. He leaked secrets and introduced the world to revolutionaryjournalism – Julian Assange became the centre of attention in 2010 whenhis whistleblower website WikiLeaks began leaking several confidential Americandiplomatic cables. Unsurprisingly, he faced severe brickbats and great support,both of which he accepted with glee. But the worldly political nexus did notwant to spare him that easy. Assange was almost suddenly slammed withallegations of sexual assault and a European Arrest Warrant was issued toextradite him to Sweden. Today, after a series of appeals, hearings anddismissals, he still remains on conditionalbail. Arnold ‘Terminator’ Schwarzenegger touted asHollywood’s most powerful man not only for his bulging triceps, but for asuccessful political stint as the Governor of California serving two straightterms. His reputation was straight as a die; he was going strong in his25-year-old marriage to former television journalist and niece of President JohnF. Kennedy, Maria Shriver with whom he had four kids, and was never known tohave philandered. Just when Arnold had settled down to a languid suburban lifeas an ageing actor-cum-politico, the news of his fathering a son for 14 yearswith his housekeeper Mildred Patricia Baena went viral. This led to hissubsequent divorce followed by news of half-a-dozen more infidelity scandals. Dubbed Italy’s third richest man in 2010 by Forbes magazine, a successful entrepreneur and one of the longest serving Prime Ministers of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi at 75 has among other things made debauchery his favourite pastime. After a series of infamous sex scandals and a YouTube video showing him making suggestive gestures behind a lady cop, the most important man of Italy fell from grace after former call girl Nadia Macri blurted to the media about the selection process of young girls for Berlusconi’s parties where they had group sex after dinner. Presently, the PM is being investigated for paying for sex with a 17-year-old prostitute Karima El Mahroug, a.k.a Ruby Rubacuori. Defiant in the face of crisis, Berlusconi snapped, “Are you mad?” to journalists when asked whether he would resign! Her‘Poker Face’ won her as many followers as detractors in 2008 and sodid her sense of style. When Lady Gaga sang, the world sat up and took notice.The girl may have been odd in look and behaviour, but all knew she had serioustalent. Rolling Stone called her the ‘Queen of Pop’ for herflamboyant fashion and eclectic musical style. With the world’s mostprestigious music awards in her kitty, Lady Gaga stayed the talk of the townmainly for her bizarre public appearances like emerging in a ‘meatdress’ at an award event, or teetering in 16-inch heels to meet USPresident Barack Obama. The ‘Born this Way’ star is rumoured to havehad a sex change this year outside of creating a frenzy with her hit single‘Marry the night’ where she is seen bathing nude in a tub of milkand breakfast cereals. First she came on record to say that her ex-boyfriend Pakistanicricketer Mohammad Asif, with whom she was rumoured to be secretly married, hadconnections with bookies. The controversy landed her an entry in Bigg BossSeason 4 where she was found mostly sneaking into co-inmate Ashmit Patel’sblanket or seductively talking to the mirror, stirring further controversy. PostBigg Boss, the dust had somewhat settled, and Veena had decided to do somethingmore conservative like the marriage reality show ‘Swayamvar’, if youplease. Just then her nude pictures with an ISI tattoo on her arm surfaced onthe cover of FHM India magazine. Veena vehemently denied doing a strip photoshoot and went incommunicado for a couple of days letting others happily believethat she was ‘missing’. Aprolific economist, lawyer, member of the French Socialist Party, a strongcontender for the French presidency to defeat Nicholas Sarkozy, and mostimportantly the managing director of International Monetary Fund, 62-year-oldDominique Strauss-Kahn had everything going for him until his ill-fated stay ata New York hotel in May 2011. Accused of sexually assaulting hotel maidNafissatou Diallo, Strauss-Kahn not only lost his job but also had skeletonstumbling out of his closet in the form of a series of sex scandals. These dayshe goes about justifying how “uninhibited sex life” cost him hiscareer.The world realised in 2011 how ‘keeping up with the Kardashians’ canbe a difficult proposition. There was more to the Armenian-Americansocialite-businesswoman-model-reality TV star Kim Kardashian than her largeassets and scandalous sex tape with ex-boyfriend, R&B singer Ray J. AmongHollywood’s highest paid reality TV stars, Kim mint money wherever shewent and whatever she did, sex and marriage included. Her much-touted wedding,aired live, to basketball star Kris Humphries survived 72 days before it wascalled off and divorce filed. Kardashian is believed to have made million bucksworth from staging her wedding. With ahistory of womanising and substance abuse behind him, Charlie Sheen wasexpectedly hospitalized over cocaine overdose following a wild night of partyingin January this year. Having married thrice with five children, Sheen never madehis philandering ways a secret, including his sharing the house with his doting“goddesses”, a former nanny and a porn film actress. Everyone saidhe went rouge, but the affect he had on his audience continued to be orgasmic.How else would the ranking of ‘Two And A Half Men’, one of TVs mostpopular sitcoms, take a beating after Sheen got booted out. The funny and sexyAshton Kutcher may have taken his place in the series, but the damage done wasirrevocable. That the Playboy and his Playmates have always had their wild ways is no news.Dating girls less than half his age and dating them together make 85-year-oldHugh Hefner the unrivalled Playboy for some time to come. Twice married Hefnerhas had babies from his past marriages and was all set to try his luck the thirdtime with Playmate, the sexy 20-year-old blonde Crystal Harris. And looked likethis time it would be for keeps. But five days to the high-profile wedding andhis bride-to-be apparently had a “change of heart”, and called offthe wedding. A crestfallen Hefner has since moved on to newer girls, though notbefore splashing a semi-nude Harris on the cover of Playboy with a large redsticker reading, ‘Runaway Bride In This Issue’! Aself-proclaimed model and a self-proclaimed cricket fan, Poonam Pandey suddenlymaterialised in the scene of action and offered to strip naked if India won thecricket world cup 2011. But Miss Pandey was no Larissa Riquelme, the curvaceousParaguayan lingerie model who was all set to run in the buff if her country wonthe FIFA world cup last year. When the moment of glory came for India, PoonamPandey conveniently turned her phones off. Of late, she is on a nudity overdriveand clicks herself making salacious gestures to the camera with the inanimatehand shower as her prop. Her so-called-striptease has largely been restricted toher Twitter followers. Special: Trendsetters of 2011