We’ve already written at HuffPost UK about how movie money can sometimes be treated as counterfeit by police.
But what about crimes celebs admit to in TV shows or autobiographies?
Those of us who’ve gone through a Would I Lie To You clip phase will know that celebs often share, er, dubious details about their lives (I am thinking, as ever, of Sharon Osbourne’s story about firing an assistant who wouldn’t go into her burning home to retrieve some art).
But when it comes to the downright illegal stuff, Marina Hyde shared on the behind-the-scenes showbiz podcast The Rest Is Entertainment that even outright admissions of breaking the law can be tricky to tackle.
TV and books can be a little different
A listener asked what happens to celebs who admit on screen to legally dicey activities, like taking drugs, and what telly lawyers prefer to cut.
For TV shows, “the only things that show lawyers really remove... is stuff that’s libellous,” Marina said, as this can get you sued.
That’s because “admitting a crime on TV is not a crime in itself”, she shared, stating that stories about previous, say, public intoxication are “hard to prove”.
“Saying, ‘I took some drugs in the past but I don’t now’ ― tell me how you’re gonna prove that in court,” the journalist said.
But books can be a different story – and the type of crime you talk about matters, too.
For instance, Marina said some press have questioned why Prince Harry is being allowed to enter the United States despite having shared about taking drugs in his biography Spare.
“There’s no real evidentiary value to most of this stuff,” she continued, but said that sometimes people do still get investigated.
For instance, former Egghead CJ De Mooi wrote in his autobiography that he “fully suspected” he killed a man.
This was investigated by police, but after a long investigation, he was not found guilty of that particular offence.
Still, “If you are admitting murder in a book, or manslaughter, you are in a whole different world” to someone commenting about smoking a joint, Marina said.
Why would you admit to a crime in books or on TV in the first place?
It’s all about publicity, Marina reckons.
“You can see sometimes why people do say these things in books (but should be persuaded out of them) because what people are always thinking of when they’ve got a book coming out is, ‘What is going to be gutted out of this book and become a news story which will be free publicity for my book?’” she explained.
However, her podcast co-host Richard Osman pointed out that in the case of De Mooi, his autobiography did not end up becoming a bestseller.
“If you’re gonna be arrested, at least be arrested at like, number four on the non-fiction hardbacks,” the Thursday Murder Club author added.