One of my worst nightmares is getting murdered by a serial killer. I know, it's ridiculous. But I watch enough Criminal Minds to know that it's absolutely a thing that happens. Although I guess to be honest, the idea of getting murdered as a whole is wildly unpleasant, serial killer or not.
That's what I totally feel for these celebrities, who were at the center of murder plots, some of which were almost carried through! Imagine finding out someone had duct tape, rope, and a gun in their car just waiting for you. Yikes.
1. Justin Bieber
The Canadian pop icon was almost the victim on a horrific crime, which included him getting castrated and murdered. Dana Martin, a convicted killer, took out a $2,000 bounty on each of Bieber's testicles and arranged for two men to abduct and kill him.
The plan was set to take place in November of 2012, but Martin, who was still in jail at the time, accidentally told jail wardens about his plans and they alerted authorities.
2. Joss Stone
Kevin Liverpool and Junior Bradshaw were sentenced to 18 years in prison after planning to kidnap, rob, and murder the soul singer. The duo had somehow gotten the notion that Stone had hid $1 million in her home, and they wanted to take it. The plan was to behead Stone and throw her in a river.
But despite the extremely violent plot, Stone said she didn't think it affected her life.
I'm not going to change everything because of this. It didn't happen. Don't give it any more power and just get on with life.They didn't kill me, they didn't even harm me, the whole thing was this ridiculous, bizarre story that was in some ways like the most random black comedy. That's how I see it.
They got caught, nothing happened to me. And when I speak about it, I don't want to carry any fear about it, make this thing that didn't actually happen affect the way I live.
3. David Letterman
Letterman, known for his (sometimes) over the line comedy, found himself in potential danger when he began making Al-Qaeda the center of his punchlines. In 2011, a death threat appeared targeted at the late-night talk show host:
"Is there not amongst you a Sayyid Nosair al-Masri (may Allah release him) to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever. Just as Sayyid (may Allah release him) did with the Jew Kahane."
Letterman knew about the threat, but didn't let it bother him. After the hiatus during which the threat was uttered, Letterman joked about it.
Thank you very much for being here tonight. We have great audiences night in and night out, but tonight especially, it means a lot to me. Tonight, you people are more to me, honestly, more than an audience... you're more like a human shield.I have a fatwa on me. And they say the guy that issued the fatwa is an Internet jihadist. Internet jihadist, and I said, 'Well, heck, who says Obama isn't creating jobs?
Backstage, I was talking to the guy from CBS. We were going through the CBS life insurance policy to see if I was covered for jihad.
4. Tom Cruise
Cruise (and the rest of the world) didn't find out he was the target of a convicted serial killer until years later. Colin Ireland killed five gay men in the span of three months in 1993, and in 2014 new documents revealed that Cruise was one of Ireland's targets.
Ireland allegedly began targeting the actor after seeing him in a London bar and making the assumption that Cruise was gay. He would lure victims to his home, bound them as a form of sexual pleasure, and then strangle them while they were tied up.
The murderer was arrested before he could act on his plans.
5. Michael Jackson
Jackson received hundreds of threatening letters from a man named Paul Jones, who posed as the son of John Gotti, famed mob boss. Some of the letters demanded money from the pop star, others threatened to commit mass murders at Jackson's concerts if he didn't comply with the demands.
He also directly threatened Jackson's life and claimed he was "gonna attempt to kill president George Bush."
None of these plans came to fruition.
6. Victoria Beckham
The former Spice Girl has had two terrifying threats made on her life. Luckily, neither of them materialized. In 2000, she and her son Brooklyn were sent into hiding after Scotland Yard was tipped off about a legitimate threat to kidnap them both.
Later that same year, the singer was rehearsing with the Spice Girls for the Brit Awards when a sniper-style red dot appeared on her body. Beckham was rushed off the stage unharmed, but it scared her husband David so much that the family beefed up their security.
7. Steven Spielberg
The Academy-award winning director was almost the victim of a paranoid schizophrenic's plan to kidnap and kill him. Security found Jonathan Norman wandering Spielberg's Malibu estate in 1997, wielding duct tape, handcuffs, a knife, and photos of Spielberg's family.
Luckily, Norman was captured before any damage could be done, and he was sentenced to 25 years in jail. Spielberg testified during the trial, and said he truly feared for his life.
"Had Jonathan Norman actually confronted me, I genuinely, in my heart of hearts, believe that I would have been raped or maimed or killed," he said.
8. Mick Jagger
In 1969, the Rolling Stones were still using Hell's Angels to organize security for their shows, but it all went wrong when a guard stabbed a fan to death at a concert in California. Jagger said they were no longer allowed to run security, and this angered one section of the Angels.
The bikers decided to take their row boat to Jagger's house on Long Island with every intention of killing him. Fortunately for the rock star, the bikers were not boaters, and they sank when bad weather hit.
9. Miley Cyrus
Cyrus has some pretty obsessed fans, but none more serious than the 16-year-old boy who planned to hijack a plane and crash it into one of her concerts. He was arrested by FBI after smuggling hand cuffs, duct tape, and rope onto a flight.
Though they tried to downplay the threat, the FBI admitted the teen wasn't joking around.
"He had some general plans where he was going and indicated where he wanted to die.
10. Hilary Duff
In 2006, Duff was dating singer Joel Madden, which lead to a fit of jealousy from Russian teenager Maksim Myaskovskiy. The teen had moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Duff, and when he found out she was with someone else, he decided to murder her.
Luckily for Duff and Madden, they had hired a private investigator to look into Myaskovskiy, and he admitted his murderous intentions. He was arrested by police and sentenced to six months in jail.
11. Bjí¶rk
Bjí¶rk's obsessive stalker ended up killing himself, but not before he wrote an 800-page diary to the singer over a few years. Ricardo Lopez wrote about his obsession with Bjí¶rk, and also referenced suicide and murder.
When Lopez found out that his idol was in a relationship, he lost his mind and began filming over 20 hours of footage. The video contained mainly rants about his anger, and he then proceeded to shoot himself on camera while a Bjí¶rk song played in the background.
Lopez had also filmed himself sending the singer a hollowed out book with a bomb on the inside, but police intercepted the package before it made it to Bjí¶rk.
12. Madonna
Madge's stalker, Robert Dewey Hoskins, had given the iconic singer a lot of problems over the years, but none as terrifying as when he jumped her fence in 1996. Madonna wasn't home at the time, thankfully, and one of her bodyguards shot Hoskins.
He had claimed he was either going to marry the singer or slash her throat "from ear to ear."
Hoskins was sentenced to time in a mental facility, but managed to escape. He was later recaptured.
13. Ryan Seacrest
Seacrest's stalker, Chidi Uzomah Jr., was even more terrifying because he had military experience as a member of the US Special Forces. Uzomah attacked one of Seacrest's bodyguards in 2009, and then snuck his was into the E! offices where the American Idol host worked.
Uzomah was found wandering the halls and was ultimately arrested. Upon his apprehension, authorities discovered that Uzomah was wielding a knife.
14. Gordon Ramsay
Ramsay came seconds away from death after investigating an illegal fishing industry in Costa Rica. The chef was looking into the shark fin trade, when he and his crew were confronted by a group of Taiwanese smugglers. Ramsay and his crew approached the perimeter and managed to sneak in.
I managed to shake off the people who were keeping us away, ran up some stairs to a rooftop and looked down to see thousands and thousands of fins, drying on rooftops as far as the eye could see.When I got back downstairs they tipped a barrel of petrol over me. Then these cars with blacked out windows suddenly appeared from nowhere, trying to block us in. We dived into the car and peeled off.
Ramsay was also held at gunpoint after uncovering another fishing boat that was smuggling shark fins.
In a quiet moment I dived from the boat to swim with marlin. I swam under the keel and saw this sack tied to it. I opened it and it was full of shark fins. The minute I threw this bag on deck, everyone started screaming and shouting.Back at the wharf, there were people pointing rifles at us to stop us filming. A van pulled up and these seedy characters made us stand against the wall. The police came and advised us to leave the country.
Ramsay was told by police that if they set one foot on the boat, the whole crew would be shot.
