Over 3.6K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Worst Medical & Health Advice Given by Celebrities
Remember when Tom Cruise went on to The Today Show to promote a movie, but instead, he ended up dismissing postpartum depression, medication, and psychiatry? Why wouldn't he discuss mental health on national television? Tom Cruise is one of the leading medical experts of our time, correct? Wrong.
Celebrities talk a lot and they get asked all kinds of questions a celebrity is in no position to answer. So is it any wonder that sometimes an actor, actress, musician, supermodel, or CEO shares medical diagnoses and beliefs even though they have no credentials whatsoever?
This list has some of the worst advice or practices celebrities have ever publicly shared about health. Whether it's a detoxifying beauty treatment based on leeching, a belief that sunscreen is poison, or a shady weight loss pill endorsement, all of these medical and health beliefs shared by famous people on this list are far-fetched, to say the least. They're unfounded, unstudied, and sometimes blatantly wrong.
But it's up to to decide just which celebrity medical advice is the least helpful and least scientific. Vote up the worst health and medical advice from celebrities. That's the only way we'll settle once and for all just which celebrity is least qualified to be a doctor.
Vote away and remember, the next time you start listening to Dr. Paltrow when it comes to skin cancer or take Mark Cuban, MD's advice on blood tests, you might want to go see your actual doctor instead.
Jenny McCarthy has long been a leading voice in the campaign against vaccines, saying that the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine led to her son's autism. She has also claimed to have "repaired" his autism through vitamins. There's no scientific basis to these claims, and parents opting against vaccinations for their children lower herd immunity, which is dangerous to everyone's health, especially the young and elderly.
In 2005, Tom Cruise took a lot of flak for the Today Show appearance in which he called Matt Lauer "glib" for questioning his anti-psychiatry convictions. As a Scientologist, Cruise does not believe in antidepressant drugs or the benefits of psychiatry. In dismissing the use of drugs to treat postpartum depression, Cruise claimed to know the history of psychiatry, but he is not, in fact, a medical professional, and the benefits of the psychiatry and psychiatric drugs in treating a wide spectrum of mental illnesses are well-documented.
Actress Suzanne Somers wrote an entire book on hormone therapy, but unfortunately, Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones allegedly doesn't contain much actual truth about bioidentical hormones. Many menopausal women reportedly stopped taking these therapies after well-conducted studies revealed that they led to an increased risk of breast cancer, heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Even some of the doctors she wrote about in her book signed a public letter declaring much of Somers's information "scientifically unproven and dangerous."
It's possible Gwyneth Paltrow has no idea how skin cancer works. In an interview, Paltrow disagreed with doctors who warn patients against tanning saying, "We’re human beings and the sun is the sun - how can it be bad for you? I think we should all get sun and fresh air. I don’t think anything that is natural can be bad for you." Gwyneth Paltrow, meet melanoma.
This celebrity is even a doctor and even his information and advice appear to be unfounded and false sometimes. Mehmet Oz promoted green coffee bean extract as helps people lose weight without diet or exercise citing a study. Not only was the study he cited scientifically debunked, but Oz had to testify at a Senate hearing. The company behind the green coffee bean study, meanwhile, had to pay $3.5 million dollars in a settlement.
Gisele Bündchen's Labeling Of Sunscreen As 'Poison'
Cancer experts took issue when Gisele Bündchen described sunscreen as "poison." The supermodel revealed that she avoids sunblock and only exposes herself to the sun before 8 am. In reality, sunscreen protects skin from UVA and UVB light, helping prevent skin cancer. And sunscreens are always tested before sold and are not "poisonous" to the skin.
