Urban legends of showbiz in the 90s

No, no, and a thousand times no. Josh Saviano, Paul in 'The Wonder Years' looked a lot like Marilyn Manson but it was the actor himself who denied the matter on numerous occasions.

Legend has it that Vanilla Ice was almost pushed off his hotel balcony during a fight with another rapper, Suge Knight. He talked about it in a 1999 episode of 'VH1's Behind the Music'. The reason was a disagreement about the rights to a song.

"Suge took me out on the balcony, started talking to me personally. He had me look over the edge, showing me how high I was up there," LA Weekly quoted Vanilla Ice's words on VH1. The story then took a life on its own. It became like a scene from an action movie. In the end, the two rappers settled the rights matter.

If you're on social media, you may have seen people who assume a celebrity has died, even after they've shown up to deny it themselves. In the 90s, before the internet, such rumors took longer to be debunked.

This is what happened with the motorcycle accident that allegedly cost the lives of Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris) and Mario Lopez (A.C. Slater). The accident never happened.

Calista Flockhart was the queen of television in the late 1990s thanks to the series 'Ally McBeal'.

During that time, rumors about possible eating disorders just would not stop. More than 20 years later, Calista Flockhart still weighs the same and is healthy as a baby.

No doubt, this was one of the weirdest rumors of the 90s. Two of the most famous TV parents of the turn of the century were allegedly a couple.

Image: 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,' NBC / 'Family Matters,' CBS

The hoax linked James Avery ('The Prince of Bel Air') and Reginald Veljohnson ('Family Matters') in a romantic way. But it was not the case. James Avery had married Barbara Avery in 1988 and they had three children together.

Speaking of 'Family Matters', the most recurrent fake news of the 90s was the story that Steve Urkel had died.

The worst thing about this hoax was that many people didn't even know that the actor's real name is Jaleel White. The actor is still alive, working in television, and happy as a father. Of course, without glasses or suspenders.

For many, he is the best rapper of all time, and he sold nearly 100 million records. Unfortunately, Tupac Shakur died at the age of 25. Or did he?

Legend has it that Tupac faked his own death and continued to record under the name of Makaveli. In fact, there's an album by that name on which he talked about his faked death and resurrection. Pretty shocking, huh?

Before becoming a responsible and committed mother, Angelina Jolie was a rebellious young woman. At age 25, she married actor Billy Bob Thornton who was 20 years her senior.

Jolie's devotion to him was so great that (as they say) she wore a capsule with his blood around her neck. The existence of that vial of blood continues to be a Hollywood rumor.

You could write a series of books on the urban legends surrounding the King of Pop. For example, there's the story that Jacko slept in an oxygen chamber that created the conditions of sleeping at a higher altitude.

Jackson's goal with this machine was to live longer thanks to the adjusted oxygen levels. As it turned out, Michael Jackson had other bedtime habits - none of them including a hyperbaric chamber - and he didn't get to live that long after all.

The 1993 Oscar gala had five nominees for Best Supporting Actress. There were four favourites: Judy Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, Miranda Richardson and Joan Plowright. And then there was Marisa Tomei. To everyone's surprise, including her own, Tomei got the Oscar for her role in 'My Cousin Vinny'.

Rumor has it that Jack Palance, in charge of delivering the Oscar, rebelled and said the name of the actress he liked best instead of the one written on the paper. But the truth is that Marisa Tomei really won that Oscar and that she played Mona Lisa Vito marvelously.

Kurt Cobain and Nirvana were icons of a generation. His premature death at 27 raised all sorts of suspicions.

One of these included his wife, Courtney Love, who allegedly conspired to end his life. The reality is that the singer of 'Hole' adored Kurt Cobain and could never do such a thing.

This was a hoax that could have destroyed an artist's career. Mariah Carey allegedly made a controversial statement.

"Poor starving children all over the world, I can't help but cry for them. I mean, I'd love to be thin like them but without all those flies and death and stuff." The quote came from a satirical magazine, but to this day a lot of people think it was the singer who said it.

If Bruce Lee's death was shrouded in mystery, that of his son Brandon Lee may have been stranger still. As he was shooting 'The Crow' in 1993, his character Eric Draven got shot in an iconic scene. Once filming was over, however, Brandon Lee did not get up.

Rumor has it that someone traded the blanks in the gun for real bullets, but in reality, one of the blanks got stuck. As a result, when the gun went off, it fired with more force than usual. After it hit Brandon Lee's abdomen, the blank mortally wounded him.

For one reason or another, the J in Michael J. Fox was always a mystery. Or maybe not. In the 90s, when the actor was a tremendous star, they said his parents had let him choose his middle name.

Being a young child, Michael had chosen 'Jello' because he loved Jell-O. Or at least, that's what they say. The reality is that Michael J. Fox is a stage name. His real name is Michael Andrew Fox, but he put the 'J' in the middle because there was already another actor named Michael Fox, and 'Michael A Fox' didn't sound so good.

The friendship between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is one of the most famous in Hollywood. The actor was amazed when he met his partner in 'Titanic' and their chemistry was great.

Of course, it was only one step from there to the rumor of a romance off-set. Both of them have denied it. There was nothing between them, beyond the car scene, and they are still in the friend zone.

As the end of the century approached, fears mounted that computer programs would confuse the 00 of the year 2000 with those of 1900. Many expected that the world would end, the poles would melt, and the human race become extinct. However, when the clock struck 12, it all came to nothing. January 1, 2000, arrived without any problems.

Image: 'Seinfeld,' NBC

In fact in the episode called 'The Millennium' in the eighth season of Seinfeld, Kramer and Newman plan the party to welcome the new millennium the 'Newmannium' only they booked it for December 31, 2001, a year late.

Legend has it that Richard Gere, one of the movie stars of the 90s, owes his success to Travolta's rejection of several projects that ended up going to Gere.

Travolta did not want to do 'Days of Heaven' and the role was given to Richard Gere. Travolta did not want to do 'American Gigolo' and the role was given to Gere. Travolta didn't want to do... 'Pretty Woman'! And the part went to Richard Gere. We don't know if Gere ever thanked Travolta... nor if this urban legend is actually true.

Lauryn Hill achieved fame with The Fugees and then launched a solo career that began with the album 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'. It was a great success, but after that iconic album came a long silence.

Urban legend has it that 'Miseducation' was a cursed album. But the reality is that Lauryn Hill simply rejected the rules of the music industry and has always gone her own way.

Many sinister and morbid urban legends are linked to Marilyn Manson. One of them is the rumour that he had some of his ribs removed so he could satisfy himself.

In addition, he supposedly committed all sorts of atrocities on stage, but in reality, no one has seen him do them. It was always someone telling another person, and they told someone else, etcetera.

Almost anything has been said and written about the great Britney Spears. In the 1990s her scandals were numerous and in the 2000s some even accused her of being part of a government strategy to draw attention away from the mismanagement by President George W. Bush.

A stubbornly recurring legend has been that Britney Spears' voice is not really hers but someone else's (Milli Vanilli style). However, the singer has often proved the opposite.