Top Ten 2006 Celebrity Embarrassing Moments, What Were They Thinking?

As 2006 draws to an end and we take a moment to reflect on the past year, it's time to recall a few embarrassing celebrity moments. These are celebrity moments that make you wonder, "What were they thinking!" And, lets face it, for several members of this list of celebrity shame, "What were they drinking...and how drunk were they when they did or said this?" From bad choices to out right tragedies, this year has a full list of noteworthy celebrities.

Part of being a celebrity is getting your face and name in the news and being talked about. It comes with the territory and is an intrinsic part of the job. Not all press coverage is positive and career building, as these examples clearly show. The coverage these celebrities received has been career or image damaging at best, some circumstances are even tragic. One slip of the tongue, drunk tirade or foolish choice can be remembered for years to come. Talent, good looks, charm and box office draw can all be forgotten in a second and overshadowed by one moment of stupidity or just plain human imperfection.

To be fair, none of us are perfect and we all have bad days. But these celebrities have had some very bad days indeed in 2006. It must be very difficult to have cameras catching your every move, your every mistake. But I'd like to think that if most of us had cameras following us, we'd never put ourselves in the embarrassing or scandalous situations these celebrities were caught in.

1) Michael Richards - Wins the 1st place award for most public racist tirade.

Michael Richards has been known for years for portraying the kooky, eccentric, but lovable character of "Kramer," from the hit television show "Seinfeld." While performing in a comedy club, he was supposedly heckled by several men who happened to be African-American. No one likes heckling, it's frustrating and just plain rude. But Michael Richard's reaction to this heckling was excessive, uncalled for and unacceptable.