10+ Celebrities Reveal Things They Truly Regret Doing

Science tells us that when we want to explore a whole new experience, we’re prone to hasty decision-making. Impulsivity can be tricky, and saying “yes” right away makes us think about our choices once the tide has passed. Hollywood stars prove that big career moves require thinking through before it’s too late, and that it’s normal to look back.

Bright Side believes in the power of second chances. That’s why we collected a few stories from our favorite celebrities who learned valuable lessons at the height of their fame.

1. Sophie Turner: not finishing school

Even though Game of Thrones catapulted Sophie Turner into Hollywood fame, she still has some blues looking back. The long-running show started filming when she was only 14 and continued until its eighth season, leaving her no choice but to focus her attention on GOT.

“I wish I’d had the university experience. I wish I could have gone out...a lot...without it being photographed!” she shared while reminiscing her days playing Sansa Stark instead of finishing school. “But I am happy with my Game of Thrones experience. I don’t think I missed out on too much,” she then assured.

2. Robert Pattinson: playing Edward Cullen

The Twilight franchise may have boosted Robert Pattinson’s popularity, but he has somehow developed a distaste for his role as the ever-glowing, beautiful, and mysterious Edward Cullen. He even shaded the story plots, calling his experience “too miserable.” He explained in an interview, “If it hadn’t been so successful, I think people would have thought it was really weird.”

3. Jennifer Aniston: getting an iconic haircut

What most fans of the sitcom, Friends, call an iconic hairstyle was actually a cringe flashback for Jennifer Aniston. She even “hated” the dyed and layered cut fashioned by one of the show’s main characters, Rachel Green. “I was not a fan of ’The Rachel,’” she said in an interview, adding that it was the “ugliest haircut” she’d ever seen.

4. Christina Applegate: turning down Elle Woods

Elle Woods would look totally different, except for the signature golden hair, if Christina Applegate had taken on the challenge of playing the aspiring lawyer in Legally Blonde. One of the reasons why she turned down the iconic role 20 years ago was her fear of being typecast as another quirky blonde. Still, she believes that Reese Witherspoon did a terrific job at playing Elle.

5. Nick Lachey: starring in his own reality show

If you were an avid watcher of MTV in the early 2000s, you couldn’t have missed then-couple Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson’s show, Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. However, Lachey moved away from reality TV and chooses to protect his new family’s privacy from cameras rolling. “I wouldn’t want to put my kids out there like that. I don’t think that’s necessarily fair, not fair to them,” he said in an interview.

6. George Clooney: playing Batman

If you ask someone who grew up in the 1990s what the weirdest Batman movie was, Batman & Robin would be their top answer. The film established a reputation as the campiest superhero movie with plenty of problems both on and off the screen. It was even critically panned during its release.

From his costume to his acting, George Clooney doesn’t shy away from expressing his regret about appearing in the film. He even admitted that it “physically hurts” him to watch his “terrible” performance during a show.

7. Courteney Cox: getting plastic surgery

The Scream alum recalled that it was quite a strange feeling to get along with the new facial fillers she opted for at the height of her fame. The decision came when she felt pressured to go with the trend of looking younger using plastic surgery.

“There was a time when you go, ’Oh, I’m changing. I’m looking older.’ And I tried to chase that [youthfulness] for years,” Courteney Cox said. Ultimately, she wasn’t happy with what her face had become and decided to undo it all by removing her fillers.

8. Cher: missing a chance at love with Elvis

The “Believe” singer confessed that she and the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, had a promising romance in the 1970s. Both were recently divorced from their spouses and enjoying the single life, but Cher chickened out when Presley finally asked her out for a weekend getaway.

“I got nervous. I didn’t get there. I was that nervous! I was just too frightened,” she explained when asked why she backed out.

9. Kris Jenner: divorcing Robert Kardashian

The Kardashian-Jenner matriarch named divorcing her late ex-husband, the famed lawyer Robert Kardashian Sr., one of her biggest regrets. Although they remained friends until his passing in 2003, the business mogul can’t help but reminisce about her past with him, saying, “I had a wonderful, beautiful life with Robert. He was just an amazing man.”

10. Bella Hadid: changing her nose

Growing up with a supermodel mom and sister may have affected Bella Hadid’s decision to change a part of her face to look more similar to the runway beauty standards. At the young age of 14, she got a rhinoplasty, otherwise known as a nose job. “I was the uglier sister... That’s really what people said about me. And unfortunately, when you get told things so many times, you do just believe it,” she said.

At 25, she now regrets her decision: “I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors.”

11. Ryan Reynolds: saying yes to his early superhero roles

Before becoming the snarky and better version of the mutant, Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds had to endure playing the wrong superhero twice. Playing Hal Jordan in Green Lantern definitely takes the cake when it comes to Reynolds’ least liked character. He even made a parody about it at the ending of Deadpool 2.

12. Zac Efron: changing his lifestyle for a movie role

Part of giving justice to its predecessor was for the characters of the 2017 film, Baywatch, to feature their strong, muscular, and fit figures as lifeguards on a Florida bay. Zac Efron was one of the recruits who got to show off his toned body.

However, he did not like the experience at all. “I realized when I was done with that movie that I don’t ever want to be in that good of shape again. It was so hard,” he admitted. While filming, Efron needed to have a “diet and training strategy of an elite athlete” for months.

13. Julianne Moore: messing with her eyebrows

One of Hollywood’s most gorgeous redheads was also a victim of messing with her face. Julianne Moore once shared that she “destroyed” her eyebrows to fit in during her teen years up until her early twenties. “As a teenager and as a young adult, I kept plucking them, bleaching them, doing all sorts of things to them, so they are really completely gone,” she said.

Today, she’s encouraging her daughter, Liv Freundlich, never to do the same. “My daughter has these gorgeous beautiful, really full eyebrows, and I am constantly telling her not to touch them or let anyone else touch them.”

Who is your favorite celebrity among them all? How do you deal with flashbacks of bad decisions?