Epic Celebrity Flops: When Star Power Couldn'T Save These Ventures - BABEOfficial 2025

When Star Power Can't Save the Day

It's easy to assume that with fame and fortune, celebrities have the Midas touch. But for every successful venture, there's a slew of spectacular flops that prove otherwise. Let's dive into some of the most jaw-dropping celebrity business disasters where star power just wasn't enough to keep the dream alive.

The Restaurant Rumble

Former Chicago Bear Jim McMahon might have been a force on the football field, but his ventures into the restaurant world were anything but successful. His first Chicago eatery opened in 1987 and shut down three years later. Undeterred, he tried again with a steakhouse in 2002, which also closed within a year. Meanwhile, pop icon Britney Spears took a hit in 2002 when her Cajun-inspired New York restaurant, Nyla, fizzled out after just six months.

"It was a tough lesson," Spears reportedly reflected. "But you learn and move on."

Supermodels Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer, and Christy Turlington also learned the hard way. Their Fashion Café chain, which launched in the mid-1990s, couldn't keep up with the times and was gone by 1999.

Fashion and Frustration

The fashion industry can be brutal, as Jennifer Lopez found out. Her Sweetface fashion line was axed in 2009 due to disappointing sales. Even Beyoncé couldn't turn her House of Deréon clothing line into a hit, with critics mocking its designs until it folded in 2012.

Natalie Portman, too, ventured into the fashion world with a vegan shoe line in 2008, but the overpriced offerings didn't appeal, and the business quickly collapsed. Meanwhile, Rihanna's Fenty fashion label, despite her massive success in beauty and lingerie, couldn't find its footing and closed just two years after its 2019 launch.

Beyond the Glitz and Glam

Even outside of fashion and food, celebrity ventures faltered. Jay-Z's ambitious plan for a luxury hotel in New York fell through in 2010, and Flavor Flav's attempt at a fast-food chain ended just months after opening in 2011. These stories serve as a reminder that even the most successful stars can stumble when stepping outside their usual spotlight.

From flopped fashion lines to doomed restaurant ventures, these tales of celebrity business failures reveal that not all that glitters is gold. So next time you dream of starting your own empire, remember that even the stars sometimes fail to align.