Not all people who seem bad are actual monsters. But not all seemingly kind ones are actually kind, either. And unfortunately, there are quite a few of the latter kind out there, praised by people who don’t know any better; or simply don’t know enough about such individuals.

Redditor u/Independent_Sun_592 recently started a discussion about seemingly kind people, asking fellow netizens to name someone who is generally considered a great person but is actually a monster. Redditors had quite a few names prepared, so if you’re interested to see who were the wolves in sheep’s clothing, scroll down to find their answers on the list below.

Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with Professor of Psychology at Stetson University, Christopher J. Ferguson, Ph.D., who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about the image people tend to judge others by.

#1

Oprah Winfrey. She has platformed so many terrible humans, scam artists, and snake oil salesmen it’s unbelievable.

Image credits: lovebyletters

#2

Every Mega Church senior pastor. I like how they constantly ask for donations and charity and then, if there's a disaster in their area, rather than help and donate to the relief fund they bar their doors in case anyone ruins their electric blue carpet.

Image credits: No-Moose470

#3

Pablo Picasso was an unrelenting bastard to his romantic partners. He once said "for me there are two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats." And his granddaughter described his treatment of the women in his life by saying: "He submitted them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas. After he had spent many nights extracting their essence, once they were bled dry, he would dispose of them."

And that wasn't hyperbole, two of Picasso's partners suffered nervous breakdowns due to his emotional abuse. Worse yet his lover Marie-Thèrése Walter and his second wife Jacqueline Roque were driven to [self-harm].

Image credits: LiveFree_OrDie603

Talking about liking certain people, especially on a superficial level, Prof. Christopher J. Ferguson pointed out that we generally judge people by how they present themselves and, ultimately, how charming they are. And for the most part, that seems to work out fine, as—although we all engage in some "positive image management"—most people's outward personalities are reasonably representative of who they are.

However, according to the expert, some folks learn to game that system and purposefully present themselves in ways that will be attractive to others that don't necessarily represent who they truly are. “This may include insincere flattery, learning to be interesting and ‘cool’ or presenting oneself as a moral crusader,” he said.

#4

It's finally coming out, but Drake. I’m 30. I can’t imagine wanting to talk to someone underage all the time. I have nothing in common with them, I feel like they’d get annoying (not their faults but they’re young and immature). I mean if I had family that young maybe. But just random teenagers is so strange

Image credits: Caleb_Krawdad

#5

Steve Jobs was a deadbeat dad, a spoiled child masquerading as an adult, a slave labor monster, and a borderline idiot.

Image credits: SamURLJackson

“In recent years, as victimhood has gained currency, presenting oneself as a ‘victim’ may also be a viable strategy for some [people],” Prof. Ferguson continued. “Such people may present leadership qualities without having the internal substance to back them up and their true purpose is less to guide others towards doing something useful as opposed to lining their own pockets.“

#6

Tom Cruise gives millions to an aggressive cult that destroys families.

Image credits: Breck_the_Hyena

#7

I'm glad Doctor Phil is finally getting his comeuppance. He's said and done terrible things to people who needed real help for the sake of viewership and acts like he cares so much. Well it's obvious he doesn't.

Image credits: Last-Inspection-8156

#8

John Harvey Kellogg (the cereal guy) was a real piece of work.

TLDR; John Harvey Kellog was the cook, and his brother was the industrialist.
As far as I can remember, the insane brother invented the cereal. The sane brother invented the factory process of making them, and had the idea to cover them in sugar (frosted flakes).
The insane Kellog believed that the default state of man was an apathetic unfeeling void and anything that caused excitement such as good food, warm baths, obviously intercourse for anything other than procreation, was sinful and against God's design. I believe he was also a proponent of yoghurt enemas, which HAS to be a fetish thing, right?

Image credits: MotoCentric

Whether a person tends to focus more on the negative or the positive aspects of someone else’s personality or behavior depends a lot on the context, Prof. Ferguson said; on whether or not the person is primed to be open-minded or suspicious in a particular context.

“For instance, a door-to-door salesperson might prime suspiciousness in a lot of people,” he pointed out. “But, particularly for Americans, our culture is to assume positives of those we meet in casual, non-threatening situations (which may differ from some European cultures).

“Thus we may give people we meet the ‘benefit of the doubt’ and be more easily taken in by charm,” the professor continued, adding that once attitudes form, they can be resistant to change so people may be hesitant to believe the worst of someone they just formed a positive opinion of.

#9

Mufuggin Gandhi.

When Gandhi's wife was stricken with pneumonia, British doctors told her husband that a shot of penicillin would heal her; nevertheless, Gandhi refused to have alien medicine injected into her body, and she died.

Soon after, Gandhi caught malaria and, relenting from the standard he applied to his wife, allowed doctors to save his life with quinine. He also allowed British doctors to perform an appendectomy on him, an alien operation if ever there was one.

Also he served on the British side in South Africa and earned a medal for valor.

Image credits: Calaveras-Metal

#10

Winston Churchill, his government’s policies and his racist attitude towards Indians caused millions of people in Bengal to die because of famine.

Image credits: 2cents-worth

#11

John Lennon sang about peace and love and then went home and beat his wife and kid.

Image credits: Illustrious-Science3

According to Prof. Ferguson, it's important to remember that most people will actively try to hide their negative traits. “That's normal, and nothing to panic about,” he said. “But I suppose the main thing—when being drawn entirely into a person's orbit or worldview—is whether or not there is any possibility that they're profiting from some degree of insincerity and is it making us prone to ignoring some information that should throw up some red flags. There [has to be] a careful balance between being naive and overly suspicious.”

#12

Ellen DeGeneres. She opened up about how she hated the TV personality outside of the show and hated being around fans who would stop her to do something silly.

Image credits: Numbersuu

#13

Jared Leto.

For someone who does a month long spirit journey in the wilderness each year, he's a huge piece of s**t.

Image credits: Classsssy

#14

Oh, yall don't know him but my dad. Absolute scumbag. He's extremely well respected in his field and all of his family adores him. I was a secret child he hid for years. When I was assaulted he blamed me. He made his children lie to their own family about their secret sibling, and he literally sabotaged my career in my 20s. I only found success when I finally went no contact.

Image credits: Far_Ad106

#15

Dr. Seuss. Cheated on his wife while she was sick, which lead to her [self-harm] then married his affair partner the very next year.

Image credits: Threeofnine000

#16

Lizzo. I loved her song "boys" because it was literally just her singing about how she thought dudes were cool, and she doesn't discriminate over size, height, demographic. She seemed cool, and then she turned out to be an a**hole who judged other WOMAN for their size and its like....Lizzo is fat af how can she tell act like that?

#17

Personnel in HR Department. They’re not there for you. Don’t bother to report anything or it will backfire on you.

#18

Brett Favre. People finally figured it out after the welfare thing but he's always been scum. I went to USM (his alma mater) as well as my parents who were there at the same time he was, and every story I heard from locals about him was about him blowing off charity events that he was paid for and smacking his girlfriend in public back in his college days. Apparently he used to get his a*s beat by the locals when they'd see it but he was well into his NFL career before that stopped happening publicly. The man is a menace but people hear that South Mississippi accent and assume he's a nice guy.

Also, just because I feel like there aren't enough people saying it, f**k Michael Vick and anyone who still let's him have any kind of public life.

#19

Christopher Columbus.

Quick reminder, the imperialist and slave-holding nation of Spain sent him to prison once he got back from the new world because his monstrous brutality towards his slaves was too much even for them.

#20

This seems kind of weird as I still don’t understand how anyone can defend them.. but the Kardashians. Everyone thinks they’re “self-made” and have done a lot of charity work, but in reality they are professional scam artists and masters at tax evasion and fraud. There isn’t a good one in the entire bunch.

Image credits: cmh0105

#21

Anne Sullivan, AKA Teacher. Despite helping Helen Keller rise above her disabilities, it's well-documented that she often beat Helen (as a means of disciplining her when she was still a "wild" feral child), and colluded with the Kellers in preventing Helen from marrying the man she loved.

Image credits: ZapatillaLoca

#22

My mom’s old roommate back when I was a kid. Everyone around him to this day thinks he’s a saint but he’s a creep. I was horrified when I learned he has young children.

Image credits: Inevitable-Ability-5

#23

Lame answer, but my mother. She is known by a lot of people in town because she’s a teacher and is part of the theater scene, and people love her. Little do they know that behind closed doors she abuses the s**t out of her children. I ran away when I was 17 because I couldn’t take it, and despite giving the police a s**t ton of proof of what was happening, they couldn’t believe that she was capable of any of that and forced me to go back. Even after kicking me out a few months later while I was still a minor, almost no one thought she did anything wrong. The nicest people hide the darkest s**t

ETA okay this was not what I was expecting. I’m reading all of your comments, and wow. I am so sorry that so many of us have dealt with this. I promise you it does get better over time

As for me, I am doing better. The 11th is three years since cutting her off, and while my life is still really hard, it’s the happiest I’ve ever been.

Image credits: mishyfishy135

#24

Barbara Walters her interview with Coery Feldman is disgusting. She knew what Cory was saying was true, and she kept questioning him on it.

Image credits: justmyusername47

#25

Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah's Witness. I grew up in that cult and so many people I knew died from not getting blood transfusions.

#26

I think Eddie Murphy #1. Most think he's a cool guy but heard story after story he's mean, hateful, and downright terrible to people.

JLo is mean many stories about her getting people fired and so forth for trivial reasons and belittling the help. Yet she is fairly popular most think she's a decent person.

I am not calling her a monster but most think Jamie Lee Curtis is super cool and would be nice as hell but heard she is actually a snob and cold in person. Which surprised me.

#27

Blows my mind that a good number of Americans still praise Ronald Reagan. He was a gd monster. He dismantled the mental health care system in California when he was governor and that had direct impacts on the growing homeless population.

#28

The Rock/Dwayne Johnson.

I think stuff is just starting to come out since he’s always been super controlling of his public image, but it seems like the guy is a complete and total sociopath.

Edit: I didn’t expect this to blow up. Here’s an article detailing how him and his team have crafted his public image

People have also started to speak up about his bad behavior on set, being late all the time and rude to crew members.

There was the Hawaii b******t with Oprah. There was his handling of Black Adam bombing - also reports of bad onset behavior and mistreatment of others.

“Monster” might be a stretch, but the guy is definitely an a*****e and people are just now finding out. Dude is fake as fake gets.

#29

Caitlyn Jenner. During the time she was getting person of the year, she killed someone, and was praised for it.

#30

Jackie Chan. He confesses a lot in his book (without realizing how much of an a*****e he is, I guess?), abusing his toddler son, etc etc.

And THEN on top of that he's a shill for the CCP. Says s**t like "Chinese people don't deserve freedom". He's from Hong Kong, which is probably a double slap in the face. Even a lot of mainland Chinese people know what the CCP is, but they can't necessarily escape. He's an international star, and decides to say what he does.

#31

Literally every judge from Sharktank. They scam so many people out of so much money it’s f*****g deplorable.

#32

President Andrew Jackson trail of tears, why is he on the 20 dollar bill

#33

Lyndon B. Johnson, I find it hard to believe he is being lionized by the descendants of the people who hated him so much. He was responsible for the deaths of 55,000 Americans and millions in SE Asia, he looked us in the eye and lied about the Gulf of Tonkin incident so he could widen the war to fatten his friends.

Now people say "oh but his domestic policy, he gave us Medicare and Headstart", how cheaply he bought you out, he was a war criminal who killed a lot of my friends.

#34

Mark Wahlberg. More recently, he's been claiming that Hollywood is persecuting him for being a Christian, which is why he's decided to move his kids to Nevada. It's pretty ironic for the guy who threw rocks at Black children and beat up Vietnamese people wants to talk about being unfairly targeted.

#35

Brad Pitt - reading the account of what happened on the plane between him, Angelina Jolie and their kids is terrifying.

#36

Alexander Graham Bell. Wanted to eradicate deaf people. Tried to ban ASL. Also he didn’t invent the telephone, it was really an Italian guy. ?‍♀️.

#37

Chris Brown. His fame is particularly disturbing to me because over the years since his attacks on Rihanna, he has been involved in numerous altercations, charged with multiple counts of abuse, holding women hostage, sexual assault and armed standoffs with the police. It’s clear he has not evolved or matured as a person and presents a significant threat to many people. The fact he still gets support and is collaborating with artists is very disheartening.
I’m in favour of allowing grace for those who have mended their ways, but this individual has not stopped hurting and endangering people, almost exclusively women and the fact he’s still seen as a sought after artist is confusing to me.

#38

I always knew Will Smith had horrible vibes even before "the slap". Not as bad as others on this list but he seems like a prick.

#39

Narendra Modi of India. Despite being praised for economic reform he’s an autocrat at heart. ❤️.

#40

My ex-best friend. We were close like sisters. She started living with my fiancé and I. She then started sleeping with my fiancé behind my back and would say stuff like, “sometimes I forget you’re in a relationship.” I of course broke up with my fiancé and ended my friendship with my best friend. They left together and dated for a couple of months before he moved on to the next girl. In the meantime, my ex-friend turned many of our mutual friends against me because I wouldn’t forgive her and she now felt really bad about what she did.

She’s an a*****e. Our mutual friends still think she’s great. At least I figured out who my real friends are.

#41

Ray Lewis

Never understand why people buy into his holier than thou preacher schtick.