Celebrity Rumors Everyone Thinks Are True but Actually Aren’t

Rumor: Jay Z cheated on Beyoncé with Rihanna.

Long before people were speculating who "Becky" was, there were rumors that Jay Z cheated on Beyoncé with Rihanna. The rumors were so prevalent, fans were adament that Beyoncé's "Ring the Alarm" from her sophomore album B'Day was about the whole sordid affair.

However, in 2015, Rihanna's ex-publicist Jonathan Hay revealed that he made up the rumors to boost his client's career.

“The PR stunt that I did was out of desperation to help break ‘Pon de Replay’," he said. “It was reckless and I didn't think it was going to work. I was just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick.”

And stick it did — people still think this rumor is true!

Rumor: Kim Kardashian was Paris Hilton's lowly assistant who was ordered to clean Paris' closet on The Simple Life.

A series of popular GIFs that've been shared on social media show Paris Hilton ordering Kim Kardashian around during an episode of The Simple Life back in the mid-2000s. However, there was one problem — it never happened!

Although Kim really did use to work as a closet organizer back then, the quotes written on the popular GIFs are fake. The "Kim, please clean and organize my closet" conversation actually went more like this:

Paris: I love this closet, it’s so good.
Kim: What’s going on with this?
Paris: That’s my ‘If I ever go to India’ outfit.
Kim: Really?
Paris: Yes.

Not exactly scandalous.

Rumor: Jennifer Lopez took out an insurance policy on her butt.

Many magazines reported that the 47-year-old pop star had her famous bum insured for $27 million, but in 2016, Jennifer revealed during an episode of Carpool Karaoke that the rumors weren't true.

“No! There is no such thing as that,” she said on the show. In fact, she's not sure what's the point of insuring her butt anyway.

“[Is it in case] something happens to it? It disappears? Somebody steals it?” she joked.

Rumor: Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" Is About Full House's Dave Coulier.

Everyone thought this rumor was true for decades, but Dave revealed in 2014 that it was just an "urban legend" that got out of hand and that the song was actually about several exes.

"I dated Alanis in 1992," he told Buzzfeed. "You know, it’s just funny to be the supposed subject of that song. First of all, the guy in that song is a real a-hole, so I don’t want to be that guy. Secondly, I asked Alanis, 'I’m getting calls by the media and they want to know who this guy is.' And she said, 'Well, you know it could be a bunch of people. But you can say whatever you want.'"

David admitted that there was only one part of the song that was about him.

"The one that got me was,'"I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner,'" he told HuffPost Live that same year. "That was because we had already broken up and she had called—she was living in Canada at the time—she called, and I said, 'Hey, I'm right in the middle of dinner, can I just call you right back?' I remember that line when I heard 'You Oughta Know,' and I just went… it was like, 'Uh oh.'"

Rumor: Mariah Carey once said, "When I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean, I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.”

This rumor started back in the '90s, but many fans still believe it's true. The rumor got so out of hand, Mariah even had to hold a press conference to deny the quote. Unfortunately, thanks to social media, many people are keeping the rumor alive by posting the fake quote across Twitter and Pinterest.

Rumor: Brad Pitt cheated on Jennifer Aniston with Angelina Jolie.

As much as fans like to overdramatize the great "love affair," Jennifer herself has denied there was ever any cheating.

"We’re not in daily communication," she told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2015. "But we wish nothing but wonderful things for each other. Nobody did anything wrong. You know what I mean? It was just like, sometimes things [happen]. If the world only could just stop with the stupid, soap-opera bulls—. There’s no story. I mean, at this point it’s starting to become — please, give more credit to these human beings.”

But despite what Jennifer has said, many fans still consider Angelina a "homewrecker" to this day.

Rumor: Kanye West said he was the next Nelson Mandela.

Kanye has compared himself to a lot of things, from famous artists to even Jesus. But he draws the line at Nelson Mandela. A popular quote that started spreading back in 2013 attributed the rapper of saying he was "the next Nelson Mandela." The rumor started on a parody news site that got out of hand.

“I've never said anything to dishonor one of the most inspiring leaders," Kanye later posted on Twitter.

Rumor: Richard Gere once stuck a gerbil up his butt, which had to be surgically removed.

It sounds ridiculous, but this rumor has been going strong for years — and people are still talking about it! Although Richard has denied it, the rumor still rages on. But in 2006, Sylvester Stallone revealed in an interview with AintItCoolNews that Richard thinks he started the rumor. Regardless of who started it, there's no proof that the incident ever happened and Snopes.com says it's false.

Rumor: Marilyn Monroe was a size 16 and would've been considered "fat" today.

Millions of people still believe Marilyn was the 1950s version of Ashley Graham, but it simply wasn't true. Although Marilyn really was a U.K. size 16, sizes were smaller back then. Her dimensions, according to her dressmaker, were 35-22-35, which was more like today's size 4 or 6.

Rumor: Jack and Meg White from The White Stripes are siblings.

When the duo first debuted in the late '90s, many fans assumed that they were related since they both share the same last name and sort of resemble each other. It didn't help that neither Jack nor Meg would confirm or deny the rumor. However, in 2001, Time got ahold of their marriage license, which proved they were in fact spouses, not siblings. Today, they're divorced.

NEXT: The Craziest Celebrity Conspiracy Theories of All Time