2016 is over and the year was supposedly a terrible one for the world. Celebrity deaths seemed to mount although arguably we’re just more attuned to the deaths of more peripheral celebrities nowadays then we were in times prior. In the political sphere, Donald Trump won the presidency and a doomsday scenario involving Helter Skelter, nuclear war, and/or a forthcoming environmental catastrophe may yet play out. Hillary Clinton was one famous female who had a bad year and here’s a look at others that literally survived 2016, but certainly had years that they would like to forget.
Dani Mathers
Dani Mathers took a picture of an elderly woman buck nude in the gym showers back in the summer. She then sent the pic to a friend with the caption “If I can’t unsee this then you can’t either.” Mathers is juxtaposed to the pic of the senior with her hand cusping her mouth as though she’s in shock over seeing the woman’s body. The pic uploaded, certainly accidentally, to Snapchat and Mathers life took a different path at that point.
Not only did she become the whipping post for anyone that doesn’t like body shamers in North America, but Mathers also lost her radio talk-show gig (i.e.,. something cushy that pays well). The former Playboy model could have bumped into some good luck if the subject of the photo remained unfound or if that individual did not want to go forward with a lawsuit, however, the police were able to locate the woman. Furthermore, the woman has pressed charges, and Mathers went to trial starting in early November. Updates from the trial have been few and far between with the last word being that Mathers is worried that a conviction will ruin her real estate career (December 21/TMZ).
Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova has never been the most popular woman on the WTA Tour. She’s 6’2″, she’s very attractive, she has won five Grand Slam titles, she has been ranked No. 1, and she has lead female athletes for endorsements worldwide for years. What on Earth would her competitors not like about her?
Unfortunately for Sharapova, she slipped up early in 2016 and no cronies came to the rescue. Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open last year, a substance that had only recently been made illegal for WTA athletes. The news went public a little while later and now, almost a year after the Aussie, Sharapova still hasn’t been in a tour match since. Her tweets are littered with Sugarpova marketing now and very little tennis news although she did go to Puerto Rico for an exhibition match last month (l. to Monica Puig). Look for Sharapova to return to tennis in late April and look for Roland Garros to give her a Wild Card because, friends or not, she’s a two-time champion and a 6’2″ photogenic knockout.
Hillary Clinton
Clinton has been working in government for decades, and she lost the presidential election to someone who never showed an interest in politics before. That has to hurt.
Petra Kvitova
Unlike others mentioned in this article, Petra Kvitova’s troubles are entirely not of her doing. Things certainly weren’t horrible for Kvitova for much of the 2016. The Czech didn’t play her best tennis for the first half of the season but seemed to turn things on in Rio when she won bronze. She also won the Wuhan title; she beat Angelique Kerber en route, and that helped redeem what was a below-average season for her. But in December, Kvitova got attacked in her home and suffered lacerations to her left hand, which is her strong one, caused by a knief-wielding intruder. The injuries will take her off tour for six months in what is nothing but a turn for the worse that she did nothing to cause.