Celebrity tantrums through the years

Getting cut off in traffic in 1994 sparked Nicholson to hop out of his car and attack the offending motorist’s car with a golf club; he smashed the windshield before getting back into his vehicle. Though the motorist filed suit, the matter was settled out of court.

Gibson’’s 2006 anti-Semitic tirade in Malibu was not the first time the Oscar-winning director unleashed inflammatory words. Before that incident, in which he said, “You mother------. I’m going to f--- you” during his stop for speeding and drunk driving on Pacific Coast Highway, he said of a New York Times reporter, “I want to kill him. I want his intestines on a stick.” Though he formally apologized for the Malibu rant, he later told a college professor to “f---- off” when she called his “Apocalypto” movie racist.

The 2007 clip of Russell having an on-set meltdown with actress Lily Tomlin turned into an Internet sensation. The director, who had previously gotten into a fight with George Clooney on the set of another movie, hurled a string of obscenities at the actress, who had grown frustrated with his working methods. Tomlin later told the New York Times that she and Russell were “fine.”

Sweet-faced Bjork turned on a TV reporter at a Thailand airport in 1996 when the woman approached her son (10 years old at the time) with the greeting, “Welcome to Bangkok.” After banging Julie Kaufman’s head onto the concrete floor several times, security guards pulled the Icelandic siren from the reporter. Bjork later apologized and blamed “motherly instincts”; Kaufman chose not to sue.

It didn’t seem as if there was any reason to talk about Michael Richards once “Seinfeld” was over, but a 2006 appearance at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles put him in the spotlight again, for all the wrong reasons. After being heckled, he angrily used the “N word” seven times and joked about lynching. Thanks to a cellphone video, it was the rant heard around the world.

The same summer his 2005 boxing movie, “”Cinderella Man,”” was released in theaters, Crowe’’s anger- management issues took center stage. He was arrested and charged with second-degree assault for throwing a phone at a hotel employee who refused to help him place a call. The employee was treated for a facial laceration, and Crowe paid $100,000 to settle the civil suit.

She’s terrorized fellow model and Oprah wannabe Tyra Banks, a few personal assistants and, in 2006, her housekeeper. Campbell threw a jewel-encrusted cellphone at Ana Scolavino, who needed four stitches after the incident.

The Rocket Man has lashed out several times over the years. In 2004, he lambasted a group of Taipei photographers as “rude, vile pigs.” Also that year, he lit up the airwaves of BBC’’s Radio 1 with a string of curse words, later joking that he suffers from a “weird syndrome before 10 a.m.” And in a 2006 concert, he publicly and profanely blamed his record label for slow album sales.

Before his current Oscar nomination for “Milk” and Oscar-winning turn playing a father full of rage in “Mystic River,” Penn had his own bouts of anger on public display. During his marriage to Madonna, Penn was charged with felony domestic assault , and he was jailed in the 1980s for beating a photographer.

Paris Hilton’s younger brother, Conrad Hilton, was charged with threatening flight attendants on a British Airways flight. At one point, he grabbed a flight attendant by the shirt, saying, “I could get you all fired in five minutes. I know your boss. My father will pay this out, he’s done it before. Dad paid $300K last time,” according to a U.S. District Court criminal complaint. He blamed his bizarre behavior on a sleeping pill.   (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Powerhouse singer Diana Ross was arrested in 1999 after an awkward situation at Heathrow airport. After a female security guard frisked her a bit too much, Ross had a knee-jerk reaction, saying, “No one touches my breasts.” She grabbed the breasts of the security guard, saying, “How do you like it?”   (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)