Celebrity Alter Egos Who Were Killed Off Or Retired

Status: Murdered Obituary: Marshall Mathers - better known as rapper Eminem - created the alter ego Slim Shady to channel all of his anger toward the world in a sometimes cartoonish, over-the-top way. Many first heard the Shady name in Eminem's hit 1999 song, “My Name Is,” but the bleached-blonde, white-shirt-wearing icon has popped up in many of the rapper's more controversial lyrics since. Mathers came up with the Slim Shady name while on the toilet: Boom, the name hit me, and right away I thought of all these words to rhyme with it. So I wiped my a**, got up off the pot and… called everybody I knew. In his 2008 memoir, Mathers claimed that he, Eminem, and Slim Shady are drastically different personalities, but that he “found a way to morph the styles so that it's sort of all me.” In 2024, Slim Shady appeared in the obituary section of the Detroit Free Press to promote his upcoming album “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)," claiming the rapper's alter ego came “to a sudden and horrific end.” An Unsolved Mysteries-esque parody video posted to Eminem's Instagram confirms this, as it asks the question, “Who killed Slim Shady?” Likelihood He'll Rise From The Dead: Slim

Status: Retired Bio: Some alter egos are so beloved that they become inseparable from the real person. Such is the case with David Bowie, whose androgynous, alien rock star Ziggy Stardust character, feels so authentically him that their names are nearly interchangeable. Stardust was created for the 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars but many believed the character also appeared on the cover of his next album, Aladdin Sane, which Bowie described as “Ziggy goes to America.” Bowie claimed the alter ego was invented because he was “fed up with denim and the hippies” and “wanted to go somewhere else." In 1973, Bowie told a concert crowd, “This show will stay the longest in our memories. Not just because it is the end of the tour, but because it is the last show we'll ever do.” And with that, Ziggy Stardust was done. In David Bowie: Critical Perspectives, writer Tanja Stark quotes Bowie talking about his alter ego: [T]hat f*cker would not leave me alone for years... my whole personality was affected... It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity. I think I put myself very dangerously near the line. Not in a physical sense but definitely in a mental sense. Likelihood They'll Return: With David Bowie's death, any chance was squashed like a Spider from Mars.

Status: Deceased Obituary: When told he could only publish one book a year as Stephen King, the ridiculously prolific master of horror decided to create a pen name so he could write more: Richard Bachman. Under the Bachman pseudonym, King published several books such as Thinner, The Running Man, and the highly controversial Rage. As King wrote as Bachman, he imagined the fictional man's life: Then he began to grow and come alive, as the creatures of a writer's imagination so frequently do. I began to imagine his life as a dairy farmer... his wife, the beautiful Claudia Inez Bachman... his solitary New Hampshire mornings, spent milking the cows, getting in the wood, and thinking about his stories... his evenings spent writing these stories, always with a glass of whiskey beside his Olivetti typewriter. But, as King says on his website: [E]ventually the public got wise to this because you can change your name but you can't really disguise your style. After being exposed as the real writer of the Bachman books, King quickly killed off his alter ego, stating he had died of “cancer of the pseudonym.” Likelihood He'll Rise From The Dead: At this point in his career, King likely believes Bachman is best left in the dead zone.

Status: Retired Bio: The impossibly talented writer/actor Donald Glover - known for playing Troy in Community, Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Earn in Atlanta - is also a Grammy-winning rapper who goes by the alias Childish Gambino. Glover came up with the name with the help of an online Wu-Tang name generator, claiming he wanted to use the alter ego to separate his comedy from his raps. Glover said he used the alter ego to “still have fun” and “not be an adult.” In 2017, he discussed retiring Childish Gambino, stating: I feel like there's gotta be a reason to do things and I always had a reason to be punk… Being punk just always felt really good to me… I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore. In 2024, Glover announced Childish Gambino's retirement after two more albums - an updated version of 3.15.20, now titled Atavista, and a soundtrack for an upcoming film. Glover claimed Childish Gambino finished his last album, titled Bando Stone & the New World, and then “walked into the ocean.” Likelihood He'll Come Out Of Retirement: We'll probably have to wait 'til 3005.

Status: Murdered Obituary: In the Disney sitcom Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus played middle schooler Miley Stewart who was moonlighting as the titular pop star. It ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2011. During that time, keeping Cyrus out of any controversies was important to Disney's image. Gary Marsh, then-president for the Disney Channel, said: For Miley Cyrus to be a ‘good girl’ is now a business decision for her. Parents have invested in her a godliness. If she violates that trust, she won’t get it back. But Cyrus wanted to express herself in ways that didn't always align with Disney's views. During the show's last season, Cyrus told reporters she was interested in moving on. I can't base my career off of the six-year-olds. Her father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, claimed: The damn show destroyed my family. I’d take it back in a second. For my family to be here and just everybody be okay, safe and sound and happy and normal would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah. I’d erase it all in a second if I could. After a controversial performance at the 2013 Video Music Awards, Cyrus hosted SNL. In her opening monologue, she stated: There are a few subjects we're not going to get into tonight. I'm not going to do Hannah Montana, but I can give you an update on what she's been up to: She was murdered. Likelihood She'll Rise From The Dead: Cyrus has taken a wrecking ball to her squeaky clean Disney image, so it's doubtful she'll don the wig again anytime soon.

Status: Retired Bio: Sacha Baron Cohen is best known for his character alter egos Ali G, Borat, and Brüno, all of whom he uses to trick real people into doing fake interviews with him. Some of the stunts he has pulled as these characters have had consequences ranging from threats of being sued to almost getting shot. In 2021, Cohen claimed his days of disguises were over, stating: At some point, your luck runs out. And so I never wanted to do this stuff again. I can't. In another interview, he said shooting his movies' more controversial scenes was too dangerous to keep doing: [F]or Borat, there were a couple of times I had to put on a bulletproof vest to go and shoot a scene, and you don't want to do that too many times in your life. I was pretty lucky to get out this time, so no, I'm not doing it again. I'm going to stay with the scripted stuff Likelihood They'll Come Out Of Retirement: Not very nice.

Status: Retired Bio: In 1999, country singer Garth Brooks got emo bangs and a soul patch and became the Australian rock star Chris Gaines for one “greatest hits” album and a movie that was never made. Brooks-as-Gaines also starred in a fake episode of VH1's Behind the Music and performed on SNL. In the end, fans were left confused, and the album flopped. Brooks said of his alter ego: A lot of people misunderstood it, and my ribs are still sore from getting the sh*t kicked out of me for it. Likelihood He'll Come Out Of Retirement: When asked in a 2019 interview if he'd ever revisit the Gaines character, Brooks said: [N]o, I would never even really get close to it again, because it really was a really tough time for me, because of the fact that I saw for the first time that people can be focused on something way past the music. And that's never a good thing, when music takes a backseat. But in 2023, Brooks said he'd like to revisit his alter ego sometime in the future, stating: The Gaines project was a lot of time put in - because it’s not natural, you’re acting on a record - but I want to do it simply for people who love the Gaines project.

Status: Murdered Obituary: In 2008, Beyoncé released a new album entitled I Am… Sasha Fierce. She explained the reasoning behind her new alter ego: Sasha Fierce is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I'm working and when I'm on the stage. Beyoncé claimed that pretending to be Sasha Fierce helped her give better performances on stage. But in 2010, Beyoncé said, “Sasha Fierce is done. I killed her.” Likelihood She'll Rise From The Dead: The Hive only needs one Queen Bey.