Famous People With Odd Pets
When a dog curls up on the couch or a cat knocks things off the counter, most of us are quite content.
However, the typical pets don’t seem to cut it when you’re famous and wealthy.
From small monkeys perched on their shoulders to mature tigers relaxing in their living rooms, celebrities have taken their passion for animals to some very extreme extremes.
While some of these plans were successful, others resulted in mayhem, last-minute hospital visits, or even global events.
The reality is that exotic pet ownership is far more difficult than it appears on Instagram.
These 16 well-known individuals felt that typical pets were simply too dull for their way of life.
Mike Tyson and His Bengal Tigers
The former heavyweight boxing champion owned three Bengal tigers over the years, including two females named Kenya and Storm.
Tyson treated these massive cats like oversized house cats, even letting them roam around his property.
He reportedly spent over $70,000 per year just on their care and feeding.
One of his tigers reportedly attacked a trespasser who jumped his fence, which probably should have been expected when you’re keeping a 500-pound predator as a pet.
Justin Bieber’s Monkey Drama
Bieber got himself a capuchin monkey named OG Mally as a gift back in 2013, and it seemed like a cute idea at the time.
The problem came when he tried to bring the 14-week-old monkey on tour to Germany without the proper paperwork.
German customs officials seized Mally, and despite Bieber’s fame and fortune, he never got him back.
The little guy now lives at Serengeti Park Hodenhagen Zoo in Germany, which honestly was probably a better situation for everyone involved.
Capuchin monkeys need specialized care, tons of space, and constant mental stimulation—not exactly tour bus material.
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George Clooney’s Beloved Pig
Before Clooney became known for his marriage to human rights lawyer Amal, he was famous for his relationship with Max, a Vietnamese potbellied pig.
Max lived with Clooney for 18 years and allegedly came between the actor and several romantic relationships.
When forced to choose between his 250-pound pig and a girlfriend, Clooney apparently picked Max every time.
The pig even had free reign of the house and would root around on movie sets where Clooney was working, living until 2006.
Paris Hilton’s Kinkajou Incident
Hilton owned not one but two kinkajous, which are rainforest mammals that look like a cross between a monkey and a raccoon.
She named one of them Baby Luv and carried it around like an accessory.
The cute factor took a hit when Baby Luv bit Hilton’s arm badly enough in 2006 to require a tetanus shot at the hospital.
Despite the injury, Hilton kept the animal afterward, proving that even a trip to the emergency room wasn’t enough to change her mind about exotic pets.
Nicolas Cage’s Deadly Snakes
Cage reportedly paid $276,000 for two albino king cobras that he named Moby and Sheba.
These snakes pack venom potent enough to kill a person, and Cage apparently told interviewers that he genuinely felt like they were plotting his demise.
He eventually relinquished the cobras in 2010 after neighbors complained about safety concerns, which seems like a pretty reasonable reaction to having deadly snakes living next door.
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Leonardo DiCaprio’s Ancient Tortoise
DiCaprio shelled out $400 for a Sulcata tortoise at a 2010 reptile expo in Anaheim, which seems reasonable until you realize these things can live for 80 years or more.
The tortoise was already about 10 years old when he bought it, meaning it could easily outlive him.
DiCaprio has been photographed walking his tortoise on a leash through city streets, which has to be one of the slower celebrity pet walks in history.
Michael Jackson’s Famous Chimpanzee
Bubbles the chimpanzee might be the most famous celebrity pet of all time.
Jackson brought Bubbles everywhere—to dinner, to bed, even on tour.
The chimp allegedly ate at the table with Jackson and slept in his bedroom.
Eventually, Bubbles grew too large and strong to safely live with humans, which is what happens with all chimpanzees as they mature.
He’s been living at the Center for Great Apes in Florida since 2005, probably living a much calmer life than he did during his pop star days.
Elvis Presley’s Troublemaking Chimp
Elvis owned a chimpanzee named Scatter who wore custom suits and ties like a tiny person.
Scatter drank whiskey, tore up rooms, and had a notorious habit of lifting up women’s dresses, which Elvis apparently found hilarious.
The chimp’s behavior eventually spiraled so out of control that he once destroyed producer Samuel Goldwyn’s office and had to be escorted out by security.
Scatter ended up confined to a special room at Graceland, where his anger and aggression only got worse before he died around 1960 or 1961.
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Megan Fox’s Pot-Bellied Pig
Fox assembled quite the menagerie at one point, including five dogs, two cats, two birds, a squirrel, and a pot-bellied pig named Piggie Smalls.
She posted adorable photos cuddling with the pig on Instagram, making it look like the perfect pet situation.
Unfortunately, Fox confirmed she rehomed Piggie Smalls in 2012 when he started displaying aggressive behavior, which is apparently a thing that happens with pigs as they mature and assert dominance.
Vanilla Ice’s Escaped Wallaroo
The rapper owned a wallaroo named Bucky Buckaroo, which is a cross between a wallaby and a kangaroo.
Bucky lived at Vanilla Ice’s Florida home alongside a pet goat named Pancho.
Both animals managed to escape in 2013, leading to what must have been a pretty interesting chase scene through the neighborhood.
Florida authorities reported that both animals were returned safely, though keeping Australian marsupials in Florida seems like it was asking for trouble.
Reese Witherspoon’s Noisy Donkeys
Witherspoon owns two miniature donkeys named Honky and Tonky that she purchased back in 2010 for her California property.
While she describes them as docile and sweet, her neighbors apparently have a different opinion about the situation.
Donkeys can be surprisingly loud, especially when they decide to bray at odd hours.
Witherspoon still owns them today along with her pigs, goats, chickens, and a pony, essentially running a small farm in an area where that’s not exactly common.
Salvador Dalí’s Restaurant Companion
The surrealist artist owned an ocelot named Babou, which is basically a small wild cat that looks like a mini jaguar.
Dalí took Babou everywhere throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including to fancy Manhattan restaurants where the cat would sit beside him during meals.
When one diner complained about having a wild animal near her dinner table, Dalí allegedly told her it was just a painted house cat.
According to his biographer Stan Lauryssens, the woman apparently believed him, which says something about both Dalí’s persuasiveness and the tolerance of fancy restaurant staff.
Audrey Hepburn’s Bonded Fawn
While filming Green Mansions in 1958, Hepburn ended up adopting a fawn nicknamed Ip.
Animal trainer Ralph Helfer suggested she take the deer home so they could bond properly for the film.
The arrangement worked beautifully, with multiple photos showing Hepburn and Ip together.
Unlike most entries on this list, this one actually seemed like a sweet situation where both the human and animal benefited from the relationship.
Kirstie Alley’s Lemur Collection
Alley didn’t just own one or two lemurs—she had around 14 of them that she kept in Los Angeles with professional keepers.
She reportedly hired two full-time staff members just to care for the lemurs, at a cost of $40,000 to $50,000 per year, which she confirmed in 2020 interviews.
Alley once tried to sneak one of her lemurs onto a plane by pretending it was a cat, which is bold considering lemurs and cats look nothing alike.
She also kept various other exotic animals including monkeys and wild birds, for which she needed special licenses.
Tom Felton’s Backstage Chinchilla
The Harry Potter actor got a pet chinchilla named Stanley when he was 12 years old.
What made Stanley unusual wasn’t the species itself—chinchillas can make decent pets—but the fact that Felton brought him to the Harry Potter set regularly throughout much of the filming period.
Behind-the-scenes footage shows young Felton with his fluffy companion, proving that even on one of the biggest film sets in the world, he wanted his pet nearby.
Tippi Hedren’s Big Cat Sanctuary
The actress famous for Hitchcock’s The Birds actually preferred much larger animals.
Hedren kept 27 lions and tigers at her property, and she even shared her bed with a lion named Neil.
Her daughter Melanie Griffith was badly mauled by one of the lions around 1977 during filming of the movie Roar, which used Hedren’s own big cats, requiring about 50 stitches for facial reconstruction.
Hedren later admitted that having a lion in her house was ‘stupid beyond belief,’ and in 1983 she founded the Shambala Preserve in California as a proper wildlife sanctuary that still operates today.
When Fame Meets the Wild Side
This pattern is fairly obvious: what begins as a cute photo opportunity frequently turns into a costly lesson learned, an animal being seized, or someone getting bitten.
The majority of these exotic pets were placed in zoos, sanctuaries, or other suitable settings where they could truly flourish.
Most of the time, the celebrities had the best of intentions, but that doesn’t change the fact that wild animals require unique habitats that even mansions and limitless funds can’t provide.
Nowadays, the majority of well-known people only own dogs and cats, which is probably better for everyone.
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