40 Celebrities We Didn’t Realize Had FBI Files On Them
The FBI is known to have gotten up to some shady things over the years. But one of the bureau’s favorite activities seems to have been spying on A-list celebrities. From Marilyn Monroe to Steve Jobs, the law enforcement agency has kept tabs on some of the biggest and most influential names in the world. Here, we take a look at 40 of them…
1. Muhammad Ali
Headed by J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI stood against the civil rights movement. That meant boxer Muhammad Ali, one of the most influential people of this era, was perceived as a threat. As Sonoma State University professor Michael Ezra told Reuters in 2016, “Ali was an important symbol to the civil rights movement, a galvanizing force, and him running around free was a problem for the FBI.” So, the agency kept a close eye on his activities.
2. Frank Sinatra
Legions of fans followed Frank Sinatra’s life and career with fervent interest — and so did the FBI. Sinatra’s alleged connections to the mob are well-known, even though he denied any involvement with the underworld. Yet his meetings with gangsters are well-documented. So, for four long decades, the agency tracked the crooner’s movements and interactions.
3. Liz Taylor
Following a bunch of Freedom of Information requests in 2011 the FBI published its dossier on the actress Elizabeth Taylor. The late superstar, it seems, had been the focus of blackmail attempts, as blogger Michael Petrelis explained after seeing the files. He wrote, “The records reveal she was subjected to extortion threats over several decades, and that the agents investigated who and how the threats were made.”
4. The Monkees
When the Monkees released their debut single “Last Train to Clarksville” in 1966 they found instant success. Not many people realized at the time, though, that the song was actually a subtle objection to the war in Vietnam. One organization that did take note, though, was the FBI, which started collecting information on the band. As of September 2022, the final living Monkee, Micky Dolenz, has instigated legal proceedings in the hope of seeing what exactly was in the FBI files.
