20 Documentaries That Ruined People's Lives

Airing out the dirty laundry never goes well! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at documentary films or docuseries that resulted in strong negative effects on the lives of their filmmakers, subjects, or participants. Our countdown includes documentaries “The Woman Who Wasn't There”, “Blues by the Beach”, "Tiger King" and more! Do you feel bad for these individuals? Let us know in the comments below!

Check out these other documentary themed videos:

Become a channel member to get access to special perks:

Have your idea become a video!

Subscribe for more great content!

Visit our shop for awesome merch!

Your trusted authority for Top 10 lists, reviews, tips and tricks, biographies, origins, and entertainment news

#documentaries #ruined #scandal #controversial #netflix #docs

[WatchMojo]

Do you feel bad for these individuals? Let us know in the comments below!

[HoneyBee-vbbb]

no, R Kelly ruined his own life by being a vile predator

[leah-yv]

Calling a six year old a "beauty queen" is so uncomfortable.

[pressplayulysses]

Some of these documentaries didn't ruin the subject's life.

Some of the subjects themselves ruined their own lives.

[garylefevers]

R Kelly destroyed not only his own life, but the lives or those poor unfortunate survivors who will never truly get over their ordeal. I pray that they, and others like them get the professional help that they need. God bless them.

[heathersmith]

Going Clear about escaping Scientology ruined his life because of the unethical practices of Scientology itself. Fair Game is a real thing.

[Sebastian-Miles]

Honourable mention goes to Benedict Cumberbatch for not being able to say the word ‘Penguin’. He’s been scarred for life

[catsmeow]

The police in the Jon Benet Ramsey case were absolutely incompetent. Just a 5min drive from where she was killed, another little girl was attacked & raped in her own home. It was a girl who ran in some of the same circles as Jon Benet. The cops threw away the bedding with the assailant's DNA. They destroyed evidence and refused to look for outside suspects or do a bare minimum investigation. I personally suspect her killer was in law enforcement and the cops covered it up. There were signs that a stun gun had been used on her. I felt bad for Burke. I almost lost all respect for Jim Clemente (former FBI BAU agent) for his part in that misleading documentary.

[GonzoHenson]

I doubt Carole Baskin fed her husband to tigers. I DO believe, however, that MORE people ought to be fed to tigers and I have started a list of names.

[bwines]

A lot/most of these are more along the lines of “documentaries that covered people who ruined their own lives”.

[CamFraser]

Anyone who has seen Jesus Camp would not lose any sleep over that doc ruining people's lives.

[saf]

The Burke Ramsay one is saddest to me. He lost his sister and was subject to that whole media circus when he was just a little boy. Then his mom died of cancer. He’s been through so many tragedies. Yeah, he was a bit awkward and nervous in the Dr. Phil interview, but I think any normal person would feel anxious in that scenario. Apparently Burke sued the pants off the people who made the documentary, and I’m so glad he did, but no amount of money is worth being publicly accused of a vicious crime you didn’t commit.

[prettygirl]

R Kelly had been doing his crimes for decades. People knew and still let him do what wanted. The documentary made people look and pay attention. There was no more denying it or overlooking it.

[AintImRite]

00:00 2006 Jesus Camp
01:18 2014 Tales of the Grim Sleeper
02:16 2016 Tickled
03:25 2012 Kony
04:32 2012 Woman Who Wasn't There
05:39 2019 Surviving R. Kelly
06:50 2003 Living with MJ
07:48 2004 Blues by the Beach
08:35 1922 Nanook of the North
09:28 2013 Blackfish
10:25 2020 Tiger King
11:36 2016 Jon Benet Ramsey
12:53 2007 The King of Kong...
14:07 2015 Making a Murderer
15:10 2015 Going Clear: Scientology...
16:30 2017 The Show About the Show
17:31 2003 Overnight
18:35 2004 The Staircase
19:41 2013 The Square
21:00 2015 The Jinx

[suzannecooke]

Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard is a noteworthy Science Fiction writer. But somehow, I picture hum in a bar one night with cronies telling them "I bet I can invent a religion that will make even celebrities shower me with money." His crew laughed, but he had the last laugh.

[ygbgforever]

Surviving R Kelly was horrifying and disturbing, I had a nightmare after watching it

[Rebelwithacause]

I think some of those documentaries were good, exposing people like r Kelly who were hurting people, or that lady who lied about being at the wtc on 9/11.

[stephaniemccullough]

The blame is totally misplaced for most of these documentaries. Its not the documentaries that ruined the majority of these people's lives, it's their actions that ruined their own lives. This is the consequence of their actions 🤷‍♀️

[mariapdr]

Netflix has a lot of problematic documentaries. They need to do a lot more fact checking what they present because while I only found out about factual errors later in some, I did notice a lot of mistakes in some historical documentaries, so I wasn’t surprised.

[cedgson]

Tickling is a form of torture and potentially caused a lot of trauma esp as a kid. The tickled program sounds awful