Scandal-Linked Ladies Who Brought Down Powerful Men

Today is the birthday of Donna Rice — one of Asylum’s favorite real-life femme fatales. Though she has spent most of the last two decades as an anti-porn advocate, the world will always remember Rice as the fresh-faced party girl who was photographed sitting on Gary Hart’s lap as he wore a T-shirt sporting the fitting slogan “Monkey Business Crew.”

Before the rumors of Hart’s affair with Rice broke, the Colorado senator was the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in the 1988 presidential election. After, Hart became a sad example of what can happen to a politician who thinks with the wrong head.

To celebrate Rice’s birthday, Asylum has put together a compilation of scandal-linked ladies who contributed to the downfall of prominent men. We’d like to think they made it worth it to lose everything.