Are there artists/authors/actors/musicians etc whose private life behaviour/interviews sours your enjoyment of what they produce?

[Earlybird]

Know that title is awkwardly worded, but hopefully the meaning is clear....

I'll start and say (fairly or not):

Hugh Grant - public persona too miserable for him to be believable in comedic/romantic roles
Salman Rushdie - not interested after the hoopla around his fatwah
Pete Doherty - no desire to hear his music
George Michael - sordid escapades leave me cold
Marco Pierre White - no interest in his restaurants after tabloid dirty laundry

I didn't enjoy the work of Chris Langham to start with. I thought The Thick of It was rubbish and I haven't seen him in much else, at least he hasn't been noticeable to me in anything else.

As for time making a difference, yes, I think it does. If someone you admired were charged and found guilty of murder would you still admire them? Probably not, as it's all very close. Give it a few hundred years and it won't matter how they behaved as it's too far removed. Of course they'll only be remembered if their works are good enough.

the pete doherty thing is unfortunate, as yes he is a twunt, but the first Libertines album was great. you have to be into indie style stuff to begin with to 'get' it, tho.

Courtney Love -another loser, but she did put out a couple of very good grunge albums before she lost it completely.

michael hutchence - inxs, it's awful but his death was described so graphically in the press it's really ruined his music for me. i wish i could separate the two things in my mind as it's not a very nice way to remember someone.