When you are a major Hollywood celebrity you are exposed as a person. Your fame makes you a target of adulation, and a also a hate figure for some. Whilst that hate and anger may surface as online trolling, sometimes it gets serious. The following celebrities have all received death threats, which have made them fear not only for their own lives but also for their families...

In 2012 ‘KUWTK’ star Kim Kardashian shared -then deleted- a supporting message to Israel on her Twitter account, following a series of attacks that had taken place in Jerusalem. A brief line posted by Kim which read “praying for everyone in Israel” made dozens of followers upset, some of which responded with anti-Semitic messages as well as death threats, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

For her own protection, country music star Miranda Lambert admitted to “carrying a weapon” during a 2012 interview with Self magazine. She made that decision following a death threat she got a few years prior, which “really scared” her.

In 2011, Justin Bieber fans got quite mad after some cosy and romantic pics of the Canadian pop star along with Selena Gomez surfaced. She had to deal with uncountable messages on her Twitter account, including some death threats if she happened to “break Justin’s heart” or “be Bieber’s girlfriend”, which were published by USA Today at the time.

‘Love, Victor’ star Michael Cimino received death threats due to his series’ character, who is a guy struggling in terms of sexual orientation. During an interview with Attitude, Cimino himself detailed that although he had received “homophobic comments, death threats, which is horrible”.

In 1999, MTV reported that the Queen of Pop and her daughter Lourdes were carefully escorted by police officers at London’s Heathrow Airport. The reason? British Airways airline reported they had received a call threatening the ‘Vogue’ hitmaker’s life.

In 2010 ‘Two and a Half Men’ star told authorities he felt his life was in danger, according to TMZ. The actor pointed fingers to his ex-wife, admitting he believed she had hired someone to kill him. They had been involved in a long legal battle in regards of the custody of the son they share. She told TMZ she was unaware of any possible threat against him.

In 2012, E! News confirmed that Halle Berry filed a request in family court, with the hope of being able to move to France with daughter Nahla. Berry’s request came after learning that a man who stalked and threatened her life in the past had escaped a mental institution.

In 2011, it was reported that late-night TV legend David Letterman had received a death threat from a Muslim militant who urged their followers to end his life. This was confirmed by an American monitoring intelligence group, which revealed that the cause was a joke about the death of an Al-Qaeda leader made by Letterman. Later on David himself made reference to the threat on his show, describing his audience as a “human shield”.

The 'Harry Potter' author made a Twitter post about the attack of author Salman Rushdie, who was left severely injured after he was stabbed in the neck, face, and abdomen at least 10 times as he was about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. Saying the stabbing had made her feel "very sick", Rowling then followed up the post with a screen shot from a follower which read "don’t worry, you are next".

Former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger received a terrifying death threat when she voted to eliminate a pop star hopeful on the US version of 'The X Factor. Nicole admitted the threat "kind of ruined her” to the extent of not wanting to leave her hotel room.