Celebs' MTV Cribs secrets that were admitted years after the show aired

Just imagine it: it's 2004, you've just got back from school, and you've crashed out on the sofa with a large bag of Cheetos ready for that week's episode of MTV Cribs.

Back in the day, celebrity agents were reportedly fighting to get their clients on the hit TV show. Nowadays, the idea of voluntarily showing everyone where you live and the inside of your home is most famous people's worst nightmare – unless you're a Kardashian, that is.

Some of the biggest names of the noughties were on MTV Cribs. From 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, Nelly, and Robbie Williams, to JoJo, Snoop Dogg, Dita Von Teese, and Shaquille O'Neal.

And, of course, they'd always open their door with the iconic line 'Hey MTV, welcome to my crib' – a quote many millennials, myself included, still use to this day.

In a world before social media, MTV Cribs gave people insight into some of the lives of world's most famous people that we'd never seen before... but was it all really as it seemed?

Reflecting on how stars were eventually dying to get on the show following its early success, Darryl E. Smith, the director of photography on MTV Cribs, told the Washington Post in 2020: "The best way to explain it is, there was a shift.

"The agents and the celebrities found out that, 'If I’m on Cribs my stock goes up.' It became integral to somebody’s career. 'You’re not on Cribs? How come you ain’t on Cribs?'"

In an interview that marked the show's 20th anniversary, he went on to tell the newspaper that the show got so big that stars would try scam their way on by renting a property that wasn't actually their own.

Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams pretended that someone else's castle was his on Cribs (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

'Angels' hitmaker Robbie Williams borrowed a castle from Wedding Crashers star Jane Seymour and passed it off as his own (and didn't tell her that was his plan).

"We didn’t let her know that I was going to pretend it was my house," he said, as per The Sun.

"And because I was like 23 and full of spunk, I didn’t even consider other people’s thoughts or feelings, so I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Jane Seymour."

He even hired butlers to serve him while filming took place.

JoJo

JoJo admitted that the house you saw her in on Cribs was actually her uncle's (Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, pop singer JoJo admitted that the Cape Cod house she was seen in on her episode of Cribs in 2004 wasn't hers, but her uncle's.

"The thing is, we didn’t have a home at that point," the singer said to Huffington Post in 2015.

"My mom and I were living out of suitcases and we were mostly in hotels. So that was actually my uncle’s house, on the Cape. That wasn’t my house."

Ja Rule

JaRule landed himself in some legal troubles following his Cribs appearance (Joy Malone/Getty Images)

It's been reported that JaRule rented a property in Miami to pass off as his own on Cribs. He then proceeded to throw a huge party with 600 guests, all of which was caught on camera by MTV.

While the episode went on to become one of Cribs' most memorable, the rapper landed himself in hot water after the property owner sued him breaching the lease agreement, citing unauthorized filming and severe property damage.

Both he and MTV were sued for $1,000,000 and went on to agree a settlement out of court – the details of which were never made public.

3LW

Girl group 3LW were on the iconic MTV show too (George Chinsee/Penske Media via Getty Images)

The girl group claimed that they lived together when their Cribs episode was filmed, but this too was all a ruse.

Speaking on The Breakfast Club radio show in 2021, Power actress Naturi Naughton revealed: "MTV did the Cribs and back when 3LW was hot, we had to pretend.

"But I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have any of those things."