2012 Year in Review: The Top 10 Celebrity Searches

Getty ImagesAs 2012 draws to a close, it seems that, yet again, this was a year of fascinating celebrities. Yahoo! Canada users couldn’t get enough of their favourite (and not-so-favourite) famous people, and took to their computers to find out as much as they could about them. Take a look at the most-searched celebrities from the last year, determined by Yahoo! Canada search results.

Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan’s team insists that her big “comeback” is due any time now, but we’re still waiting. That doesn’t stop the 25-year-old actress from being a regular in the tabloids though, from her many car accidents, to reports that a judge will revoke her probation for lying about the car accidents, to her nearly universally panned performance in the made-for-TV Elizabeth Taylor biopic, “Liz & Dick.” It’s hard to believe that “Mean Girls” came out less than a decade ago.

Britney Spears
The end of 2011 seems to indicate an upswing for Britney Spears’ mercurial life, as the pop star announced her engagement to longtime boyfriend Jason Trawick – and certainly, 2012 has been very kind to the “Oops!... I Did It Again” singer. Having joined Simon Cowell’s U.S. version of “The X Factor” as a judge, Spears is back in the spotlight – in a good way this time. Although there are now rumblings that her engagement to Trawick is on the rocks, at least nobody is expecting her to shave her head again.

Jennifer Lawrence
The 22-year-old actress is skyrocketing to the top of the A-list, thanks to her starring turn in the box office smash “The Hunger Games” (with the sequel due out in 2013), and she’s also receiving plenty of Oscar buzz around her performance as a depressed widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.” Considering Lawrence already has an Oscar nomination under her belt (for the 2010 drama “Winter’s Bone”), the young ingénue likely isn’t going away any time soon.

Jennifer Aniston
If 2012 did one good thing for Jennifer Aniston, it was getting Justin Theroux to propose to her. Sure, we’re happy she found happiness and blah blah blah, but really, we’re just glad to see the end of all the “Will Jen ever find love?!” magazine covers and gossip items. Still, people will always be fascinated with Aniston’s personal life for one reason or another, so we’ll be bombarded with articles about her upcoming wedding soon enough.

Miley Cyrus
She’s only just turned 20, but Miley Cyrus is already a massively successful recording artist, a famous actress, and now, a fiancée. After dating Australian actor Liam Hemsworth for three years, the young starlet accepted his proposal in June 2012. To Cyrus’ credit, she’s dismissed claims that she’s too young for such commitment and is just doing what’s right for her – and, she admits, she likely won’t get married for a while, since she wants to focus on recording her next album.

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake
Good for Jessica Biel for hanging in there, because there were some who doubted Timberlake would ever want to get married to anyone – even someone as beautiful as Biel. And, sure enough, the couple broke up for a few months in 2011 before reuniting. But ultimately, Biel’s patience and devotion were rewarded, as Timberlake proposed at the end of that year, and in October 2012, the couple was wedded in Italy, with Biel donning a gorgeous pink gown in lieu of the traditional white garb. So what if their honeymoon in Tanzania cost $5,715 a night? We’d say they deserve it.

Katie Holmes
Even Xenu was probably shocked when Katie Holmes announced her split from Scientology super star Tom Cruise in June after more than five years of marriage. It seemed as though Holmes shed her Scientology lifestyle immediately, moving herself and daughter Suri to New York City, registering with a Catholic church, and enrolling her offspring in a non-Scientology-based (but still very costly) private school. As a result, public opinion of Holmes has gone up considerably, and it’s not unfeasible that her show business career could now take off. Considering that two of Cruise’s other exes, Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz, went on to win Oscars after their breakups with the movie star, this might be the smartest move Holmes has ever made.

Rihanna and Chris Brown
After Chris Brown viciously assaulted Rihanna in 2009, it was understandable that many assumed the couple was permanently broken up. It was also understandable that many assume Rihanna would avoid interacting with Brown as much as possible for the rest of her life. But apparently, real life doesn’t follow that kind of logic, as 2012 saw Rihanna renew her friendship with Brown (she even hugged and kissed him at the MTV Video Music Awards), and rumours run rampant that the two have secretly begun dating again. The “Disturbia” singer has vaguely denied that she’s back together with Brown, but for most people, the fact that she’s even speaking to him at all is beyond shocking.

Christina Aguilera
Now that Christina Aguilera’s one of the starring judges on “The Voice,” she’s back in spotlight once again – much like Britney Spears and “The X Factor.” But while Spears seems to be simply enjoying her new gig with no sign of another album on the horizon, Aguilera is in full-on promotion mode, attempting to fight her way back to the top of the charts. Unfortunately for Aguilera, despite her high-profile “Voice” gig, her latest album seems to be struggling – “Lotus” debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard charts, even lower than her last album, “Bionic,” which was considered a flop at the time.

Lady Gaga
Gaga is still crossing the globe with her internationally successful tour, “The Born This Way Ball,” and fans and critics alike are still fascinated by her political statements and questionable fashion choice. Gaga was also the target of some negative attention in 2012 as the singer gained 25 lbs. – although she felt great about her appearance, many critics derided her for the weight gain. Regardless, it seems Gaga is immune to her critics and is happy just making music and connecting with her millions of fans.