Ashton Kutcher Hopes ‘People Can Forgive and Forget’ Scandals Amid Acting Comeback in ‘The Beauty’

Ashton Kutcher is hoping for a comeback with his role in Ryan Murphy’s FX TV series The Beauty after losing his cachet in Hollywood over his friendships with Danny Masterson and Sean “Diddy” Combs, sources say.

“Back in the day Ashton was a huge player in Hollywood, landing one role after another,” an insider says.

“Now he’s pinning all his hopes on his new series to put him back in the spotlight. He hopes people can forgive and forget the shameful things he’s been involved in over the years.”

Now 47, Kutcher first found fame portraying clueless casanova Michael Kelso in Fox’s That ’70s Show, which ran from 1998 to 2006. The sitcom was also where he met Mila Kunis, who he married in 2015 — two years after divorcing The Substance’s Demi Moore.

The Dude, Where’s My Car? stud has a reported net worth of $200 million built from acting paydays and savvy business investments. But sources claim the What Happens in Vegas hunk is hankering to recapture his star status.

Yet sources say both Kutcher and Kunis, 42, became radioactive to Tinseltown pals after lending support to That ’70s Show costar Masterson following his 2023 conviction for raping two women. The high-profile pair wrote letters pleading for leniency ahead of Masterson’s sentence hearing, in which the monster was shipped to the slammer for 30 years.

Afterward, remorseful Kutcher called their letters for Masterson an “error in judgment” as he resigned from the board for Thorn, the anti-child sex abuse organization he cofounded.

Kutcher also came under fire for his friendship with hip-hop honcho Combs after the rapper was arrested under suspicion of forcing women to engage in drug-fueled orgies known as “freak offs.”

Combs was cleared of sex trafficking but convicted on prostitution-related offenses and sentenced to 50 months. But critics note that Kutcher was silent during the music mogul’s 2025 trial.

While Kutcher has been busily posting promos on Instagram, followers are reportedly refusing to forgive and forget gaffes such as the Punk’d host saying in a 2008 episode that 15-year-old Hilary Duff is “one of the girls that we’re all waiting for to turn 18.”