Remember When These People Were the Most Fascinating?

Recently re-elected President Bill Clinton took the top spot that year on Barbara's list, but Kerri Strug also made the cut. The small-but-mighty gymnast became a national hero thanks to her final vault on an injured leg at the Atlanta Games. It won Team USA a gold medal and Kerri a place in American sports history.

Kathie Lee joined Regis Philbin in 1988, and their morning-TV run lasted until 2000. In 1997, she was at the height of her popularity — and also infamy. She had been accused of using a sweatshop for her clothing line, and reports of her husband Frank Gifford's affair with a flight attendant captured the media's attention.

Calista rose to fame in 1998 thanks to her titular role on Fox's Ally McBeal. Remember that skirt? Or the dancing baby? That year she won a Golden Globe and was also on the cover of Time magazine next to Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedman, and Gloria Steinem with the headline: "Is Feminism Dead?" "Want to know what today's chic young feminist thinkers care about?" the subhead asked. "Their bodies! Themselves!" Speaking of bodies, during this time Calista's weight was the subject of much media attention.

On May 30, 1998, Ginger Spice shocked the world by announcing she was leaving the Spice Girls. The singer cited depression and differences with the other Spices for the reason behind the split, which came right ahead of their North American tour. Scary, Baby, Sporty, and Posh continued without her, but they also released the "Viva Forever" video that included Geri.

He was nearly 50. She was only 22. He was a powerful man who should have known better. She was just an intern. Yet no one seems to remember Bill Clinton's indiscretions in the Oval Office, while Monica Lewinsky's name is forever connected to the sex scandal. The news broke in January 1998, and that month in a news conference, Clinton said: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." But finally on Aug. 17, Clinton admitted to the affair. And by September, Kenneth Starr released a detailed report about the illicit affair.

By 2002, it seemed like everyone's mom, aunt, or uncle was on the low-carb, high-fat, and high-protein Atkins Diet. That year, the nutritionist behind the diet, Robert Atkins, also had a heart attack, which some critics blamed on his diet. He defended it, pointing to a chronic infection as the cause of the cardiac arrest.

While Ozzy Osbourne's band Black Sabbath was popular in the '70s, the rocker became relevant again in 2002 thanks to his family's groundbreaking reality show. The Osbournes debuted in March and made celebrities out of Ozzy's kids Jack and Kelly and his wife, Sharon. It also made America very familiar with Ozzy's colorful language.

That's hot. In December 2003, Paris Hilton's reality show The Simple Life debuted on the tail of her sex tape, setting up 2004 to be a big year for her. The heiress, who was also dating Nick Carter that year, was the dumb blonde everyone loved to laugh at. She used that to her advantage, too, releasing a book in the Fall of 2004 and setting herself up as a bankable brand.

Remember Desperate Housewives? Everyone did in 2005, the same year Teri won a Golden Globe for her role as Susan Mayer. Teri had officially broken out of her '90s role as Lois Lane.

Swimmer Michael Phelps had a record-breaking year in 2008, becoming the American face of the Beijing Olympics. Soon after the Summer games, Michael and his abs became bona fide celebrities, and the media began to care about his personal life as well.

In 2008, Lady Gaga was still playing in small clubs. But thanks to her slow-growing hit "Just Dance," she and her increasingly outrageous outfits captured the zeitgeist.