EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood actor, NFL star and a top politician are among celebrities 'frantically calling up expensive damage limitation experts over the Ashley Madison hack'

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A Hollywood actor, an NFL star and a top politician are among dozens of celebrities frantically calling up pricey damage limitation experts over the Ashley Madison hack, sources tell Daily Mail Online.

Well-known figures in the entertainment, sport and political industries are apparently phoning up experts to help them manage their reputations out of fear they will be publicly outed as cheats.

Among these stars are an actor from a recent action film, a top NFL player, a TV drama actor and a TV reality star - all of whom are male, say the sources, who have insider knowledge on the matter.

A top politician in the South, a Coca Cola executive and a former West Coast politician are also reportedly seeking out help after the cheating 'site - which has some 37million users - was hacked.

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Fearful: A Hollywood actor, an NFL star and a top politician are among dozens of celebrities frantically calling up damage limitation experts over the Ashley Madison hack, sources tell Daily Mail Online (file picture)

Cheating site: Well-known figures in the entertainment, sport and political industries are apparently phoning up experts to help them manage their reputations out of fear they will be publicly outed as cheats (file image)

'One of the people is a top player in the NFL. And one executive works for Coca Cola,' one of the sources told Daily Mail Online exclusively. 'Another is a politician who ran a Southern state.' 

The second source added: 'One is a politician on the West Coast who is no longer active.' 

One of the reputation management companies to have been swamped with calls from panicked celebrities over the past few days is California-based Reputation Management Consultants.

The firm has received dozens of 'desperate calls' from 'some very famous and wealthy people'.

CEO Eric Schiffer told Daily Mail Online on Friday night: 'We've received unbelievably desperate calls from famous politicians, top celebrities and extremely wealthy executives freaking out.

'They have to quickly remove all ties to Ashley Madison and protect their online reputation. 

'We’ve never taken more calls or email inquiries in such a short time. 

'Lives are getting destroyed worldwide, and people are scared and don’t want to be next.'

He added that in just 24 hours, dozens of 'major players' called up the firm, which charges clients from between $10,000 and $100,000 per month to 'repair and protect their online reputations'. 

One of these celebrities was apparently so distraught about the possibility that his marriage would be destroyed if he was outed as a cheat that he cried down the phone line for five minutes.

All-time high: Eric Schiffer (pictured), CEO of Reputation Management Consultants in California, said his firm has 'received unbelievably desperate calls from famous politicians, top celebrities' and wealthy executives

Specialists: He said that in just 24 hours, dozens of 'major players' called up the firm (pictured: its website), which charges clients from between $10,000 and $100,000 a month to repair and protect their reputations

And another said he would be fearful for his life if his relatives found out about his actions.

'One of our clients is concerned about getting killed by his family members if he is found out,' Mr Schiffer told Daily Mail Online. 'It's crazy. We've never had so many celebrities call us in such a short space of time. It makes sense when you think about how many people are on [Ashley Madison].'

Mr Schiffer, who is also the chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based Patriarch Equity, said his reputation management company judges each potential client's case on an independent basis.

They ask questions such as 'is the client innocent?' and 'can their reputation be rebuilt?'.

And they do not take into account 'how famous or wealthy' the client is, he said.

Mr Schiffer said he would not take on Josh Duggar, if he contacted the firm, because the 19 Kids and Counting star's reputation has been 'destroyed' after he admitted to being a cheat.

Duggar labelled himself a 'hypocrite' after it was revealed he allegedly had been unfaithful to his wife, Anna, with whom he has four children.

Mr Schiffer also revealed that his company had previously been contacted by Dr Walker Palmer - the dentist who was globally condemned after killing Cecil the Lion in Africa - but denied to take him on as a client.

This was for ethical reasons - because his company does not agree with animal cruelty, he said.

Mr Schiffer, whose firm also caters for numerous Fortune 1000 companies, said that in the case of the Ashley Madison hack and subsequent data leak, some celebrities may never be found out.

Warning: Hackers from Impact Team recently dumped a load of data from Ashley Madison online. They said members should not have anonymity because they are 'cheating dirtbags' and deserve no such discretion'

This is because they likely used a little-known email address on the 'site - which they shared only with several friends - and neither their names nor credit cards were used to set up their account.

But he admitted: 'Eventually though, they perhaps will [be found out].'

Ashley Madison - on which, male users must buy credits to send messages - is used by nearly 40million cheating spouses globally, including celebrities, politicians and other high-profile figures. 

U.S. government employees with sensitive jobs in national security or law enforcement are among hundreds of federal workers to have been found using government networks to access and pay membership fees to the cheating site after users' details were leaked and circulated on 4chan.

The list includes at least two assistant U.S. attorneys, an information technology administrator in the White House's support staff, a Justice Department investigator, a division chief, and a government hacker and counter-terrorism employee at the Homeland Security Department.

Most unfaithful states of America: A new graph, constructed by an anonymous Reddit user, used the Ashley Madison data dump to show the state that spent the most money on the adultery website per capita

And the embarrassment doesn't end there. 

Married Joshua Cline, a former aide to state representatives Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat - who famously blew the whistle on their extra-marital affair - is on the list, Westmipolitics.com reports.

The website shows records purporting to be from the Ashley Madison leak showing Cline's name, address and membership details over three years. He has not commented on the report. 

Cline made headlines resigning over the affair between the two tea party representatives. 

The case attracted attention when Michigan House Rep. Courser was caught on tape concocting a fake sex scandal including himself and a fictional male prostitute to derail reports he and Gamrat had relations.

Cline claimed the affair prompted him to quit and publicly revealed that Gamrat's husband caught them in the act, ClickonDetroit reported.

Two Louisiana Republicans also admitted being members of the site before they were named. 

Many fake email addresses were registered to the infidelity site and it is possible that addresses were used by impostors as Ashley Madison never ran an email verification process. Complete credit card data and personal information are, however, less easy to blame on identity theft.

Avid Life, the parent company of Ashley Madison, released a statement calling the hackers criminals.  It added that law enforcement in both the U.S. and Canada is investigating.