I want to describe someone who has a **bad reputation** and tends to **make people talk about him** (in a bad way) because of how he behaves, before saying that he's actually passionate and kind. Overall, he simply gets badmouthed a lot because of his strong behaviour.

If possible, I'd like an adjective.

I was thinking of something alone the lines of **scandalous**, but in a less pejorative way. Would **badmouthed** be idiomatic?

**Context**: 

> This allowed us to meet Jean, notoriously **[adjective]** person, who actually turned out to be quite kind and invested.

How would you go about this one?

Thanks in advance!

**Edit:**  I think **disreputable** fits the description, but it might be too much to describe someone that is in fact a great person, and I wouldn't want my wording to worsen his reputation. In the end, the person I'm describing could be one of the readers of the piece I'm writing.