Whether on the silver screen or the big screen, on the field or onstage, fame breeds feuds. And that was true long before social media jabs became commonplace between celebrity rivals. Here are some of the nastiest and most notorious squabbles of the rich and famous.
At their respective peaks, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis were the biggest stars in Tinseltown — and had one of the biggest feuds Hollywood has ever seen. The tiff was originally sparked by jealousy but ignited over a man: actor Franchot Tone. Davis fell in love with Tone when they filmed “Dangerous” together, but he fell for Crawford instead, and the two married. (Although their union lasted only a couple of years, the pair remained close.)
Davis and Crawford later found themselves working at Warner Bros. competing for the same roles, and their animosity grew. In 1962, the two actresses starred in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” playing warring sisters, and their pettiness on set was nothing short of iconic. Davis had a Coca-Cola machine installed in her dressing room because Crawford’s husband at the time was the CEO of Pepsi. When it came time for Davis to drag Crawford across the floor for one of their scenes, Crawford filled her pockets with rocks to make it more difficult.
As two of the most prominent females in rap, Cardi B. and Nicki Minaj have been pitted against each other. Their conflict goes back to 2017, when Cardi released her first hit single, “Bodak Yellow,” and fans began comparing her to Minaj. It started with disses snuck into the lyrics of both rappers and gradually moved to digs at each other during interviews. Things came to a nasty head in September 2018 at Harper’s Bazaar's New York Fashion Week party. In a confrontation between the two, Cardi removed one of her red heels and hurled it at Minaj, who wasn’t hit thanks to her security guard.
Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds were both Hollywood royalty during the 1950s and they were best friends, too — the two actresses went to high school together. When Taylor’s husband, director Mike Todd, was tragically killed in a plane crash, it was Reynolds’ husband, Mike Fisher, who Taylor chose to lean on. One night, Reynolds called Taylor’s hotel room and Fisher answered the phone, revealing their affair. "I could hear her voice asking him who was calling — they were obviously in bed together,” Reynolds told The Daily Mail. “I yelled at him, 'Roll over, darling, and let me speak to Elizabeth.” Their falling out lasted more than a decade, until the actresses decided to put the past behind them, cementing their legendary friendship when they starred together in the TV movie “These Old Broads,” which was written by Fisher and Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher. Appropriately, in the movie, Taylor’s character steals Reynolds’ character’s husband.
The tension between sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland wasn’t your average, run-of-the-mill sibling rivalry. They were born just 15 months apart and, as the oldest, de Havilland was the first to burst onto the scene during Hollywood’s Golden Age. When Fontaine tried to get into the business herself, their mother wouldn’t let her use their last name, so she took her stepfather’s last name instead. Both sisters went on to have successful film careers but spent several years not speaking to each other and never restored their bond.
The Rock and Vin Diesel have never been chummy, despite working together on multiple movies for the “Fast & Furious” franchise. While fans were in the dark on the feud for a while, the animosity was brought to light when Johnson shared a since-deleted post on Instagram in which he revealed his dislike of a male costar, adding, “When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling — you’re right.” He later admitted that while he stood by his comments, he wishes he would have kept the feud private and off social media. More recently, Diesel himself took to Instagram to try to convince Johnson to join the final movie of the franchise. Johnson wasn’t swayed and confirmed he wouldn’t be returning for the finale.
It was the mic grab heard 'round the world when Kanye West famously interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Then 19-year-old Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video for her song “You Belong With Me” with a sweet-as-pie speech when Kanye West jumped on stage, snatched the mic out of her hands, and said, “Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time ... one of the best videos of all time!” The cringeworthy moment sparked permanent animosity between the two musicians.
Socialite BFFs Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton had a goofy friendship that was documented on their show “The Simple Life.” The pair were inseparable — until they suddenly weren’t anymore. Rumors were swirling that when Hilton didn’t invite Richie to her “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig, Richie supposedly screened her bestie’s sex tape at a party, although that was never confirmed. Hilton cryptically told People magazine, “It’s no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends. Nicole knows what she did, and that’s all I’m ever going to say about it.” The falling out wasn’t permanent, though. The friends ultimately reconciled.
If Michael Jordan was the Batman of the Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippen was his Robin. Together, they played eight seasons and won six NBA titles. The duo was a true power pairing and even after their basketball careers were behind them, the two supported one another during Hall of Fame inductions, through their personal lives, and in front of the press. But everything seemed to take a nosedive with ESPN’s 10-part docuseries “The Last Dance,” which chronicled Jordan’s final season with the Bulls. Pippen was interviewed for the documentary and wasn’t portrayed in a way he was happy about. The year after “The Last Dance” was released, Pippen responded with his memoir “Unguarded,” riddled with plenty of shade about Jordan and claims that he ruined the entire game of basketball. Former teammate Charles Oakley even told People magazine that he didn’t think the two basketball greats would ever speak again.
Before Leno and Letterman, Johnny Carson was the face of late-night TV. He hosted “The Tonight Show” for almost 30 years before announcing his retirement. At that time, David Letterman hosted his own after-hours talk show “The David Letterman Show,” which aired right after “The Tonight Show.” Letterman figured he would get the coveted 11:30 time slot and take over “The Tonight Show” upon Carson’s departure, but instead, Jay Leno was brought in as his replacement. Letterman was irate and left NBC to create “The Late Show With David Letterman” on CBS, which aired at the same time as “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”
It all started when one of 50 Cent’s friends robbed Ja Rule at gunpoint. Even though 50 Cent had nothing to do with the robbery, Ja Rule took issue with him over the ordeal and two decades of beef ensued. In recent years, however, the feud has become more comical. In late 2019, 50 Cent bought out the first four rows of a Ja Rule concert so the rapper would have to perform to a bunch of empty seats. 50 Cent told Stephen Colbert that he found the tickets for $15 on Groupon, so he dropped $3,000 to clear the front rows. “Now you gotta test your showmanship,” he said. “When you come in and nobody’s in the front seats, you gotta still perform like everyone’s there!”
Musicians Tommy Lee and Kid Rock were each married to Pamela Anderson at different points, and the two absolutely hated each other. They continually clashed for five years, with Rock recounting an incident during his divorce from Anderson where Lee took her phone and sent him some disrespectful text messages. The next time Rock saw Lee was at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. And instead of saying, “Hello,” Rock decked Lee right in the face and received a misdemeanor citation.
In comments reported on PerezHilton after a radio show interview discussing the punch, Rock said, “This was unavoidable. I had to do what I had to do because this was a long time coming. You know, I came back from the bathroom and he was sitting right there. It was even more disrespectful after everything he’s said. I was like, that’s enough, that’s it.” For his part, Lee wrote on his website, “Here I am minding my own biz [when] I get a tap on the shoulder from Kid Pebble. ... I stand up and embrace him with a semi hug and say 'Hey dude ... What up'?? He punches me in the face ... well if ya wanna call it that!?” The Anderson ex-husbands have yet to hug it out 15 years later.
What wasn’t to love about sweet and hilarious Betty White? It’s hard to believe that anyone could have a problem with her, but her “Golden Girls” co-star Bea Arthur certainly did. White knew it, too. She admitted that she was aware Arthur didn’t like her happy, upbeat personality and that it angered her onscreen BFF to see how bubbly she was with other people, especially the studio audience. And when White was the first “Golden Girl” to win an Emmy, that made Arthur’s anger boil over.
