From a cartoon with violent implications to behind-the-scenes fisticuffs! The drama
doesn't end when the cameras stop rolling, these celebs just love to hate each other.
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie famously starred together on the reality show The Simple Life,
on which the two multi-millionaire socialites lived like peasants in small-town America. It's
hard to confirm if jealousy was the catalyst for their eventual split, but what is clear is
that their friendship was effectively over when the show ended, at least for a while.
Allegedly, while Hilton was gearing up for her infamous Saturday Night Live hosting gig in 2005,
Richie screened a copy of Hilton's sex tape without her consent or knowledge,
although Richie denied the allegations. Hilton then said in a statement,
"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."
But now, it appears that these two have buried the hatchet,
as they trade compliments instead of barbs and get along like old times.
Star Trek veterans William Shatner and George Takei were allies on screen, but once the cameras
stopped rolling, all bets were off. The first time their beef went public reportedly coincided
with the release of Takei's 1994 autobiography To the Stars, in which he accused Shatner of giving
him a cold shoulder and changing scripts to give him a less prominent role. Then in 2008, Shatner
was upset when he wasn't invited to Takei's wedding. As he said in an interview at the time,
"It's so patently obvious that there is a psychosis
there. I don't know what his original thing about me was. I have no idea."
Then in his 2011 book Shatner Rules, the former Stark Trek leading man appeared to get to the
bottom of the issue when he claimed that Takei didn't want to "play second fiddle" to him. Then
when Shatner rocketed into space with Jeff Bezos in 2021, Takei mocked him, reportedly saying,
"He's boldly going where other people have gone before. He's a guinea pig."
"Oh, my!"
Was the media pitting rival supermodels Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell against each other,
or were they merely getting the scoop on a real fight? It appears to be a
"chicken or the egg" situation. While the media certainly hyped things up,
there was definitely some genuine tension between the two for years.
When Banks first hit the catwalk, she reportedly felt unwelcomed by Campbell,
though she's acknowledged that the press had a hand in increasing the
bad blood. As she admitted to People Magazine in 2019,
"I got to Paris, and it was very difficult. I did really well really fast,
but then the industry was saying, 'Oh, look out Naomi Campbell, sit your butt down!' It
wasn't fair to Naomi, but her response was ... to this day, I'm very scared of
her.' It was very difficult — like some of my lowest times of my life — dealing with that."
The two eventually made up on Banks' talk show, but the beef wasn't quite finished. In
a since-deleted 2020 Instagram post, Campbell shared an article from the website The Things
entitled "Here's Why Fans Are Starting to Think Tyra Banks Is The Real Mean Girl, Not Naomi
Campbell." They haven't come to blows, but it sure got Campbell's millions of followers talking.
"Last time I contacted Tyra, we are in a good friendship."
Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall's feud was never quite public enough to
grace the covers of tabloid rags. But Sex and the City fans certainly knew something
was amiss when Cattrall was missing from the 2021 HBO Max revival And Just Like That...
But it wasn't exactly a new development, nor an unexpected one for anyone who had been paying
close enough attention. The bad blood ran under the surface for years, though everyone involved
tried to keep things cool while the cameras were rolling. But in 2018, it all came undone.
After Cattrall's brother died, Parker sent condolences that
may not have been fully sincere. As Cattrall wrote on Instagram,
"I don't need your love or support at this tragic time [Sarah Jessica Parker] ... Let
me make this VERY clear [...] You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I'm writing
you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your 'nice girl' persona."
Bam Margera was one of the mainstays of Jackass in the franchise's heyday,
and yet he was nowhere to be seen in Jackass Forever. So what happened? How could there
be any bad blood between these guys who have endured so much torture together?
In a nutshell, Margera violated a sobriety contract by testing positive for Adderall
and was then essentially booted from the sequel. He didn't take too kindly to this,
as he fired back with a lawsuit, in which he called the wellness agreement that he
signed a "sham." Margera even asked his social media followers to boycott the
film in a series of since-deleted posts. As he tearfully claimed in an Instagram video,
"Jackass does not care about me, understand that, ladies and gentlemen. It's like,
it was like my family, that won't let me in because they saw I'm out here being a
jackass on TMZ. So I can't be in Jackass 'cause I'm out there being a jackass?"
"Jackass was everything to me."
Good luck working with someone you hate on a show that's been on for as long as Grey's
Anatomy. That's exactly the situation that Patrick Dempsey and Isaiah Washington found themselves in,
although neither of them lasted all 19 seasons and counting. Washington was ultimately let
go after three seasons for allegedly using a homophobic slur on set. He claims that it wasn't
directed at anyone specific, but his co-stars suspected that it was an attack on T.R. Knight.
According to the book How To Save A Life: The Inside Story of 'Grey's
Anatomy,' Washington uttered the slur following a nasty on-set spat with Dempsey. Mark Wilding,
one of the show's writers who was present when it all happened,
claims that it started when one of the actors was late to set,
supposedly as retaliation for the other one also having a tardiness problem. As Wilding recalled,
"They got into an arguing match, and then before you know it, they were physically fighting. I
was standing there in video village. I'm, like, 6 feet 4 inches. I'm bigger than both of them. But
I didn't really jump in right away because I'm like, I don't know if I want to get involved."
The fight didn't last very long,
but it was long enough for Washington to make a career-ending mistake.
"I can't change that narrative, but what I can do
is upset the absolutes about who I am as a human being."
With a franchise that's lasted as long as the Fast & Furious series,
it's probably best if the biggest stars at least have a serviceable working relationship. Things
started off smoothly enough for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and longtime series lead Vin
Diesel when Johnson joined the franchise for 2011's Fast Five. But the two started
butting heads around 2016 after Johnson called unspecified castmates "candy asses" on Instagram.
Diesel then all but admitted that he was the one being called out,
and then co-star Michelle Rodriguez confirmed that the two didn't exactly see eye to eye.
Things haven't exactly gotten better since then. In November 2021, Diesel publicly
pleaded with Johnson to return to the franchise. But Johnson dismissed this as "manipulation" and
called Diesel out for supposedly weaponizing his kids and late co-star Paul Walker to pressure him.
Kanye West was married to Kim Kardashian for seven years, during which time they had four kids
together. After they split in 2021, Kardashian found her way into the arms of Saturday Night
Live alum Pete Davidson. West, unsurprisingly, had some thoughts about this development.
This included calling Davidson "Skete"; making multiple, since-deleted Instagram
posts calling the comedian "garbage"; and asking his followers to scream at
him if they saw him. He also wrote lyrics in "Eazy," his collaboration with The Game,
about how much he wanted to beat up Davidson. The music video for the song features a claymation
version of Davidson getting kidnapped and beheaded and ends with text saying,
"Everyone lived happily ever after, except for Skete you know who. Jk he's fine."
Leaked texts later emerged in which Davidson asked West to leave him and Kardashian alone
and to "grow up," before taunting him with a photo supposedly taken from Kardashian's bed.
"I've had a really weird year."
Traditionally, those who seek to host late shows that air at 11:30 PM must first prove their
worth on lower-profile gigs. Throughout most of the 80s and into the early 90s,
David Letterman had hosted Late Night on NBC in anticipation of taking over The Tonight
Show from longtime host Johnny Carson. Carson reportedly even gave Letterman
his support to take over when he left. But there was another contender lurking nearby.
Jay Leno, like Letterman, had made frequent appearances on The Tonight
Show throughout the 80s and often served as a guest host when Carson
was out. This civil war was short but painful. With the network's anointing,
Leno elbowed Letterman aside and seized control of The Tonight Show in 1992.
As reported in the book Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night,
Letterman was understandably upset by this turn of events. He ended up leaving NBC for CBS,
where he hosted The Late Show for years until handing the reins to Stephen Colbert in 2015.
Though he earned the respect of the comedy world during his tenure there and even hosted Carson as
a guest, a privilege Leno never enjoyed, he was consistently chasing Leno's tail in the ratings.
And that wasn't the only late-night war involving Jay Leno. In 2009, he agreed to step down from The
Tonight Show and hand the reins to Conan O'Brien. O'Brien had been honing his chops for years in the
Late Night slot and waiting eagerly in the wings for his chance to helm the format's flagship.
But Leno decided that he didn't want to leave his
regular gig. And so The Jay Leno Show premiered in September 2009,
airing Monday through Friday at 10:00 PM on NBC. This was of course right before O'Brien came on,
with local news in between. Leno's lead-in quickly tanked in the ratings, dragging Conan down with
him. NBC's solution was to bump The Tonight Show to 12:05 AM and move Leno back to 11:30.
O'Brien fought back, arguing that The Tonight Show was an institution that deserved better
and threatening to quit. NBC ultimately showed him the door and handed The Tonight Show back
to its former host. Leno instantly became one of the most hated men on TV for a few months,
with a supportive contingent rallying around O'Brien.
"Bring Conan back!"
When the smoke cleared, Leno was back in command,
and O'Brien was out of a job, though he soon found a new home on TBS.