Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor
It's not always easy to play nice with others-and celebrities are certainly no exception. For example, take sisters, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, who proved that a casual sibling rivalry in Hollywood can be the messiest drama of all.
Also consider the multiple beefs Taylor Swift has been involved in through her time in the spotlight with Katy Perry, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West. Here's a look back at the most memorable and messy celebrity feuds of all time.
How It Began:After Elizabeth Taylor's third husband, Mike Todd died in a plane crash in 1958, she found solace in singer Eddie Fisher.
Michael Jackson and Prince
Of course, during this time, Fisher was still married to her very good friend Debbie Reynolds.
Peak Moment: In 1959, Eddie Fisher divorced Reynolds, leaving behind his two children, Carrie and Todd to marry Elizabeth Taylor.
Resolved?: During an interview that Debbie Reynolds had with The Hollywood Reporter, it was revealed that she and Taylor made up in 1966 when they were booked on the same floor of the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner on a trip to London.
How It Began:Their first face off was when their albums rivaled each other on the charts in 1982. From that point on, there was competition between the two as to who was going to dominate the music industry. Whether it came in the form of subliminal lines in their songs or heated ping-pong battles, the two frequently found themselves in opposition.
Peak:Many people consider the feud's peak to be when Prince turned down a role in Michael Jackson's "Bad" video, but his most petty moment was when he played his bass guitar in front of Jackson's face during a concert.
Resolved: Unsure.
David Letterman and Jay Leno
According to the biographer Tavis Smiley, Prince closed Paisley Park and locked himself in his bedroom for days after the announcement of Jackson's death. After this, it was presumed that underneath all the bitterness was a profound respect of artistry between the two.
How It Began: In 1992, When Johnny Carson announced he was leaving The Tonight Show, fans believed the obvious replacement would be David Letterman.
Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson
Instead, NBC gave the show to Jay Leno, a comic who had appeared as a guest on Letterman's show multiple times.
Peak:When David letterman gave Leno a backhanded compliment saying he was the funniest and most insecure person he knew.
Resolved?: Over the past few years, the two have hinted at a possible truce.
How It Began:Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson were always friendly back when Rivers was a guest host on The Tonight Show. In 1983, Rivers became a permanent guest-host for Carson for the next three years. Since she did so well, Fox offered Rivers her own late-night talk show, which she accepted.
Peak:Carson apparently became so angry after Rivers accepted the position, because she never asked him for his advise and had to find out about her show through a televised conference. However, Rivers denies this. ""The first person I called was Johnny and he hung up on me — and never, ever spoke to me again.
Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Prince of Wales
And then denied that I called him. I couldn't figure it out. I would see him in a restaurant and go over and say hello. He wouldn't talk to me," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Resolved?: No.
How It Began:After Charles married Diana in 1981, Charles maintained a relationship with his former flame, Camilla Parker-Bowles. There was eventually a fall out between Diana and Charles when he refused to end his affair with Camilla. Meanwhile, the princess was also dealing with infidelity rumors that began with "Squidgygate" in 1992, which were tapes of intimate conversations between her and her close friend, James Gilbey, who referred to Diana as "Squidgy".
Peak: The rumors of Diana and Charles' rocky marriage intensified when she went to visit the Taj Mahal, one of the world's most romantic landmarks, alone. The marriage between the couple put stress on an already strained union that was being watched by the public. A few days later, the public would watch in fascination as Princess Diana coldy rebuffed a kiss from her husband after a polo match.
Resolved?:No.
Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra
The two divorced in 1996. The following year, the princess died in a car crash in Paris. Charles participated in the public mourning of "the People's Princess" and then married Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005. Many believe that the royal family had a hand in Diana's death due to the indifferent way they dealt with it.
How It Began: In 1954, Brando won an Oscar for his performance in On The Waterfront, and Sinatra voiced his disapproval over Brando's trip to the podium. According to Sinatra, he had wanted the role that Brando won the award for. He referred to him as, "The world's most overrated actor."
Peak: When they both were supposed to appear together in Guys and Dolls, Sinatra was livid when he found out that Brando was cast as the romantic lead.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
Brando then asked the singer if he would be willing to assist him in the singing and dancing scenes, acknowledging that he knew he had no real talent for either. Sinatra outright refused and towards the end of filming, Brando was allegedly jumped by two unseen thugs. It was said that the two thugs were associates of Sinatra's Mafia connections.
Resolved?: No, in fact Brando never mentioned Sinatra ever again after the incident.
How It Began: The two boxers faced off at Madison Square Garden in 1971, with what would be a three fight trilogy. Ali identified as a civil rights hero and newly converted Muslim who stuck it to the establishment, while Frazier, according to Ali, had "no cause" and was "in the game for the money alone." The competition became a stand in for racial tensions of the time. Frazier was not vocal about his politics, like Ali, and because it was said that Frazier "didn't care if people were Republican or Democrat", he became framed as a "Great White Hope."
Peak: For their third and final fight, Ali used the racially charged term "gorilla" to refer to his opponent. With Ali's win, he proclaimed himself as, "The Greatest".
Resolved?:No. In Frazier's autobiography released in 1996, he admitted that he still had a grudge against Ali, even though Ali's luck took a turn for the worst with his onset of Parkinson's disease.
Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli
He writes, "Truth is, I'd like to rumble with that sucker again- beat him up piece by piece and mail him back to Jesus. Now people ask me if I feel bad for him, now that things aren't going so well for him. Nope I don't. Fact is, I don't give a damn."
How It Began:Being two of the only female fashion designers during the 1930s, the two were meant to be rivals.
Biggie Smalls and Tupac
Schiaparelli's granddaughter, supermodel Marisa Berenson wrote in V Magazine that Chanel was jealous of her grandmother.
Peak: At a costume ball once, Chanel pushed her rival into some candles, causing Schiaparelli to catch fire.
Resolved?: No, but after going bankrupt in 1954, Schiaparelli was forced to close her design house, making the rivalry dissipate.
How It Began: This famous rivalry began in 1994 when Tupac Shakur was robbed and shot five times in the lobby of a recording studio in New York City, which a reporter from Los Angeles Times claimed Biggie knew about a week in advance. Although police have never confirmed any connection between Biggie and Tupac's assault, things were already heating up between the rappers that began the legendary East Coast/West Coast feud that would shape Hip-Hop for years to come.
Peak:At the 1995 Source Awards, although no physical beefing happened between the two, lines were drawn between their respective crews, showing how deep-rooted the rivalry between the two rappers and what they represented was.
Resolved?:No. After the Source Awards, Biggie released "Who Shot Ya?" in 1995, which Tupac interpreted as a diss track referring to his robbery and shooting the previous year.
Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere
After this, Tupac made the song "Hit 'Em Up", which references "Who Shot Ya". Tupac was killed in 1996 and Biggie died the year afterwards, but the East Coast/West Coast rivalry survived both of their deaths.
How It Began:Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere were set to star together in the 1974 film, The Lords of Flatbush until the two didn't get along on the set."We never hit it off," says Sylvester in 2006, "He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table."
Peak:When they got into a physical fight over spilled chicken grease. Sylvester recalls, "I was eating a hot dog and climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper," Sylvester said in the same interview. "I said, 'That thing is going to drip all over the place.' He said, 'Don't worry about it.' I said, 'If it gets on my pants, you're gonna know about it.' He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh.
Madonna and Courtney Love
I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car."
Resolved?:No. Eventually, Richard Gere had to be re-cast in the film.
How It Began:In 1995, Courtney Love crashed Madonna's interview during the MTV Video Music Awards. Love made her entrance by throwing her compact and her shoe on the stage before joining Kurt Loder and Madonna for a hectic interview in which she discussed Birkenstocks and Alanis Morissette.
Peak: During this interview, Madonna made a point to say that, "Courtney Love is in dire need of attention right now."
Resolved?: No. During a 1996 interview with Spin, Madonna slammed Love and her antics, claiming that, "every chance she gets, she slags me off in the press.
Will Smith and Janet Hubert-Whitten
Years ago, she probably admired me and looked up to me, and now I'm like a parent to her or something, and she wants to destroy me. So, that's what I think about Courtney."
How It Began:Janet Hubert-Whitten played Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air but she was later replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid because of a reported feud she had with Will Smith and other show executives.
Peak: In 2011, Hubert-Whitten told TMZ that she would never do a reunion with the cast because, "I will never do anything with an a-hole like Will Smith".
Resolved?: No.
Kanye West and Jay Z
After Alfonso Ribiero shared a cast reunion photo in 2017, Hubert-Whitten stated, "I have no interest in seeing any of these people on that kind of level."
How It Began: Kanye West and Jay Z were friends and collaborators for years. Jay Z first hired West as a producer on his record label and then signed him. In 2011, they released an album together entitled, Watch The Throne, but in 2016, their relationship went sour.
Peak: During one of Kanye's famous rants, he stopped the show and called people out, including Jay Z. "Jay Z, call me, bruh. You still ain't calling me. Jay Z, call me… Jay Z. Hey, don't send killers at my head, bro. This ain't the Malcolm X movie," West said.
Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine
"We growing from that moment. Let 'Ye be 'Ye." It was also reported that West was upset after he hadn't received a call from Jay Z in regards to when Kim Kardashian West was held at gunpoint and robbed in Paris.
Resolved?: Unknown, but Jay Z has revealed that they have a complicated relationship. He stated, "Kanye came into this business on my label. So I've always been like his big brother. And we're both entertainers. It's always been like a little underlying competition with your big brother," he said. "And we both love and respect each other's art, too...But it's gonna, we gonna always be good."
How It Began: These famous siblings were born only a year apart, but it seems like they got off on the wrong foot right from the start. The sisters fought throughout their childhood, and their rivalry was aided by their mother who made it very clear she favored Olivia, causing Joan to lash out.
Peak: When both sisters went for the role in Alfred Hitchcock's screen adaptation of Rebecca and Fontaine won the lead role. More salt was added to the wound when Fontaine won an Oscar for her role in Suspicion, another Hitchcock film. De Havilland could only watch as her younger sister accepted the role.
Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks
By 1975, the sisters were officially not on speaking terms, and they barely acknowledged each other.
Resolved?: No. When De Havilland turned 100 years-old, she was shocked to learn of Joan's death at 96 in 2013. Although they hadn't spoken in years, De Havilland had this to say, "I was shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of my sister, Joan Fontaine, and my niece, Deborah, and I appreciate the many kind expressions of sympathy that we have received.”
How It Began: Back in the 90s, Tyra Banks was often pitted against supermodel Naomi Campbell when she first started in the modeling industry. "The industry was saying, 'Look out Naomi Campbell, here comes Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell sit your butt down, this younger one is coming to take your place,'" E! News reported.
Peak: Banks revealed that Campbell did bully her.
Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton
She would often say nasty things to her during runway shows and had her fired from jobs. Although when Campbell was a guest on Banks' show, she could not recall those times.
Resolved?:Yes, they have worked out their differences since then. Campbell has also appeared on Tyra Banks' talk show.
How It Began: They were childhood best friends and they dominated reality TV when they starred in The Simple Life in 2003. But, at the height of their fame, the two were suddenly at war. In 2005, Paris revealed, "It's no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends.
Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner
Nicole knows what she did and that's all I'm ever going to say about it.
Peak:Apparently, Richie was jealous of the attention that Paris was getting from the media, and was angry she wasn't invited to some of Hilton's events. It was reported that Richie had a party to celebrate Hilton's appearance on Saturday Night Live, followed by a screening of Hilton's notorious 2003 sex tape.
Resolved?: Surprisingly, yes! The two made up and even filmed two more seasons of The Simple Life.
How It Began:During the 2008 Grammys, Beyonce introduced Tina Turner as "The Queen." Shortly after, Aretha Franklin issued a statement saying, "I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between Grammy writers and Beyonce, however, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy." Turner then responded by saying, "She's the queen of soul, and I'm the queen of rock n' roll. There were so many kings and queens that night. Her ego must be so big to think she was the only one. That's how queens are!"
Peak: In response to the ego comment, Franklin said that Turner was "clearly talking about herself." Franklin then pushed on the fact that Turner was trying to feed the flames of the feud to boost her popularity.
Joan Crawford and Bette Davis
"I never figured her to resort to tacky press just to sell a few tickets. I really had put her in a different class-higher than that. No one has been more gracious to their peers than I have, and I am confident and secure enough to do so, unlike some others."
Resolved?: No. Although the two haven't publicly sparred in a while, Franklin has been busy shading other musical artists.
How It Began:The feud between these two starlets is known as Hollywood's most legendary feud that started in 1935. The feud began when Joan Crawford, a very famous actress, took up with Franchot Tone, who was Bette Davis' leading man in the movie Dangerous. Davis had a crush on Tone, but couldn't even hold a candle to Crawford, who married him after the movie filming ended. From that moment on, the women were in an all-out war for roles and prestige and made their feud extremely public.
Peak: In 1962, although both women gave a show-stopping performance in the thriller Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, only Davis was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Crawford decided to call the other nominees, offering to accept the award on their behalf should they win.
Lauren Conrad Vs. Heidi Montag
The winner, Anne Bancroft couldn't make it, so Crawford accepted the award, which angered Davis. It was also rumored that during the filming of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, there were many physical altercations between the two during filming, making the on-screen hatred between their two characters that more real.
Resolved: Absolutely not. Upon hearing about Crawford's death, Davis remarked, "You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say good. Joan Crawford is dead. Good!"
How It Began:Conrad cut ties with Montag after season two of their reality series, The Hills when Montag's husband, Spencer Pratt, spread a rumor that Conrad made a sex tape with ex-boyfriend Jason Wahler.
Peak:When the two had a public falling out over the situation on their reality TV show in front of the whole country. Lauren Conrad left The Hills in 2009.
Resolved? No. Spencer Pratt still insists the rumor is true and says, "Lauren is a cold-hearted killer.That's what people don't get. She will cut you in your sleep.
She tried to destroy us. If you want to throw missiles, I'm throwing a nuke. This is how I operate."