15 Insane Co-Star Feuds Of All Time
Hollywood is filled with drama and it seems that every day there is a new rumor or fresh allegations about a fallout. Celebrity feuds make for fantastic gossip and tabloid fodder, so it’s not surprising that potential clashes often make headlines. But it turns out many of these stories actually have some truth to them.
Working in close quarters with someone can be hard. Everyone has very different personalities and while some people instantly click upon meeting, sometimes it takes others longer to like each other, or they end up hating that person outright. Celebrities are no different, and when you place two strangers together in a stressful situation, it can become a complete disaster.
While some co-stars like Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashley Benson and Shay Mitchell, and B.J Novak and Mindy Kaling became best friends in real life after meeting on set, there are others who truly hope they never have to have a run-in with their former co-stars again. From accusations that working with someone was “soul-crushing,” to calling a former co-star “disgusting,” these are just some of the feuds in Hollywood that the world will never forget. Here are 15 of the worst co-star feuds of all time.
15. Julia Roberts vs. Nick Nolte
In the 1994 film, I Love Trouble, Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte starred as two competing local newspaper reporters, who eventually join together to solve a mystery. However, in real life, they will definitely never be joining forces again.
This feud is not a rumor either, because these two have actually come out and said they don’t like each other. Roberts commented on her dislike to Nolte first, telling The New York Times that while he could be “charming and nice, he’s also completely disgusting.” Yes, that’s right, she referred to her co-star as disgusting which is pretty harsh. Needless to say, Nolte was not impressed with Roberts’ comments and later fired back at her choice of words. According to Us Weekly, he said, “It’s not nice to call someone ‘disgusting.’ But she’s not a nice person. Everyone knows that.”
14. Nicollette Sheridan vs. Teri Hatcher
The Desperate Housewives characters were meant to be best friends who stuck together no matter what drama was unfolding in their lives — and anyone who ever watched the hit ABC show will know that it was filled with drama. But, apparently, that drama was not just on screen.
According to reports, some stars of the series got on better than others. While there are rumors that Teri Hatcher had a fallout with the entire Desperate Housewives cast, the feud that is particularly interesting happened between Hatcher and Nicollette Sheridan. Creator of the show, Marc Cherry, testified that there had been a conflict between the two women during filming and claimed to have tried to stop a fight between them. He also claims that Sheridan referred to Hatcher as the “meanest woman in the world.”
13. Leonardo DiCaprio vs. Claire Danes
This is an alleged feud between co-stars that I have a tough time believing is true, but according to The Telegraph, when Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes starred together on the 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet (Danes was aged 17, and DiCaprio was 21), they didn’t get along.
This is apparently due to DiCaprio playing pranks on the cast and crew, and Danes reportedly did not appreciate her co-star’s playful nature. Apparently, they would avoid each other when the cameras were not rolling. However, in 2016, DiCaprio spoke about working with Danes and had nothing but nice things to say, telling Entertainment Tonight, “It’s great to work with her. She’s able to get into the stuff like that [snaps fingers] and really feed you what you need.”
And Danes felt the same way. She has previously said, “He’s brilliant and amazing at what he does and one of the most interesting and smart people I’ve ever met.”
12. Nicki Minaj vs. Mariah Carey
While the feud mentioned above may have been hard to believe (and honestly, it may not even be true) there is no denying that Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey absolutely hated working together as judges on American Idol.
Apart from the constant eye-rolling that happened during filming, there were also onscreen arguments, which started just two weeks into filming — the women had a falling out in North Carolina and Minaj reportedly stated, “I told them, I’m not f***ing putting up with her f***ng highness over there.” The singers then seemed to listen to producers and cool it on their feud, but that didn’t last long because Carey gave an interview to Barbara Walters telling her that she had “hired extra security.”
Minaj took to Twitter after this to slam Carey for speaking to Walters about their beef. Let’s just say it wouldn’t be surprising if these two don’t have each other on their Christmas card list.
11. Tyrese Gibson vs. James Franco
Tyrese Gibson and James Franco both starred in the 2006 film, Annapolis, and they definitely did not enjoy working together. Gibson commented on the experience during a 2007 interview with Playboy, telling the publication, “I never want to work with him again, and I’m sure he feels the same way. It felt very personal.” Wow.
The good news is that Franco did address the feud, and in 2008, during an interview with GQ he took full blame for his actions and attempted to apologize to his former co-star. He said. “I take full blame for any problems on that film. If he had a bad experience working with me, I was probably a jerk. I was not purposely cruel to him, but I was probably so wrapped up in my performance that I was not as friendly as I could have been. This is such a stupid issue I can’t believe I’m still talking about it. But when I’m asked about it in the press it makes it seem as if it’s still an issue. I think Tyrese is a sweet guy with a good heart. I wish him all the best.”
10. Jamie Foxx vs. LL Cool J
Jamie Foxx and LL Cool J’s feud is perhaps one of the most well-known, because it wasn’t just a war of words on their 1999 film, Any Given Sunday. The tension between these stars was so bad, that it actually resulted in a physical altercation.
It seems that they took their roles far too seriously, and Foxx was angry that Cool J was being so aggressive towards him when in character. According to BET, Cool J reflected on the incident, explaining that Foxx had asked him to be less aggressive with him, but when they did a new take and he did not ease up, Foxx allegedly lost his cool and punched his co-star in the face.
After that, Cool J said Foxx told him not to put his hands on him, and when he said that, “my left hand grabbed the face mask [sic] and, as I was pulling his helmet off, my right hand was punching his chin. This was like ‘POW!’ And then he was laying there and I thought he was faking because he was sleep!”
9. Ariana Grande vs. Jennette McCurdy
Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy were the stars of the Nickelodeon show, Sam & Cat. And while they were meant to be best friends on screen, they definitely didn’t have the same love for each other when the cameras stopped rolling.
Rumors suggested that the show eventually came to an end because of the co-stars feuding, however, the two women remained very hushed about the whole thing. Then, in 2015, McCurdy commented on her feud with Grande in an interview with E! News saying, “Some like drama and I think we butted heads at times but in a very sisterly way. She knows me so well and I know her so well that I think it was unfortunate that things kind of got misconstrued.” So, while their relationship was far from perfect, it seems that it was nowhere near as bad as everyone made it out to be.
8. Robert Downey Jr. vs. Terrence Howard
Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Howard both starred in Iron Man and while on set they seemed to work well together. It was what happened ahead of the second film, when the drama really unfolded.
It is believed that the studio offered Howard a significantly reduced offer for his role in the second film, after discovering that his storyline would be minimized. The studio and Howard’s agents could obviously not agree on this new figure, and he was recast. But Howard blamed Downey Jr. for not standing up for him. According to reports, the actors first butted heads in 2013, when Howard reportedly accused Downey Jr. of pushing him out of the Marvel franchise. According to Metro, Howard said that his co-star “took the money that was meant to go to me and pushed me out” of the Iron Man movies.
The good news is that years later, the two actors put their differences aside. Howard uploaded a photo on Instagram, showing the two of them together and all smiles. He captioned the post with, “Nice to see my old friend again… #lifestooshort #allgood.”
7. Janet Hubert vs. Will Smith
Janet Hubert and Will Smith were both stars of the series, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and this is one feud that fans definitely picked up on. Because while Hubert had played the role of Aunt Viv for three seasons, she was replaced after season 3 by Daphne Maxwell Reid.
In 1993, Smith hinted at a feud, telling an Atlanta radio station, “I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel-Air Show because I know she is going to dog me in the press. She has basically gone from a quarter of a million dollars a year to nothing. She’s mad now but she’s been mad all along…”
And in 2016, Hubert slammed Jada Pinkett Smith (Will’s wife, for those who don’t know) for her decision to boycott the Oscars because of its lack of diversity, saying that for years she has made millions off the people she is now talking about boycotting just because Will didn’t get a nomination.
6. Bill Murray vs. Lucy Liu
Apparently, there was no love lost between Bill Murray and Lucy Liu on the set of 2000 film, Charlie’s Angels, and Murray is reported to have insulted Liu’s acting. However, it seems that the feud was largely blown out of proportion because Murray’s comments make it sound more like an argument than a month-long hissy fit. According to FilmInk, he said, “We began rehearsing this scene and I asked, ‘Lucy, how can you want to say these lines? These are so crazy.’ She got furious with me because she thought that it was a personal assault, but the reality is that she hated these lines as much as I did. But for twenty minutes there, we went to our separate corners and threw hand-grenades and skyrockets at each other. But we made peace, and I got to know her better from that day, and I feel very warmly for her now.”
Murray has also spoken out about the director of the film, McG, who allegedly claimed that the actor had headbutted him on set. According to Entertainment Weekly, Murray addressed the allegations in an interview with Times of London, saying, “That’s bulls***! That’s complete crap! I don’t know why he made that story up. He has a very active imagination…No! He deserves to die!”
5. Rachel McAdams vs. Ryan Gosling
This is definitely one of the most confusing feud rumors, because not only did Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling seem to have amazing onscreen chemistry, but they also dated from 2004 to 2007 (and you don’t date someone who you hate for that long). However, when they were filming the 2004 romantic class, The Notebook, apparently there were times when they could not stand to be around each other.
Director Nick Cassavetes has revealed that Gosling allegedly hated working with McAdams and that he even asked him to kick her off the set. Cassavetes told VH1 a story of when the co-stars butted heads, saying, “they were really not getting along one day on set. Really not. And Ryan came to me, and there’s 150 people standing in this big scene, and he says, ‘Nick come here.’ And he’s doing a scene with Rachel and he says, ‘Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off camera with me?’ I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it with her. I’m just not getting anything from this.’”
The pair reportedly hashed it out with producers, and after that moment things got a lot better — evidently because their onscreen romance then trickled off screen.
4. Shirley MacLaine vs. Debra Winger
Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger are another set of co-stars who are rumored to have feuded in the ‘80s when they starred in the film Terms of Endearment. While they may have portrayed a mother and daughter whose relationship was complex, it’s rumored that their real-life relationship was incredibly complicated as well.
There are rumors that had it not been for fellow actor and co-star Jack Nicholson mediating, everything would have fallen apart. According to People, Winger said, “He was the glue of the production.” And Nicholson said, “If things become nutsy, you almost hate to say it, but it is a barometer of the vitality of the production.”
During an interview with The Telegraph, Winger did not hint at her feud but she did state, “There are lots of people who don’t like me. I probably don’t get half as many Christmas cards as you do” — and we can’t help but wonder if she’s on MacLaine’s list.
3. Jim Carrey vs. Tommy Lee Jones
Jim Carrey has starred in a lot of comedic roles, and he has a certain brand of humor, which just doesn’t appeal to everyone. According to reports, Tommy Lee Jones is one of those people. The two actors starred as villains on 1995 film, Batman Forever, and according to Carrey’s interview with Norm Macdonald Live, via The Hollywood Reporter, the night before one of their big scenes, Jones let his feelings for Carrey be known.
According to Carrey, he went over to Jones at a restaurant and greeted him. When Jones saw him, the blood drained from his face, “and he got up shaking — he must have been in mid-kill me fantasy or something like that. And he went to hug me and he said, ‘I hate you. I really don’t like you.” Wow! Carrey, who was obviously shocked by the outburst, reportedly asked Jones what the problem was, to which he responded, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery.”
2. Kevin Smith vs. Bruce Willis
This entry is a little different to the others on the list because it was not between two co-stars, but rather an actor and a director. Kevin Smith directed the movie Cop Out, which Bruce Willis starred in, and I think it’s a fair statement to make that neither of them enjoyed the experience. There were rumors that Smith had referred to Willis as a “f***ing d***” at a wrap party, for which the actor was not present.
And then there is the report that Smith claimed that to work with Willis was “soul-crushing.” He made the statements during Marc Maron’s podcast, telling the host that one of the cast members wouldn’t even sit for a photoshoot, and when pressed for an answer he said this: “Everyone knows who it is. Put it this way, remember the really funny guy in the movie? It ain’t him. He’s a f***ing dream. Tracy Morgan, I would lay down in traffic for. Were it not for Tracy, I might’ve killed myself or someone else in the making of that movie.”
1. Shannen Doherty vs. Alyssa Milano
Shannen Doherty was rumored to not be the easiest person to work with, but one of her most memorable feuds was with Charmed co-star, Alyssa Milano. There has been speculation that Doherty eventually left the show, because she and Milano just couldn’t get along, and in 2013, during an interview with Watch What Happens Live, Milano reportedly stated that there were “rough days” on set, and referred to being on the show as “sort of like high school.”
But in 2017, the two women revealed that what happened in the past was now behind them. Milano told E! News, “Shannen and I talk a lot on Twitter via [direct messenger] and I spoke to her maybe two or three days ago.” She also added that they had planned to meet up.