Everybody handles their breakups differently. Some people stay friends, some pretend their ex no longer exists, and others, well, stir up drama.
Here are 14 celebs who were 100% petty after a breakup:
1. After ending his relationship with Britney Spears via text in 2002, Justin Timberlake cast a Britney lookalike in his "Cry Me a River" music video and seemingly implied she cheated on him.
In her memoir The Woman in Me, Britney said it framed her as the "harlot who'd broken the heart of America's golden boy." She also said that, after the video came out, she was "comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood."
Watch the full video below:
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2. When Lana Del Rey began promoting her new album in 2022, she only put up a single billboard in one city — Tulsa, Oklahoma, aka her ex-boyfriend Sean Larkin's hometown.
Sharing a picture of it on Instagram, she added the caption, "It's. Personal."
3. After Joe Jonas broke up with her in a 27-second phone call in 2008, Taylor Swift posted a MySpace video poking fun at one of his Camp Rock dolls.
Here's the full clip:
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4. In 2016, John Mayer seemingly shaded his ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift on her birthday six years after their breakup. He tweeted, "Tuesday, December 13, may be the lamest day of the year, conceptually."
He ended up deleting it, but after fans pointed out the coincidence, he tweeted, "Looks like I shouldn't have deleted this tweet..."
5. After ending her engagement to billionaire James Packer in 2016, Mariah Carey reportedly sued him for a $50 million "inconvenience fee."
She reportedly got a multimillion-dollar settlement, which included her $10 million engagement ring.
6. When Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ross McCall ended their engagement in 2009, she reportedly tried to rename their dog so that it wouldn't come when he called.
The dog was a King Charles spaniel named Mona.
In response, One Direction fans got #ZAYNHASNOCHILL trending.
Meanwhile, Perrie had the support of her bandmates. At a concert, a fan held up a sign that said, "Zayn is irrelevant anyway," and Jade Thirlwall took it home.
8. In 2016, Justin Bieber threatened to make his Instagram private if his fans didn't stop harassing his then-girlfriend, Sofia Richie. In response, his ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, commented, "If you can't handle the hate, then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol — it should be special between you two only. Don't be mad at your fans. They love you. They were there for you before anyone."
Then, Justin commented, "It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love."
Selena replied, "Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love." She also posted a collage of herself with her fans.
9. In 2018, when news broke that his ex-wife, Miranda Lambert, was dating a married man, Evan Felker, Blake Shelton tweeted, "Been taking the high road for a long time. I almost gave up. But I can finally see something on the horizon up there!! Wait!! Could it be?! Yep!! It's karma!!"
Miranda reportedly started dating Evan while she was still with Anderson East, whom she's rumored to have cheated on Blake with.
10. While performing at the 2019 ACMs, Miranda Lambert seemingly shaded Blake Shelton — who was in the audience — by changing the words in "Little Red Wagon" from "I live in Oklahoma" to "I got the hell out of Oklahoma." During their marriage, they lived together in his home state.
Similarly, while accepting an award for Song of the Year at the same awards show a year prior, Miranda said, "Thank you guys so much for sharing my broken heart with me." Blake was also in the audience that night, along with his new partner, Gwen Stefani.
11. A few months after separating from her then-husband Brian Austin Green in 2020, Megan Fox posted an Instagram picture with her new partner, Machine Gun Kelly, and captioned it, "Achingly Beautiful Boy... My heart is yours." Then, Brian posted an Instagram carousel of his four kids, captioning it, "Achingly beautiful boys...... My heart is yours."
A year later, Brian was again accused of shading Megan on Instagram when he posted a picture with his new partner, Sharna Burgess, and captioned it, "It's been a really long time since I’ve been with someone I can truly share life with."
Megan commented, "Thankful for Sharna."
After his followers accused both of them of taking shots at each other, Brian clarified the meaning behind their interaction. On his Instagram story, he said, "For people that need or want clarification, Megan and I get along great. Neither of us are sending petty digs to each other. We both work really hard to get along and co-parent well for our kids. Now stay safe and spread kindness and love."
12. After his ex-girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian was photographed getting cozy with her new boyfriend, Travis Barker, on vacation, Scott Disick DMed a screenshot of the picture to her other ex-boyfriend, Younes Bendjima. He also messaged, "Yo is this chick ok!???? Broooo like what is this. In the middle of Italy."
Rather than join in on bashing Kourtney, Younes replied, “Doesn't matter to me as long as she's happy. PS: i aint your bro. [sic]"
Then, he screenshotted the interaction and posted it on his Instagram story, adding, "Keep the same energy you had about me publicly, privately." In a follow-up post, he added, "Couldn't miss this one. He's been playing around for too long, [tried] to stay quiet and be the nice guy."
13. Several months after calling off her 2018 engagement to Pete Davidson, Ariana Grande told Vogue that their relationship had been an "amazing distraction."
She continued, "It was frivolous and fun and insane and highly unrealistic, and I loved him, and I didn't know him. I'm like an infant when it comes to real life and this old soul, been-around-the-block-a-million-times artist. I still don't trust myself with the life stuff."
14. And finally, joking about her comments in his Netflix comedy special Pete Davidson: Alive from New York, Pete said, "She has her songs and stuff, and this is what I have,” he said. “Can you imagine if I did that? My career would be over tomorrow if I spray painted myself brown and hopped on the cover of Vogue magazine and just started shitting on my ex."
He continued, "Can you imagine if I did that shit? Like, 'Yeah, I was just fucking her because I was bored and then Fortnite came out.'"