These 14 Long-Lasting Celebrity Feuds Should Honestly Be Taught In History Classes

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's 40-year feud inspired a TV show!

If you're reading this, then you're probably no stranger to celebrity beef. From name-dropping their exes in hit songs to shading their former friends in hourlong YouTube videos, celebs know how to ensure the person they're having drama with knows exactly how they feel.

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However, before there were subtweets and shady Instagram stories, there was still plenty of drama in Hollywood. Sometimes, those feuds blew over in a few months, but other times, they went on for years and years.

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Here are 14 celebrity feuds that spanned decades:

1. In 1933, Joan Crawford announced her divorce on the same day that Bette Davis's first major movie, Ex-Lady, was announced, igniting a feud that inspired a TV show.

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The New York Times devoted several pages to the divorce news, while Ex-Lady only got a little paragraph. The movie was pulled from theaters a week later due to poor ticket sales. 

In 1935, while filming Dangerous, Davis fell deeply in love with her costar, Franchot Tone. However, during production, he got engaged to Crawford. In an interview with Michael Thorton more than 50 years later, Davis said, "She took him from me. She did it coldly, deliberately, and with complete ruthlessness."

In 1936, Davis won an Oscar for her role in Dangerous. She hadn't expected to win, but Jack Warner forced her to attend as part of a protest against the formation of SAG. To spite him, she wore an old costume in lieu of a fancy gown. When her name was called, Tone hugged her, but Crawford turned her back. When her husband called her out, she said, "Dear Bette! What a lovely frock."

When Crawford signed to Warner Bros. Studios in 1943, she demanded that she get the dressing room next to Davis's, and she sent a ton of gifts to try to make amends. Davis, however, returned them all.

In 1945, Davis turned down a role in Mildred Pierce, so Crawford took it — and won her only Oscar, which she accepted while lying in bed.

In 1950, Warner Bros. tried to get them to star opposite each other in Caged, but Davis refused. In 1952, Crawford's ex-friend Katherine Albert wrote The Star, a movie about a washed-up actor that was a parody of Crawford. Davis played the lead. 

In 1962, Crawford somehow managed to convince Davis to play her sister in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

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However, Davis had two conditions: she got to play the lead, and the director had to assure her he wasn't sleeping with Crawford because she "didn't want him favoring her with more close-ups." At the time, Crawford was on Pepsi's board of directors, so naturally, Davis installed a Coke machine in her dressing room. Crawford requested a body double for a fight scene between their characters, but according to some reports, she ended up needing stitches after the body double couldn't be used for a close-up. She retaliated by making herself heavier during a scene where Davis — who had back problems — had to drag her. 

The movie got Davis an Oscar nomination, so Crawford volunteered to accept the Best Actress award on behalf of any nominees who weren't able to attend. She later posed with Anne Bancroft's award backstage. 

In 1964, they joined forces again for Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, but Crawford dropped out less than two weeks into production. 

Sadly, they were never able to settle their differences, and Crawford died in 1977. Davis allegedly said, "You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say good…Joan Crawford is dead. Good."

In 2017, FX turned their ill-fated feud into a show called Feud: Bette and Joan.

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Susan Sarandon played Bette Davis, and Jessica Lange played Joan Crawford.

2. In 1991, Tyra Banks finally got the opportunity to model in Paris after years of rejections, but the industry instantly pitted her against Naomi Campbell.

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"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," Banks said on Skavlan in 2019.

Beforehand, she had looked up to Campbell, but she would go home and cry because it "seemed like she just didn't want [Banks] to be there." She told the Wall Street Journal that it felt like Campbell was "doing everything in her power to make [her] go away."

In 2005, Campbell made an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show so they could work out their differences.

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In 2013, she told Elle that she was "proud of [Banks] as a woman of color. ... She's given girls opportunity, and God bless her." 

However, in 2020, Campbell posted a screenshot of an article that referred to Banks as "the real mean girl." The article said that "the woe-is-me Tyra narrative has definitely worn off" in regards to resurfaced clips of Banks making insensitive remarks to contestants on America's Next Top Model.

3. George Takei and William Shatner have been at odds since 1966, when the original Star Trek began.

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Shatner had issues with other cast members, including Leonard Nimoy, and he once brought production to a complete halt, which Takei recalled over 50 years later. 

However, things heated up between Shatner and Takei again after a studio fire in 1983, which damaged part of the Star Trek III set. They have different versions of what happened. In 2017, Shatner told Nerdist that he ran in with a garden hose while waiting for help to arrive. 

He said, "The fireman said if I hadn’t done that, the set would have burned down, and they would have had to rebuild it. It would have delayed the film.”

However, in his 1994 autobiography, Takei claimed that Shatner was driven to the scene of the fire by a member of the publicity team, making his alleged act of heroism no more than a publicity stunt. 

In 1988, Takei initially refused to reprise his role for Star Trek V because Shatner was directing it. He eventually came on board, but the film disappointed critics.

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The feud continued into the '90s as they both took digs at each other in their respective memoirs. In 2006, Takei participated in The Roast of William Shatner. He told USA Today, "I had 40 years of material, and they only gave me four minutes."

In 2008, they had a public disagreement over whether or not Shatner was invited to Takei's wedding, and Takei later told the New York Times that Shatner only brought it up to promote his new talk show.

Over the next few years, they continued to take jabs at each other, with Shatner using his second book and his one-man show, while Takei spoke poorly of him during talk show appearances.

In 2014, they reached a mutual agreement so that Shatner would appear in Takei's documentary, but by 2015, they were taking shots at each other once again. 

In 2016, they briefly united for a Star Trek reunion photo.

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Team Trek is at @StarTrek_DST with @WilliamShatner @GeorgeTakei @GineokwKoenig @4TerryFarrell @Marina_Sirtis & many more #StarTrek

01:43 PM - 07 Oct 2016

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As of 2020, they still had nothing kind to say about each other in the press. On David Tennant Does a Podcast With, Takei said, "Some actors seem to feel that [Star Trek is] a one-man show. ... That’s the source of some tensions.”

4. Debbie Reynolds was 17 when she became close friends with Elizabeth Taylor. But after her husband, Mike Todd, died in 1958, Taylor began an affair with Reynolds' husband, Eddie Fisher.

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Soon, he left Reynolds, along with their children, Carrie and Todd Fisher. He married Taylor in 1959. 

However, in 1964, Taylor left Fisher for Richard Burton, her Cleopatra costar, whom she would eventually marry and divorce twice.

Eventually, Reynolds and Taylor made amends, and in 2001, they costarred in These Old Broads, which was written by Carrie Fisher.

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They remained friends until Taylor's death in 2011. Reynolds told People, "We were friends for years and years, but we had a lapse of time when she took Eddie to live with her because she liked him too. She liked him well enough to take him without an invitation!”

5. In 1999, Sarah Jessica Parker got an executive producer credit and a pay increase to $300,000 for Sex and the City Season 2, and after costar Kim Cattrall tried to negotiate a higher salary for herself, the crew members told Telegraph that the other cast members "wouldn't even sit with [Cattrall] at mealtimes."

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In 2004, the same year the show ended, Parker and the other two main cast members sat together at the Emmys while Cattrall sat by herself. According to Telegraph, she said, "Are we the best of friends? No." But Parker said, "Honestly, we are all friends, and I wish I saw more of Kim. She mentioned money, and no one should vilify her for it."

In 2008, Cattrall denied rumors that she was the reason the first Sex and the City movie was delayed. She told Marie Claire, "Four years ago, I was going through a painful public divorce, the series was coming to an end, and my father was diagnosed with dementia. I felt it was time to be with my real family. A year and a half ago, when I was sent the script, I was ready and strong enough to revisit Samantha."

However, by 2009, she and Parker were reportedly no longer on speaking terms, which made the Sex and the City 2 set an uncomfortable environment for everyone.  

Parker denied these reports, and she told Elle, "I don't think anybody wants to believe that I love Kim. I adore her. I wouldn't have done the movie without her."

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In 2010, Cattrall backed her up, telling Daily Mail, "I think Sarah was right: People don’t want to believe that we get on. They have too much invested in the idea of two strong, successful women fighting with each other."

They continued to deny that there was any ill will between them, but in 2017, the Daily Mail alleged that Sex and the City 3 was canceled because Cattrall "demanded they produce other movies she had in development or she wouldn't sign up for the project." Cattrall herself quickly denied these claims, and, setting the record straight, she tweeted that she refused to do a third movie back in 2016.

Later in 2017, she told Piers Morgan that she's "never been friends" with her costars. She also said that she had made a "clear decision" to never do Sex and the City again, but she was supportive of the idea to recast her.

During a 2018 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Parker said she'd been "heartbroken" over Cattrall's declaration that they weren't friends. She said, "That's not the way I recall our experience." She also expressed her condolences both publicly and privately when Cattrall's brother died. 

Cattrall accused Parker of "exploiting [her] tragedy in order to restore [Parker's] ‘nice girl’ persona."

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On Instagram, she wrote, "Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now."

In 2018, Parker told Vulture, "I’d just like to remind everybody that there is no catfight...I’ve always held Kim’s work in high regard and always appreciative of her contributions."  

In 2021, the Sex and the City revival was confirmed. Replying to a fan who commented that she and Cattrall dislike each other, Parker said, "I don’t dislike her. I’ve never said that. Never would. Samantha isn’t part of this story. But she will always be part of us. No matter where we are or what we do."

Cattrall has remained relatively quiet since the reboot began filming, but she recently sparked speculation that she shaded her former costars on Instagram.

6. In 1999, a friend of 50 Cent stole Ja Rule's chain at gunpoint, and there's been bad blood between the rappers ever since.

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In his biography, 50 Cent wrote, "This guy named Brown came and got the chain back for Ja. Later, Ja saw me in a club with the kid who robbed him. I went over to say, ‘What’s up’ to Ja, and he acted like he had a problem with me. But I’m not the one who robbed him.”

Ja Rule, however, claimed that he never saw the robber with 50 Cent and alleged that their feud began when his Murder Inc. crew snubbed the other rapper during a video shoot.

A few months later, 50 Cent dropped a single that mocked the Murder Inc.'s signature "Murda" chant — an obvious diss directed toward Ja Rule. When they were both booked to perform at an Atlanta nightclub, they broke out into a fight. 

In 2000, Ja Rule and his group confronted 50 Cent at a recording studio in New York. Another fight broke out. 50 Cent suffered a stab wound, and Ja Rule and his fellow Murder Inc. rapper Black Child, who took accountability for the stabbing, were arrested.

In 2002, 50 Cent signed to a new label and released his first hit single, which was inspired by Ja Rule — "Wanksta."

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In 2003, he released another diss track about Ja Rule, which was called "Back Down." 

In 2013, Ja Rule decided to release a diss track of his own. "Loose Change" used offensive language to take digs at 50 Cent as well as Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes, G-Unit, Chris Lighty, Eminem, and Eminem's family. Soon after, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Busta Rhymes teamed up to diss Ja Rule with "Hail Mary."

A few months later, Ja Rule told Hot 97 that he felt 50 Cent had won the feud. Soon after, the rappers ended up on the same flight in the same row, but Ja Rule tweeted that they had "no problems."

In 2014, 50 Cent performed one of his diss tracks at a music festival, and Ja Rule wrote it off as the other rapper being "obsessed" with him. In 2017, after Ja Rule's involvement with the failed Fyre Festival, 50 Cent joked that the president had appointed him "secretary of festivals." 

In 2018, Ja Rule tweeted that he "owned [50 Cent's] soul, so in response, 50 Cent bought 200 tickets to his show on Groupon, which he then left empty.

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After throwing a few more verbal punches at each other, Ja Rule finally blocked 50 Cent on Twitter. 

Most recently, in 2021, rapper Fat Joe threatened to bring 50 Cent onstage with him during a battle with Ja Rule, but Ja Rule said the he wouldn't be affected. 

7. After Johnny Carson's retirement in 1992, an "epic late-night war" began when Jay Leno took over The Tonight Show — a role David Letterman had expected was his.

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Many people thought the "throne" rightfully belonged to Letterman, but Leno had a "secret deal" with NBC.  

In The Story of Late Night, Rick Ludwin, the then–vice president of NBC, said, "Jay Leno had just signed a new deal that guaranteed Jay The Tonight Show, whenever Johnny [Carson] stepped down."

He also said that dealing with Letterman had become "bothersome and draining" because he was "unnecessarily rude" to NBC staff. This behavior was a contributing factor in his final decision to choose Leno. Letterman also had a reputation for mocking NBC execs on air, and he even once smashed a crystal decanter that the president of NBC had gifted him. 

However, according to Jason Zinoman, who wrote the biography Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night, Carson would've preferred Letterman to Leno. 

After his retirement, Carson visited Late Night and asked Letterman, "How pissed off are you?”

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Then, The Tonight Show and Late Night began a ratings war. While viewers preferred Leno, critics preferred Letterman. Carson visited Late Night a second time, but he never appeared on The Tonight Show.

A year later, Letterman left Late Night and started hosting Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. 

Leno handed The Tonight Show over to Jimmy Fallon in 2014, and Letterman ended Late Show in 2015. 

In 2019, Leno cleared the air on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. He said, "The idea that we hate each other is — the media makes a big thing about it. I am a huge fan...I’d watch him and go, ‘Oh man, how do you put those sentences together?’ And he’d watch me and go, ‘How can you be so confident on stage?’ So I think we sort of took from each other a little bit.”

8. In her memoir, Joan Fontaine alleged that her own birth in 1917 sparked the feud with her sister and fellow actor Olivia de Havilland, who didn't want to share their parents' attention.

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As children, they got into a lot of fights, and one ended with Fontaine breaking her collarbone. When they were in high school, de Havilland, who was the school's newspaper editor, published a fake will that said, "I bequeath to my sister the ability to win boys’ hearts, which she does not have at present.” 

They both followed in their mother's footsteps by pursuing acting careers. De Havilland made her silver screen debut in 1935 and signed a contract with Warner Bros. Studios, while her sister served as her personal driver. 

However, one night while Fontaine was waiting to pick her sister up, a studio employee came up to her and told her he wanted to help her break into the film industry. Their mother insisted that Warner Bros. was "Olivia's studio," so Fontaine took her stepfather's surname and signed a deal with RKO. 

In 1939, Fontaine married Brian Aherne, her sister's ex-boyfriend.

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The night before the wedding, de Havilland's then-boyfriend Howard Hughes tried to convince Fontaine to marry him instead.

Fontaine also told the Hollywood Reporter that de Havilland only got a role in Gone with the Wind because she turned it down and suggested her sister instead. Around the same time, Fontaine got her big break in Rebecca. Both sisters were nominated for but lost Oscars.

In 1941, they were both nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

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At first, Fontaine planned to skip the ceremony, but de Havilland showed up on her movie set with a dress for her. They both attended, but when Fontaine's name was called, she froze because she was afraid of her sister.

In 1946, de Havilland married Marcus Goodrich, and Fontaine said, "It’s too bad that Olivia’s husband has had so many wives and only one book.” In response, de Havilland stopped speaking to her until she apologized. 

A year later, de Havilland snubbed her sister's attempt at a congratulations after she won her first Oscar. 

By 1952, following de Havilland's divorce, they were on good terms again. 

However, when their mother died in 1975, Fontaine was out of the country, and she wasn't invited to the memorial service until she threatened to leak the story to the press unless the date was moved to accommodate her.

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She told People, "Olivia and the executor of the estate took full charge, disposing of Mother’s effects...without bothering to consult me.” They did not speak to each other at the funeral.

Over the next few decades, they refused to speak to each other and requested to be kept away from each other at events. In 2013, de Havilland told the Hollywood Reporter that she was close with her niece Deborah, who had once been estranged from Fontaine because she still talked to her aunt. 

In the same article, Fontaine said, "This ‘Olivia feud’ has always irritated me because it has no basis. To this day it has no basis!”

When Fontaine died in 2013, de Havilland released a statement that said, "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.”

9. Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine's feud began on the set of Terms of Endearment in 1983.

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When they first met on set, Winger, a three-time Oscar nominee, had no idea who MacLaine, a newcomer with only one big movie under her belt, was. Everyone else was nervous. Trying to get in character, MacLaine was wearing all of her "leftover movie-star fur coats," as she told People, and she wasn't impressed that the other actor was "dressed in combat boots and a miniskirt."

Their personalities continued to clash in real life as much as the mother and daughter they played in the movie did. In her memoir, MacLaine claimed that, during one on-set argument, Winger farted in her face.  Winger said, "People at Paramount thought we were crazy.” 

The movie earned both actors an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, which MacLaine won.

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In her acceptance speech, she said, "I deserve this!"

They never settled their differences. In 2018, Andy Cohen asked Winger if there was any truth to the rumors that she "tried to pass gas in [MacLaine's] direction" and "licked her leg while she was filming a love scene with [Jack] Nicholson."

Winger replied that there "was something true in there."

10. In the early years of Muhammad Ali's boxing career, he and Joe Frazier were good friends, but while they were planning 1971's, "Fight of the Century" they turned on each other.

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Frazier refused to recognize Ali's name change after his conversion to Islam, and Ali accused him of being a sell-out. As Ali's verbal assaults became more vicious, so did the death threats that his fans hurled at Frazier and his children.

An angry and vengeful Frazier won the Fight of the Century, sending Ali to the hospital with a swollen jaw. For the next few years, they cycled from friends to enemies and back.

In 1974, they appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, where they jokingly accused a presenter of stirring the pot.

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Ali said, "I don’t hate Joe Frazier, Joe Frazier don’t hate me.”

However, a few days before their next scheduled fight, they met up at ABC Studios to rewatch their first match together and broke out in a brawl. Ali won the following match.

In 1975, they headed to the Philippines for their third and final match.

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After 14 rounds of both physical and verbal blows, Ali came out the victor. Afterwards, he invited Frazier's son Marvis to visit him. He told him, "Tell your dad the things I said I really didn’t mean.”

In 1978, Frazier spoke well of Ali for This Is Your Life, but in the early '80s, he snubbed him at an autograph signing. In the documentary I Am Ali, Ali's daughter Hanna said that her father "heard about how [Frazier's] children would come home from school crying. [He] just put his head down silently and started to cry himself. It hurt him to know that.”

By 1989, they were back to being cordial with each other, and they went on a press tour with George Foreman. However, after Ali lit the torch at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Frazier cruelly claimed that he was the true winner of their feud because of his rival's Parkinson's disease. 

However, before Frazier's death in 2011, the two made amends.

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In the documentary Facing Ali, he said, "He’s a great guy, and I’m hoping that maybe he could live the kind of life that we live. I’d love to see him do that. Because he earned that.”

11. Early in her career, Carly Simon dated Warren Beatty, whose cheating was revealed to her by her therapist, so she wrote "You're So Vain" in 1972 and teased the inspiration behind the song for decades.

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In her memoir, she said she went to see her therapist the morning after sleeping with Beatty. Her therapist told her, "You are not the first patient of the day who spent the night with Warren Beatty last night."

So, she wrote her hit song "You're So Vain," which includes iconic lyrics like, "you probably think this song is about you."

In 2004, she revealed that the subject's name contains the letters R, E, and A. In 2010, she released a new version of the song, in which she whispered "David" backwards during an instrumental break. 

However, in 2015, she finally revealed that Warren Beatty was indeed part of the inspiration behind the song.

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She told People, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren...[he] thinks the whole thing is about him!” 

12. In 1998, Brandy and Monica hit the top of the charts with "The Boy Is Mine," but their duet sparked rumors that they were feuding behind-the-scenes.

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According to producer Dallas Austin, "Monica never liked Brandy." In an interview with VLAD TV, he alleged that the rumors about them fighting at the VMAs had some truth to them. He said, "Before they could even get to the stage, Monica decked her in the face.”

They didn't perform the song together again after that, but they continued to perform it separately. Monica used the song's title as the name of her second album.

In 2012, they once again joined forces for "It All Belongs To Me." 

In 2015, Monica insisted there had never been a feud. She told Huffpost Live, "It started off as brilliant marketing, and what started to happen was people started creating these skits, and then our fans divided, and it became this really real thing."

At the 2018 Essence Festival, Brandy performed "The Boy Is Mine" solo, changing the lyrics to "the song is mine," but in 2020, she and Monica came face-to-face on the Instagram Live show Verzuz.

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They addressed their past disagreements, performed "The Boy Is Mine" together, and hugged. 

"I’m having so much fun. Can we do a Verzuz part two?” Brandy said.

13. In 1965, Johnny Carson helped turn Joan Rivers into an overnight sensation on The Tonight Show, but when she took a deal to host her own late night show in 1986, he was furious.

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Rivers had been a longtime writer and guest host for The Tonight Show, and she'd turned down several deals offering her a show of her own already. However, when rumors of Carson's impending retirement began to swirl, her name didn't make a leaked list of potential replacements. 

The deal she signed with Fox made her the first woman to host her own late night show. She avoided telling Carson about it until everything was finalized because she was afraid the deal might fall through. 

However, as soon as everything was in place, Carson was the first person she called. In the Hollywood Reporter, she wrote, "He hung up on me — and never, ever spoke to me again. 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 continued, "I think he really felt because I was a woman that I just was his. That I wouldn’t leave him. I know this sounds very warped. But I don’t understand otherwise what was going on. For years, I thought that maybe he liked me better than the others. But I think it was a question of, 'I found you, and you’re my property.' He didn’t like that as a woman, I went up against him."

Rivers was banned from The Tonight Show, which Jay Leno upheld when he took the reins from Carson.

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However, in 2014, when Jimmy Fallon took up the mantle, he had her on his very first episode.

14. And finally, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac as a couple in 1975, but she dumped him as soon as they finished recording Rumours — the album that propelled both of them (and their drama) into the spotlight.

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Nicks told Oprah's Master Class, "I said, ‘We’re done. I think that this is over, and we both know now that no matter what it takes, we’re going to keep Fleetwood Mac together."

They kept the band together for decades, but she said that Buckingham blamed it for the dissolution of their relationship. She said, "Had we not joined Fleetwood Mac, we would’ve continued on with our music, but we probably would’ve gotten married, and we probably would’ve had a child. It would have been a different life."

Over the next several decades, they worked together on and off. In 2000, Buckingham married Kristen Messner, but the tension between him and his ex continued.

In 2018, Nicks said she couldn't work with him anymore after he snickered while she was giving a speech, and he was fired after 43 years with Fleetwood Mac.

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In 2020, she told the Los Angeles Times that she'd felt the need to metaphorically "divorce" him because she "felt like a dying flower all the time."

In 2021, Buckingham told Rolling Stone that she "wanted to shape the band in her own image...I think others in the band just felt that they were not empowered enough individually, for whatever their own reasons, to stand up for what was right. And so it became a little bit like Trump and the Republicans.”

However, in a counter statement, Nicks said, "To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired...I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my wellbeing. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it...After many lengthy group discussions, Fleetwood Mac, a band whose legacy is rooted in evolution and change, found a new path forward with two hugely talented new members."