These days, it certainly seems like when celebrities are feuding, we hear all about it. Whether it's a diss by way of song lyrics ("baby now we've got bad blood" ...anyone?) or a celebrity Twitter feud lighting up the headlines, celebrity drama is often played out, detail by detail, in painfully real time. However, that's not to say that celebrities didn't feud back in the '90s, it's just that social media wasn't around to exacerbate every blow. There are plenty of celebrities who didn't get along in the '90s, but back then, their feuds were dissected in weekly tabloids instead of tweet roundups.
Many of these celebrities worked together, which definitely made for some awkward on set experiences. Others simply worked in the same industry and, well... had less-than-flattering feelings about each other. Celebrity feuds are always juicy because they seem so much more over-the-top than normal people's fights, and it's much more enjoyable to read about celebrity gossip than to actually live any real-life gossip... right? Some of these '90s celebrity feuds may have been forgotten by time, but it's definitely time to resurrect them from the vault. Some managed to salvage a friendship in the aftermath of the drama, but others likely won't be hanging out anytime soon.
1-2. Madonna & Courtney Love
Nothing is more awkward than a feud caught on camera, and that's exactly what happened at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards when Madonna was being interviewed by MTV's Kurt Loder. Apparently, Love decided to throw her makeup compact at Madonna, and Loder took the bait, inviting Love to join the interview. What ensued was a whole bunch of awkwardness between the Queen of Pop and the Queen of Grunge. Even though this happened over 20 years ago, I don't think they'll be making music together anytime soon.
3-4. Shannen Doherty & Jennie Garth
Though they played BFFs on one of the '90s most popular teen shows, these two Beverly Hills, 90210 co-stars apparently had real-life drama in spades when cameras weren't rolling. Garth admitted that there were times on set when they wanted to “claw each other’s eyes out.” Yikes. It seems the two have rekindled a friendship in their adult years. Garth wrote in her 2014 book Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde "It was more of just young girls finding their way and finding their individual voices. Shannen and I are both Aries women, we're both very strong, independent women, so we butt heads a lot. Now, as grown women, we happen to get along as well."
5-6. Shannen Doherty & Alyssa Milano
Doherty's feud with Garth wasn't her only on set feud in the '90s. Doherty was reportedly dismissed from the WB series Charmed after feuding with her onscreen sister Milano, which caused plenty of tabloid drama during the show's run from 1998 to 2006. Of Doherty's dismissal after three seasons, Milano admitted on Watch What Happens Live in 2013,
"I don’t know if she got fired, we never really found out what happened. I can tell you that we were on the air with her for three years and there were definitely some rough days. Holly [Marie Combs] and Shannen were best friends for like 10 years before the show started so it was very much sort of like high school. I would hope that in our thirties it wouldn’t feel like that anymore ... but it was the best job I’ve ever had in my life and certainly a learning experience."
For her part, Doherty told Entertainment Tonight in 2001,
"There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work. I’m 30 years old and I don’t have time for drama in my life anymore. I’ll miss Holly a lot … she’s one of my best friends and I love her dearly, and there were never, ever, ever any problems between the two of us."
6-7. Claire Danes & Leonardo DiCaprio
Danes and DiCaprio played the titular star-crossed lovers in 1996's Romeo + Juliet, but they apparently didn't share the same love for each other in real life. It was rumored that Danes found DiCaprio immature on set and the two avoided each other as much as possible, but it seems they've since mended fences — ahead of the 2016 Academy Awards, Danes told Entertainment Tonight about if she thought her former costar deserved a win, saying, "Absolutely! The dude is a genius. He's been a genius for decades and he's not very old. He's such an exquisite actor and we've all adored him. He's been under-appreciated in that kind of formal, blingy sense — yes."
8-9. Sarah Jessica Parker & Kim Cattrall
Despite playing onscreen BFFs Carrie Bradshaw and Samantha Jones on Sex and the City, multiple reports claimed that the actors didn't get along well between takes, with Cattrall reportedly taking umbrage with a pay discretion between she and Parker. Parker reportedly told Marie Claire in 2010, "sometimes feelings get hurt," but the ladies seem to be pals now, having since reunited for two movies.
10-11. Biggie & Tupac
Sadly, this '90s rap feud ended in a fatal way, with both rappers losing their lives within months of each other in 1996 and 1997. As the story goes, early 90’s, both Tupac and Biggie represented labels on opposing sides of a "west coast vs. east coast" rap rivalry. It's never been clear how much of this feud was real or media-created, but the results ended in a tragic loss of life for both rappers. Neither case has ever been settled.
12-16. Geri Halliwell & The Other Spice Girls
For Spice Girls fans, May 31, 1998 will forever be "a date which will live in infamy." It's the day that Halliwell (aka Ginger Spice) abruptly left the group, breaking the hearts of Spice fans around the globe. In 2014, Melanie Brown (aka Scary Spice) opened up about the drama that ensued, reportedly telling Larry King that the ladies "fought like cats and dogs" at the height of Spice mania, but added, "When Geri left the group, it was bad. She left on my birthday, and didn't tell anybody… Just didn't show up. We had the rest of the tour. The American part of the tour." Brown said there was bitterness "for a long time" between the two, and she still loves to joke with Halliwell about it. "I still remind her of it," Brown said. "Like, I saw her a couple weeks ago and I said, 'Do you remember when you left on my birthday?'" Thankfully, the two are tight as ever now, proving that Girl Power is alive and well.
18-20. Bea Arthur & Betty White And Rue McClanahan
Apparently, things in Miami weren't always so warm on the set of the beloved TV classic The Golden Girls. It's long been rumored that Arthur had issues with White off camera, with White reportedly revealing in 2011, "Bea had a reserve. She was not that fond of me. She found me a pain in the neck sometimes. It was my positive attitude — and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she'd be furious!" McClanahan also admitted that she and Arthur clashed. In 2006, McClanahan said, "Bea and I didn’t have a lot of relationship going on. Bea is a very, very eccentric woman. She wouldn’t go to lunch [with me] unless Betty would go with her. She was very dependent on keeping everything as it always had been, and I was anything but that." The trio seemed to be cordial after the show's ending in 1992.
21-22. Will Smith & Janet Hubert
Hubert, who played the original Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince of Bel Air revealed that she was fired from the show and replaced due to Smith. In 2011, Hubert didn't mince words when she told TMZ, "There will never be a reunion ... as I will never do anything with an asshole like Will Smith. He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn't know the word."
23-24. Julia Roberts & Nick Nolte
Nolte and Roberts played love interests in 1994's I Love Trouble, but couldn’t stand each other in real life, preferring to act with stand-ins instead of joining each other to shoot scenes. Reports of the time suggest that Roberts hated Nolte’s "machismo," and allegedly slung insults at him on set. Yikes.
Many of these feuds have thankfully long since ended, but in the '90s, they were at the height of celebrity drama. Oh, if only Twitter existed back then.
Images: Buena Vista Pictures; Paramount Pictures
