From sisters-in-law Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice to Duchess Meghan and her father, Thomas Markle, these famous families have had their share of public feuds
Famous Family Feuds
From sisters-in-law Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice to Duchess Meghan and her father, Thomas Markle, these famous families have had their share of public feuds
From sisters-in-law Melissa Gorga and Teresa Giudice to Duchess Meghan and her father, Thomas Markle, these famous families have had their share of public feuds
In September 2019, Nick filed a restraining order against Aaron over a comment he allegedly made about wanting to kill the Backstreet Boys member’s wife, Lauren Kitt, and their unborn child.
“In light of Aaron’s increasingly alarming behavior and his recent confessions that he harbors thoughts and intentions of killing my pregnant wife and unborn child, we were left with no choice but to take every measure possible to protect ourselves and our family,” Nick tweeted at the time.
At the same time that Nick posted his statement, Aaron slammed his older brother, claiming that he had “bullied” him his “whole life.
“LEAVE ME ALONE. FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. IM BEGGING YOU. PLEASE,” he tweeted. “I haven’t even seen you guys and nick you bullied me my whole life. And tortured me as a child. And everyone knows it. ITS BEEN PUBLIC. and now you’re scared of the truth.”
50 Cent and his eldest son, Marquise Jackson, began feuding after Jackson’s mother, Shaniqua Tompkins, sued the “In Da Club” singer for $50 million for funds she said he promised to take care of her with. Though the suit was tossed out by the court in 2009, the tension between the family members lingered on. In July 2018, Jackson trolled his dad with a Father’s Day photo of himself dining alone with two empty plates. “Father’s Day lunch lol,” he wrote. In October 2018, the Grammy winner mocked his ex on social media when her plans for a reality show with Nas were revealed. “See right here Shaniqua this is the life rights agreement you signed. See this paragraph here says you can’t do reality TV OK. LOL.” Jackson stuck up for his mother, commenting, “And y’all wonder why I don’t respect him as a father. You had a good run but it’s over big fella lol it’s been a decade. You’re 40+ you can grow up any day now.” Things reached a new peak in November 2018, when 50 Cent commented on a reposted photo of his offspring with rival Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff's son on a fan account, saying that if both men "got hit by a bus," he "wouldn't have a bad day."
Us Weekly confirmed in 2014 that Aaron was estranged from his parents and brothers Luke and Jordan after he started dating Olivia Munn. Sources alleged at the time that the NFL quarterback’s family didn’t trust the actress. The strain between Aaron and his family made headlines again after Jordan appeared on — and subsequently won — season 12 of The Bachelorette in 2016. During his hometown date with JoJo Fletcher, Aaron was noticeably absent and Jordan briefly addressed the feud.
“It pains both us, like, not to have that relationship [with Aaron]. We miss our brother,” Jordan told Fletcher at the time. “I trust that God brings things full circle and that everything would just get back to us being a family.”
Munn, for her part, spoke publicly about her relationship with Aaron in May 2018, one year after they split. She claimed that the Green Bay Packers star “hadn’t spoken to the parents and one brother for like eight months” before they started dating.
Jordan slammed Aaron again in November 2018 after the football pro encouraged his Twitter followers to donate to the victims of the California wildfires. In response, Jordan wrote: “PLEASE DONATE, SPREAD AWARENESS & SEND LOVE. But when your own Mom is home alone during the fires, car packed ready to evacuate, & you miss the fundamental first step of compassion; calling your parents to make sure they are safe… Everything else just feels like an act.”
While Duchess Meghan’s estranged half-sister, Samantha Markle, initially said she had “love” for her younger sister following Meghan’s engagement to Prince Harry, things quickly soured when Samantha penned what many perceived to be a slamming tell-all, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister. Samantha also took offense to a comment Harry made on BBC Radio 4’s Today show in December 2017, in which he called the royal family “the family that I suppose [Meghan’s] never had.” “She has a large family. She always did,” Samantha hit back. Things got worse from there, with Samantha likening Meghan to Cruella de Vil and sending a nasty birthday message to her sister’s husband. She was later denied entry to Kensington Palace despite a televised apology on U.K. talk show Jeremy Vine in October 2018.
Tension between the former Suits star and the lighting director began to brew after Thomas was caught staging photos with paparazzi in May 2017, with reports that Meghan was “hysterical” over the scandal. Several days after the incident was exposed, he underwent a heart surgery that prevented him from attending his daughter’s wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018. A source told Us Weekly in July 2018 that the Duchess of Sussex “lives in fear” that her dad will leak their communication. Later that month, Thomas slammed his daughter, saying that he was hurt that she had cut him off after he said “a few critical words” about the royal family. “What’s sad is that sometime in the next year Meghan and Harry will have a baby and I’ll be a grandfather, and if we’re not speaking I won’t see my grandchild,” he added. “How tragic is that, to deprive a child of its grandfather because I said a few things critical of the royal family,” he told The Mail on Sunday. He also compared his British in-laws to a cult — “like Scientology” — to The Sun in August of that year.
Love and Cobain, daughter of the late Kurt Cobain, were estranged for several years. Love lost custody of her daughter when she was 11 years old to Kurt’s mother. They had a tumultuous relationship in the time that followed: In April 2012, Love claimed Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl seduced Frances, then 19. Frances denied Love’s claims and said, “Twitter should ban my mother.” Love apologized, tweeting, “Bean, sorry I believed the gossip ... Mommy loves you.” The two appeared to patch up their feud later that year, sending each other Christmas love via social media. By 2015, they were hugging at the Sundance Film Festival and enjoying mother/daughter date nights.
The Bravo star has been estranged from her mother Bernadette Birk for “well over a decade.” Birk spoke out against Frankel to the press in October 2011, saying her daughter's marriage to Jason Hoppy wouldn't last. On an episode of Bethenny Ever After in March 2012, Frankelsaid she “hates her” mother and “will never ever speak to her again.” Their feud was still going strong as of 2017, with Birk calling her daughter a “moron” to Life & Style in May of that year. “She got very lucky, and she just knows how to surround herself with people who are intelligent."
The Real Housewives of New Jersey stars are not always the closest of sister-in-laws. “Family is everything to me,” Teresa wrote in her Bravo blog in October 2011. “If my only brother [Joe Gorga] was married to someone who didn’t crave the spotlight, I know we’d all be a family like we always were.” Gorga wrote in her own blog in April 2012 that Giudice is trying to ruin her marriage. Though the “On Display” singer told Us that the two were “good” in 2014, (“When push comes to shove we’re going to back each other up”), their feud turned nasty once more in 2018 as seen in an exclusive Us trailer for season 9 of the hit Bravo series.
Dow spoke out to the press and wrote a tell-all, From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir, about her famous daughter. Aniston wasn't happy and didn’t invite her mother to her wedding to Brad Pitt in 2001. The two were estranged for nine years, but Jen’s divorce from Pitt in 2005 brought them back together. Dow died in 2016 at the age of 79 after a long illness.
Drew’s parents, Jaid and John Barrymore, divorced when she was young. The actress grew up going to Studio 54 with her mother Jaid and got involved in drugs. She went to rehab at age 13 and at 15 she became emancipated. After years of being estranged, Drew reconciled with her mother following her father's death in 2004: "She loves [my book]," the actress told Ellen DeGeneres in November 2015. "I gave her a copy. We’ve talked about it very intimately and I have to say it was such an extraordinary year of my life writing this book. I came to terms with so many things. It’s a love letter to my daughters (Olive and Frankie) and writing as a mother now myself and my daughters it was just, I found humor in places I didn’t have it before. I had a new perspective where it was different."
The Teen Mom 2 star and her mother have a notoriously tumultuous relationship that has been well-documented on the hit MTV series. The pair even battled it out in court for custody of Jenelle’s 9-year-old son, Jace. Barbara was ultimately granted permanent rights to her grandson in September 2017, with Jenelle receiving visitation rights. “I don’t consider her as my mom anymore,” Jenelle said at the time. “She’s completely ruined our relationship.” The reality star later served her mother with cease and desist papers for making what she claimed were “false statements about alleged drug and child abuse” and “bad language.” Still, the TV personality appeared to make amends with her mom by August 2018, with the women posing for a picture together on an ice cream outing with Jace.
Brothers and bandmates Noel and Liam Gallagher have been estranged since 2009, when Noel quit Oasis after what Noel described at a press conference as a physical feud. Liam was not invited to his brother’s nuptials to his wife, Sara McDonald, in June 2011. Though the pair were expected to reunite in June 2017 for Ariana Grande's One Love benefit concert for victims of the Manchester bombings, Noel was a no-show. Liam expressed his anger at the time, apologizing for his brother’s absence via Twitter. “Noels out of the f--king country, weren’t we all love get on a f--king plane and play your tunes for the kids you sad f--k,” he wrote in June 2017. Just over a year later, Liam expressed an interest in reforming the band with his brother by his side. "Earth to noel...I forgive you now let's get the BIG O (Oasis) back together and stop f--cking about" he tweeted in July 2018. When Noel failed to respond, Liam tweeted again the following day: "I'll take that as a NO then as you were."
Lorenzo Lamas became estranged from his son, AJ Lamas, after reports surfaced in 2002 that Lorenzo’s wife, Shauna Sand, had an affair with her stepson, then 18. AJ denied the reports and their feud was aired on the family’s 2009 reality show, Leave It to Lamas. Lorenzo did not come to his son’s defense in 2015 when he was arrested for allegedly stealing from Target and punching a security guard, telling TMZ: “My son and I have had a difficult relationship … He's in a very difficult spot … My heart and prayers go out to him."
Aaron filed for emancipation from his mother/manager Jane in 2003. The singer alleged there were financial discrepancies in his account. However, Aaron, and Jane eventually reconciled, with the "Sooner or Later" singer telling TMZ in September 2017 he frequently communicates with his mom, adding, "My mother and I are just fine."
Brooke did not approve of the new man her mother, Linda Hogan, started dating after she filed for divorce from Hulk Hogan in 2007. Linda dated Charlie Hill, who was 29 years younger. "She was always my hero when I was growing up," Brooke said. "I feel like I have to be the mother now." In April 2017, however, Linda was there for her daughter when the “Dear Mom … ” singer lost her dog, standing by her side as Brooke cried over her since-found Pomeranian, Molly, on Inside Edition.
Debbie Nelson sued her son Eminem for $10 million claiming slander for the lyrics about her in his 1999 hit song, “My Name Is.” She wrote a memoir in 2008 titled My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting the Record Straight on My Life As Eminem's Mother to clear her name, but Eminem followed up with another song titled, “My Mom.” The two made up years later, with the rapper releasing 2013’s “Headlights,” in which he expressed love for his mom, and apologizing in a 2014 track called “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.”
Mackenzie alleged in her 2009 memoir, High on Arrival: A Memoir, that she had a nearly decade-long sexual relationship with her father, the late John Phillips. Her former stepmother Michelle Phillips denied the allegations saying, "I have every reason to believe it's untrue."
The mother and daughter began feuding after Tori’s father, Aaron Spelling, died in June 2006. Tori claimed she learned of her father’s death through email causing a public fight. Candy later wrote a public letter criticizing Tori for inviting her to a birthday party for a granddaughter she had yet to meet. But the two have worked at reconciling, becoming “very close” in 2018 as a source told Us. The source also revealed that Candy has been helping her once-estranged daughter with her finances, paying for Tori’s children (the actress is mother to Liam, Stella, Hattie, Finn, and Beau, to go to private school.
Reasons for Jolie’s estrangement from her father Voight are unclear, but Voight has said it occurred after his divorce from Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand. Voight begged for reconciliation and the chance to see his grandchildren, but said his daughter needed help with “mental problems.” The two eventually did reconcile in 2007 after Bertrand’s death: The First They Killed Off My Father writer and producer appeared on the red carpet with Voight and her six children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox, at the film’s premiere in September 2017.
Kate Hudson told Vanity Fair in 2000 that her biological father, Bill Hudson, “doesn't know me from a hole in the wall. But I don't care. I have a dad.” Kate’s parents Goldie Hawn and Bill divorced 18 months after Kate was born in 1979. Goldie’s long-time boyfriend, Kurt Russell, raised the actress. In 2011, Bill released a memoir titled, 2 Versions: The Other Side of Fame and Family. Four years later, The Hudson Brothers singer publicly disowned both Kate and her brother, Oliver Hudson. "They don’t care and are not surprised by this," a source told Us at the time. "It’s been this way, and he’s been saying this stuff forever."
Tatum described her childhood as toxic and was estranged from her father, Ryan, for 25 years. She claimed she used drugs and alcohol in her teens, had been molested by family friends and tried to commit suicide. Tatum documented their reconciliation in her memoir, Found: A Daughter’s Journey Home. In a 2012 interview, Ryan said, “I suppose I was” a bad father. Tatum expanded on her allegations to The Mail on Sunday in October 2018, saying that she “suffered years of abuse, both emotional and sexual.” She also told the publication that her assaulters included a friend of her dad’s and another was a boyfriend of her late mother, Joanna Moore's. “When your parents are off getting drunk or high, they are not watching what happens to their children,” she said. Ryan has not responded to the allegations.
Madonna and her younger brother, Christopher Ciccone, were close siblings until he released a memoir titled, Life With My Sister Madonna, in 2008. He had worked as her assistant and wrote in The New York Times bestseller details of her marriage to Guy Ritchie. Ciccone said his view of Madonna changed after seeing her documentary, Truth or Dare. He told Good Morning America, "At one point, if you've seen the Truth or Dare movie, when she's rolling around on my mother's grave that — that was a turning point for me in my relationship with her.” The siblings briefly reconciled, but Christopher slammed her again in August 2017, telling The Sun, “I could have written that book, the book about how horrifying she is or can be, but I didn’t write that book.”
With a long history of arrests and drug use, Michael Lohan’s relationship with his daughter Lindsay had been strained for a long time. While Lindsay was going through legal troubles of her own beginning in 2009, Michael spoke out to the press asking for help in saving his daughter. But Lindsay responded on Twitter, “My father is a lunatic and doesn't even deserve such a title since he's never been around in my life other than when he'd threaten me and my family.” The Mean Girls star gave an update on her family during an appearance on The Wendy Williams Show in 2018, saying they were “great.” “I think that, you know, in life, parents have their things together and sometimes the children are immersed in it and you just have to really step back and let your parents do what they do and figure out everything for themselves,” she added. The actress was also on-hand to celebrate her dad’s 58th birthday with mother Dina in New York City in April 2018.
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