What Katy Perry and Taylor Swift can learn from these 10 epic celebrity feuds

Gwyneth vs. Winona

These days, the lifestyle guru and purveyor of GOOPness is best known for feuding with medical fact, which kind of makes you long for the good old days of girl drama. Picture it: Hollywood, 1997. Gwyn is fresh off her breakup with Brad Pitt, and turns to her gal pal Winona for support. They double dated Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, sported matching short haircuts and were generally the coolest celebrity besties around. Until they weren’t. According to industry lore, that’s because the script for Shakespeare in Love had originally gone to Winona. Gwyneth spotted it at her house, called her agent and by Oscar season 1999, she was on stage accepting a statue in that bubblegum pink ball gown. (Gwyneth swears that’s not how it went down, btw.)

Joan Crawford vs. Bette Davis

A rivalry so juicy, Ryan Murphy made a TV series about it. For those who haven’t seen Feud yet, the two women became the best of frenemies on the set of the classic camp thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Both were actresses “of a certain age” at that point, and both were desperate to stay in the spotlight by any means necessary. When Betty scored the 1963 Best Actress Oscar nom for her work in Baby Jane, Joan retaliated by reaching out to other actresses in the category. The trophy went to Anne Bancroft, who was unavailable to attend. But no matter, Bancroft’s good pal Joan Crawford was happy to accept the award in her place.

Trump vs. Rosie

This game of put-down ping-pong began back when she was a host on The View and he was a sleazy real estate developer (sigh, simpler times). First Rosie referred to The Donald as the “snake oil salesman from Little House on the Prairie,” based on his gig running the Miss Universe pageant. Then the future pussy-grabber shot back by calling his rival a slob and a loser, displaying the kind of casual misogyny that would eventually get him elected to his country’s highest office. (Double sigh.) Then, just when you thought the feud was dormant, he resurrected it last month with (what else?) a Twitter post.

Tom Cruise vs. Brook Shields

In 2005, Shields released a book called Down Came the Rain about her struggle with postpartum depression, which detailed how anti-depressants helped her get through it. Enter Tom Cruise, who had no personal knowledge of Shield’s situation, but still felt justified in calling her actions “irresponsible,” and suggesting that “vitamins and exercise” might have been better options. (Scientology forbids mind-altering medication of any kind, btw.) Shields fired back, saying, “Tom should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them.” But not long afterwards she attended his wedding in Italy, so apparently fences were mended fast.

Debbie Reynolds vs. Liz Taylor

Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds were Hollywood’s golden couple — just like us with better hair and better tans. Everything was picture perfect until an irresistible raven-haired beauty named Liz came along. Many have pointed out the similarities between this love triangle and Brangelaniston, but this betrayal was really much worse, since the two women were good friends — Debbie was even maid of honour at Liz’s wedding to producer Mike Todd. But then Todd died in a plane crash and Taylor sought a little too much comfort from her BFF’s husband. Debbie and Liz didn’t speak for years, but they did eventually reconcile.

Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift

Technically we can blame Beyoncé for instigating this longstanding rivalry. It all started back at the 2009 VMAs, when Tay beat Bey for Best Female Video and ‘Ye rushed the stage to voice his objections. Kanye later apologized, then un-apologized, and then un-apologized again via the lyrics to his song “Famous,” where he called Swift a b-word and took credit for her fame. This became a whole separate soap opera, with West claiming that he had sought Swift’s permission in advance, and Swift saying this was false… until Kim Kardashian-West posted video of a phone call between the two on her Snapchat account. The takeaway: Taylor may not be as aw-shucks innocent as she seems, but Kanye’s addiction to attention is exactly as advertised.

Jennifer Aniston vs. Angelina Jolie

Long before hashtags, there were T-shirts — and you were either Team Aniston or Team Jolie. Twelve years, two divorces and infinity trumped-up tabloid narratives later and the gossip world finally seems to have calmed down about the two women who will forever be linked to one William Bradley Pitt. Except, wait…did you hear that Brad is apparently texting Jen again?!?! Angie’s not gong to be happy about that.

oprah-vs-letterman

Oprah vs. David Letterman

Everyone assumed that the talk show queen’s dislike for the late night host originated with his infamously unfunny “Opraaaaah, Umaaaaah” Oscar gag. But it actually goes back further, though the exact inciting incident is still up for debate. According to Letterman, it began when he and Oprah were dining at the same restaurant at some point in the eighties and he told the waiter to put his lunch on Oprah’s tab (classic Dave). But gossip columnist Kitty Kelley says it dates back to an uncomfortable appearance she made on The Late Show in 1989, where a bunch of drunken goons in the front row jeered at her. But beef doesn’t have to last forever, as the two talk show giants proved when she agreed to appear on The Late Show in 2005; they’d later look back on their 16-year estrangement on an episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter.

Madonna vs. Gaga

When Gaga released her single “Born This Way” in 2011, many people commented that the track sounded a whole lot like another song by another blond bad girl of pop. The Material Girl concurred, saying Gaga’s song was, “a wonderful way to redo [“Express Yourself”].” When asked about the perceived similarities last year, Gaga said that while Madonna is “a nice lady” and all, what she does (playing her own instruments, writing all her own music) is “very different” — which is some seriously passive aggressive shade. But then, we all know Gaga loves a good beef (see meat dress).

anthony-vs-paula

Anthony Bourdain vs. Paula Dean

In 2011, he said she was “the most dangerous person in America,” peddling heart attacks with her homespun “goodness” (read: fried chicken and Velveeta fudge). She said that he was a food snob who wouldn’t know good home cookin’ if it popped him in the $650 bottle of Pinot. The next year, Dean announced that she had Type-2 diabetes and (incidentally) had signed a $$ endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk, which treats the disease. Bourdain responded tartly on Twitter: “Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later.”

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