Celebrity Family Feuds That Went Public

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A celebrity family feud is more than just a game show spin-off. With famous family members hurling accusations, insults, and general snark at one another in the public eye, these spats are the stuff that reality television thrives on and the general public eats up. Hearing that a celebrity has gone no contact with a family member or has gotten into a tabloid mud-slinging match captures the collective attention in a voyeuristic way. The public becomes invested, choosing sides and gossiping around the office water cooler as though these are people they actually know versus complete strangers. 

As for what fuels that fascination, it's hard to say. It could be driven by curiosity about the real life of a favorite celebrity. It could stem from a perverse satisfaction in learning that a seemingly perfect family is in fact flawed. According to child and educational psychologist Emily Crosby, it might just be because it makes people feel better about their own dysfunctional families.

"They make us think about our own family dynamics and feuds that have happened," she explained to Harper's Bazaar. Behavioral psychologist Jo Hemmings told the magazine that it also serves as a distraction from our own lives. "The world is in a wobbly place, so this ostensibly trivial news item that none of us are threatened by or that won't impact our own lives in any way is escapism," she said. Whatever the reason, the following family feuds that probably should have remained private nevertheless became the topic of many a public conversation. 

The reality show claimed "Hogan Knows Best," but behind the scenes it was clear he did not. The late six-time WCW heavyweight champion Hulk Hogan and his ex-wife Linda split after 24 years of marriage and launched a family feud that lasted for years. The couple shared two children, daughter Brooke and son Nick, and it was Hulk's affair with one of Brooke's friends that started the public war of words. Afterward, Brooke took to MySpace to express her disgust over the incident "[I'll] never forget the hurt they caused," she wrote in a now-deleted post (per The U.S. Sun). The aspiring singer-songwriter quickly changed her tune, however, and sided with Hulk, who was reportedly spending millions to try and further her career.

Although Linda received a sizable settlement, it wasn't enough to buy her silence. In her book, "Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes," she wrote, "I was always afraid he would kill me in one of his rages." Then there was the famous now-deleted Instagram story where a visibly distressed Linda called her ex a "complete liar" and "sex addict" and claimed that she hadn't seen Brooke for nearly eight years (per Today). In her own public Instagram post, Brooke explained that she had gone no contact with both parents due to the verbal, mental, and physical abuse she had endured her whole life. Things got worse before they got better, but the family had reportedly found some closure at the time of Hulk's death. 

The Osbourne family walked so the Hogans could run. In one of the first celebrity reality shows, MTV's "The Osbournes" followed heavy metal god Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, daughter Kelly, and son Jack as they navigated daily life. Audiences ate it up, but one person wasn't having it: Daughter Aimee refused to take part in the family circus and went public with her thoughts on it. "Back then, I still felt I was trying to figure out who I was in the chaos of family life, so why on earth would I want that portrayed on television?" the eldest Osbourne told The Independent. That decision resulted in Aimee moving out, and it may have caused a wedge between her and her two younger siblings, specifically sister Kelly. "I wouldn't say there is an ease between us," Aimee said in the same interview, "but there is an acceptance. Do we socialize? No."

But is that the real reason Kelly Osbourne and her older sister no longer speak? According to Kelly, it may be part of a bigger picture, and the younger Osbourne daughter fired her own shots on an episode of Dax Shepherd's "Armchair Expert" podcast. After confirming that she and Aimee were not on speaking terms, she added, "We're just really different. She doesn't understand me and I don't understand her." Aimee, who is a singer like her father and fronts the band ARO, did attend Ozzy's funeral with her siblings.

Caitlyn Jenner wrote the book on dishing the family dirt — literally. Most famously, she's the parent to Kendall and Kylie Jenner and stepparent to Khloe, Kim, Kourtney, and Robert Kardashian. Caitlyn was married to the latter kids' mom, Kris Kardashian, for 23 years before they called it quits. Since then, there has been a lot of public feuding and finger pointing  — but what do you expect from a family who rose to fame via reality television? The drama was fueled by a Vanity Fair interview where Caitlyn divulged details of her marriage to Kris, painting her ex in an unflattering light. When discussing the reason for their divorce, she said, "20% was gender and 80% was the way I was treated." Following that interview, Khloe went on the "Howard Stern Show" and claimed that the family was blindsided by Caitlyn's transition, which resulted in a phone fight between Caitlyn and Kris on an episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." 

Who knew what and when about Caitlyn's transition was a big point of contention in the family feud. In her book, "The Secrets of My Life," the former Olympian claimed that Kris knew of her gender issues all along. After that revelation (which Kris has publicly denied), the Kardashians and Kaitlyn called it quits. In a speech she gave at Cambridge University, she said (per the New York Post), "They don't want me in their lives. ... In the book, I express some opinions and got shot down."

When it comes to dysfunctional families, the Spears clan may be among the most toxic. But it wasn't always so bad. As kids, the Spears sisters were reportedly close despite their 10-year age difference. Big sister Britney collaborated with Jamie Lynn on a few projects, and the girls were often spotted on red carpets and at events hugging and smiling. As they grew up, however, tragic details about Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears' relationship emerged as the girls had spats on social media and spilled the family tea in tell-all memoirs. 

Anyone who follows Britney on Instagram is familiar with her long, cryptic rants and the heaping amounts of shade she has thrown at her family, including Jamie Lynn. According to Britney, her little sis tried to profit off the drama surrounding her conservatorship with her book "Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring It Out." "As I was fighting the conservatorship and receiving a lot of press attention, she was writing a book capitalizing on it," Britney shared in her own memoir, "The Woman in Me. "She rushed out salacious stories about me, many of them hurtful and outrageous." Jamie Lynn, who was also openly criticized by Britney's loyal fans, defended herself in a People interview. "It gets to a certain point where you can't help someone who doesn't want you to," the "Zoey 101" star said. "If it starts to become harmful or unhealthy for you and your well-being, then you have to remove yourself."

Everyone's favorite "Pretty Woman," Julia Roberts, followed her older brother Eric Roberts into the acting biz, but it wasn't long before her star (and her famous megawatt smile) outshone his. Then his daughter, Emma Roberts, rose to stardom, and suddenly Eric was best known as Emma's dad or Julia's brother. Maybe that's what prompted the one-time Academy Award-nominated actor to make some pretty ugly remarks about the leading ladies in his life. 

"If it wasn't for me, there would be no Julia Roberts and no Emma Roberts as celebrities, as actresses, and I'm very proud of that," he told Vanity Fair. "... And I am so proud that everybody knows I was first, because I was first by a long shot. I was first to get Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, so I'm proud of that." Those comments, combined with his years of drug use that cost him custody of his daughter, took a toll on Eric's relationships with both women. In 2024, he publicly apologized to them in his memoir, "Runaway Train: or, The Story of My Life So Far," and has admitted that his drug use made him "exhausting to be around." 

Unlike her father, Emma Roberts' relationship with her famous aunt is solid. The two even occasionally popping up in movies together or on each other's Instagram feeds. Emma has shared photos of them playing cards and Mahjong in their downtime — proof that these pretty ladies have each other's backs. 

One can't help but wonder if The Carters' song "Ape****" was based on Beyonce and Jay-Z's own sometimes crazy behavior. Ineed, the stars have given the public a glimpse into their often tumultuous private life more than once (who could forget "Lemonade"?). However, where the songs on that hit album allowed Beyonce to take control of the narrative, a public fight between Jay-Z and Bey's sister Solange Knowles wasn't so easy to manipulate. The incident occurred in the elevator at The Standard, High Line in New York, where the trio had attended a Met Gala afterparty. TMZ released surveillance footage from the elevator showing Solange screaming at her brother-in-law before physically attacking him repeatedly while Bey looked on. "Toward the end of the night, Jay said something inappropriate to Beyoncé and Solange, and [Solange] snapped," a source told People. "When they got in the elevator, it escalated quickly the way family tensions can. It got exceptionally heated the way family moments can."

After the "Jerry Springer"-worthy moment, the family scrambled to do damage control by releasing a joint public statement to the Associated Press. In it, they denied that alcohol was to blame for Solange's behavior and claimed that they had all put the incident behind them. "At the end of the day, families have problems, and we're no different," the statement read. "We love each other, and above all, we are family. We've put this behind us and hope everyone else will do the same."

From the moment she burst onto the screen in "License to Drive," at the ripe old age of 17, it was clear the girl with the big blue eyes was going places. Unfortunately, her family wouldn't be accompanying her on her journey to stardom. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Graham revealed that her conservative parents were unsupportive of her career choice, especially her father.  "My father, James, was an FBI agent," she shared. "He regularly told me that the entertainment industry was evil and that Hollywood would claim my soul if I became an actress and appeared in anything with sexual content." 

That didn't stop the talented young star from moving out at 18 to pursue her dreams or from playing roles like a teen porn queen in "Boogie Nights" and an escort-stripper in "The Hangover." Both films were big successes and allowed Graham to take her freedom from her parents one step further. "I stopped talking to my parents when I was 25, and I'm estranged from them now," she told The Wall Street Journal. "My friends are proud of me, and I'm proud of myself. I have really good friends." So why share her family trauma in the public eye? As the "Swingers" actor told People, "I know that there's a lot of other people who are going through something like it, so I guess I just feel like being honest about my life and not pretending that everything is always fantastic." 

Blair Waldorf may have led a charmed life, but "Gossip Girl" star Leighton Meester's life has been filled with tragic details, many of them surrounding her relationship with her mother, Constance. Unlike the Waldorf mother-daughter duo who enjoyed all the luxuries of an Upper East Side lifestyle, the Meester mom and daughter barely made ends meet and often relied on food stamps and welfare to survive. Once she made it big, the "Country Strong" star sent her mom a monthly allowance of $7,500 to help her pay the medical expenses associated with caring for Leighton's younger brother, Alexander, who has health issues. It soon came to light that the money was going elsewhere — namely on Constance's face and hair — and Leighton wasn't having it. She filed a lawsuit against her mother for misusing the funds and claimed that Constance had threatened to sue her for $3 million if she didn't up the monthly stipend to $10,000.

The drama played out in the public eye, with Constance filing a counter-suit claiming Leighton was going back on her financial promise and accusing her daughter of being physically abusive. "Leighton intentionally assaulted Constance by throwing her to the ground and repeatedly hitting her with a bottle," the legal papers say, per People. Leighton won the battle, but she was left with scars. "This whole thing's been really tough on Leighton," a source told People. "Her only concern has always been taking care of her brother."

Athletic, talented, photogenic, and seemingly untouchable, the Beckhams appear to live a life the rest of us can only dream about. But even dream lives can take a nightmarish turn, and that's what happened when Brooklyn Beckham lifted the veil on his family feud with a scathing David and Victoria takedown on social media. The rant came after months of speculation that all was not well with the Beckham crew and the glaring absence of Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola, from David's lavish 50th birthday party. 

As reported by People, the oldest of the four children born to the soccer god and the former pop princess hurled a number of accusations against his parents in the post. According to Brooklyn, "Family 'love' is decided by how much you post on social media, or how quickly you drop everything to show up and pose for a family photo." He also claimed that his parents "repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name, which would have affected me, my wife, and our future children." Brooklyn alleged that his parents have tried to ruin his marriage and said, "I do not want to reconcile with my family." Long-time family friend Gordon Ramsay spoke out to The Sun and predicted Brooklyn will change his mind. "I think it's going to be a matter of time before Brooklyn takes a good look at himself and understands just what his parents mean to him," he said. 

Jennifer Aniston had a complex relationship with her divorced parents, but it was her feud with her mom, model and actor Nancy Dow, that made headlines thanks to an estrangement between the two women that lasted for years. When Aniston shot to superstardom as Rachel Green on "Friends," her mom took the opportunity to pen a tell-all: "From Mother and Daughter to Friends." The book is full of personal stories and details of Aniston's life that the star did not see coming. Afterward, Aniston went no contact with her mom and reportedly didn't invite her to either one of her weddings. She also began to share her side of the story, opening up in the press about the kind of mother Nancy really was. "She was critical," she said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "She was very critical of me. Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning. I wasn't. I never was. I honestly still don't think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine."

Aniston's mother divorced her father, the soap opera legend John Aniston, when "The Morning Show" star was just a child. The actress has said that she had forgiven her now-deceased parents while they were still living. Ironically, however, she is set to star in the Apple TV series, "I'm Glad My Mom Died," based on the book by Jennette McCurdy. "We have a lot in common," Aniston told People of herself and McCurdy. "We had very similar moms."