These 15 Celebs Didn't Hold Back When They Called Out Fellow Stars For Bullying
Unfortunately, bullying isn't limited to schoolyards and lunch rooms. It's just as evident in the world of adulting, even among celebrities.
Over the years, we've heard several horror stories surrounding celebrities who've fostered toxic work environments, picked on colleagues, and straight-up bullied others. Below, we've rounded up 15 celebrities who've accused others of bullying.
1.Samantha Ware called out her Glee co-star Lea Michele for creating a hostile environment on the show's set.
After Lea Michele shared a Black Lives Matter post on social media, Samantha Ware blasted her co-star for making her life a "living hell" on set. She not only accused Michele of being incredibly mean but also alleged that she threatened to defecate in her wig. Michele faced immense backlash, resulting in numerous companies she was working with dropping her.
"Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! Cause I’ll never forget,” Ware tweeted, per Variety. “I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s*** in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”
2.The downfall of Chrissy Teigen came after Courtney Stodden accused her of cyberbullying.
Reality TV star Courtney Stodden accused Teigen of bullying them online during their teenage years. TMZ dug up old tweets from Teigen where she told a 16-year-old Stodden to kill herself amid backlash for their marriage to then-50-year-old Doug Hutchison.
"[Teigen] wouldn’t just publicly tweet about wanting me to take 'a dirt nap' but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself. Things like, 'I can’t wait for you to die,'" Stodden told The Daily Beast. Teigen apologized, which Stodden accepted, but it opened the floodgates for more people to step forward and accuse her of cyberbullying.
3.Lucy Liu accused Bill Murray of hurling insults at her on the set of Charlie's Angels (2000).
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Liu confirmed reports that Murray was verbally abusive on the set of the movie. "As we’re doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won’t get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on. I was, like, 'Wow, he seems like he’s looking straight at me,'" Liu recalled. "Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable, and I was not going to just sit there and take it. So, yes, I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it." She later admitted that the two of them ran into each other at a SNL reunion and the two were cordial.
4.Chevy Chase allegedly hurled racially insensitive remarks toward Donald Glover.
The two were staples of NBC's Community, but behind the scenes was palpable tension. In an interview with The New Yorker, Glover revealed that Chase would make derogatory remarks on the show's set, sometimes racially charged. In one instance, Donald Glover recalled Chase telling him, "People think you’re funnier because you’re Black.”
Community showrunner Dan Harmon said in the same article that Chase's actions were often rooted in jealousy. "I remember apologizing to Donald after a particularly rough night of Chevy’s non-P.C. verbiage, and Donald said, ‘I don’t even worry about it,'" he said.
Glover echoed a similar sentiment surrounding Chase's alleged envy. "I just saw Chevy as fighting time — a true artist has to be O.K. with his reign being over,” Glover said.
5.Taylor Swift allegedly labels Kim Kardashian a bully in The Tortured Poets Department.
Though Kim K basically inherited her ex-husband Kanye West's feud with Taylor Swift, who she also accused of bullying in the past, the Skims founder caught the latest strays from the Taylor on "thanK you aIMee," according to TMZ. In the song, she sings, "All that time you were throwin' punches, I was buildin' somethin' / And I can't forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed f*** you, Aimee to the night sky, as the blood was gushing. But I can’t forget the way you made me heal."
Of course, this is primarily related to the aftermath of Ye's single, "Famous," mentioning Taylor where he rapped about he "made that b*tch famous." Taylor claimed the portion of the song she heard did not include the derogatory term before Kim leaked an allegedly edited video of Swift's conversation with Ye about the song.
6.Kim Cattrall's feud with Sarah Jessica Parker stems back to their days on Sex and the City.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, Cattrall said that Parker could’ve been “nicer” to her on the set of the hit series. After admitting that the reason for her departure surrounded money, she explained how she was “bullied” for not agreeing to do a third movie. However, things became significantly worse when Sarah Jessica Parker offered public condolences to Kim Cattrall after the loss of her brother, Chris.“Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona,” Cattrall wrote.
7.Latto accused Nicki Minaj of using bullying tactics behind the scenes.
Power dynamics can truly shift the trajectory of a rap feud. For Nicki, the rise of artists like Cardi B and Latto seemingly threatened the narrative of her contributions to hip-hop. Latto previously called Nicki Minaj a "40-year-old bully" after the Queens MC labeled her an "entitled Karen." This came after some tension brewed behind the scenes, which came to light after Nicki aired her grievances with the Grammys for moving "Super Freaky Girl" from a rap category into a pop one, and simultaneously bringing up Latto's "Big Energy" as an example, per Billboard.
Unfortunately, Nicki faced similar criticism from a slew of others, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Similarly, Nicki's been accused of cyberbullying others online, including journalists, through weaponizing her fanbase.
8.However, Nicki herself was a reported victim of bullying at the hands of Mariah Carey.
During her time as a judge on American Idol, Nicki Minaj faced significant pushback from Mariah Carey, who reportedly felt the Pink Friday rapper had no business judging a singing competition. Varying reports emerged regarding the feud. Per People, one source stated, "Mariah has been saying little things to jab at Nicki from day one of shooting. Mariah doesn’t think Nicki can sing and doesn’t think she should be judging folks. Nicki has been taking all of the jabs, but on this particular day, she lost it," about the viral clip of the rapper snapping on set.
However, another suggested that Nicki was the aggressor. "There was a contestant who liked opera, and Mariah was talking to her as a pop singer who also liked opera,” another source said. “Nicki cut her off and slammed her fist on the table. Mariah may have been going on a bit too long but she did apologize. But then Nicki flipped out and started yelling."
Yet, in a subliminal tweet posted in October 2012, Nicki seemingly threw shade at Mariah, writing, "All I do is compliment u. That's not enuff? Ur a legend, cheer up. U don't have to run down ur resume or feel intimidated. Shady McGrady..."
Fast forward to 2017, Nicki was finally vindicated after Fox's president of alternative programming at the time, Mike Darnell, and American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe seemingly pointed the finger at Mariah. "The one you think was the problem — she wasn't the problem," Darnell said. Lythgoe added, "Nicki was not the problem...There are tapes buried in chainsaw."
9.Jennifer Lopez allegedly had smoke for Rosie Perez on the set of In Living Color.
Despite Perez reportedly vouching on Lopez's behalf to join the cast as one of the Fly Girl dancers, the "Jenny From The Block" star later turned around and became mean towards those on the cast. Eventually, she had a meltdown and blamed Perez and others for bullying her. "You pick on me, me and only me, every f**king day! Every f**king day! I work my ass off, deliver, and you keep pushing me aside, treating me like s**t! I know I’m good! I’m better than any of these girls, and you know it," Perez recalled Lopez telling her, per US Weekly. Once Lopez left the show, she reportedly continued to make "disparaging remarks" about Perez and others.
10.Michael Bay was tyrannical on the set of Transformers, according to Megan Fox.
Bay’s alleged behavior on the set of the Blockbuster franchise led Fox to label him “like Napoleon” while describing him as a “nightmare to work for" in an interview with Wonderland. She said this created a challenging environment on set due to his controlling nature and demanding personality. Things escalated further once Fox likened Bay to Adolf Hitler, leading her to get fired from the Transformers franchise.
According to Bay, Steven Spielberg insisted on her firing (Spielberg denied these claims). However, Fox said that the comments she made were misinterpreted. Fox’s career suffered afterward, but the two later reunited and reconciled once Bay cast Fox in the 2014 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
11.Kanye West called out Drake for allegedly threatening him and trying to bully him.
In the thick of their feud, Ye called out Drake for allegedly bullying him and others outside of the limelight – a sentiment that Kendrick Lamar echoed on "6:16 In L.A.," rapping, "Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person." As for Ye, he felt as though Drake tended to kick people when they were down, specifically as he grappled with being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. "Drake called trying to threatened me," West tweeted, per CBC. "There would never be a drake without a Kanye west so never come out your mouth with a threat."
Ye also brought up the fact that Drake tried to go at Kid Cudi as he was suffering from his struggles with mental health. In the song "Two Birds One Stone," Drake took low blows by trying to poke at Cudi's problems with addiction and depression. "You were the man on the moon, now you just go through your phases / Life of angry and famous," Drake raps. "You stay xanned and perc'd up, so when reality set in, you don't gotta face it / Look what happens soon as you talk to me crazy / Is you crazy?"
12.Jamie Lynn Spears was accused of bullying her Zoey 101 co-star Alexa Nikolas.
In an appearance on the Off the Rails podcast, Nikolas claimed that she faced a toxic environment where Spears allegedly targeted her with mean-spirited comments and exclusion. The bullying reportedly created significant tension, ultimately leading to Nikolas's departure after the show's second season. Jamie Lynn Spears then tried to turn the tables on Nikolas in her memoir Things I Should Have Said, claiming that Alexa was the bully on set, though no one really bought into it.
"Typical move for a bully to play the victim card/gaslight others while straight up lying... It's sad to see someone not change after all these years... Nothing that she said in her book about me actually happened," NIkolas said on Instagram in response to Spears' claims. "I wish I could go back in time and tell my 12 year-old self that you are extremely lucky not to have a friend like her. You are way better off without her. You don't need toxic people in your life like that and you deserve better."
13.Rose McGowan put Alyssa Milano's alleged toxic behavior on the set of Charmed on blast.
Following a spat over the 2020 DNC, in which Milano slammed McGowan's criticism of the Democratic Party, the Charmed co-stars gave the world a bit of insight into the reality of their working relationship. McGowan took the gloves off and claimed that Milano was not only difficult to work, with but also accused her of co-opting the #MeToo movement for personal gain.
"You stole #metoo (a brilliant communication tool, not a movement) from Tarana. You co-opted my movement, the Cultural Reset, for fame, jealous of me for outing my rapist. You made 250k per week on Charmed," McGowan tweeted, per People. "You threw a fit in front of the crew, yelling, 'They don’t pay me enough to do this s***!'" McGowan added in another post. "Appalling behavior on the daily. I cried every time we got renewed because you made that set toxic AF. Now, get off my coattails you f***ing fraud."
14.Charisma Carpenter called out Buffy The Vampire Slayer showrunner Joss Whedon for fostering a toxic work environment on the show's set.
Carpenter, who portrayed Cordelia Chase on Buffy and its spin-off Angel, alleged that Whedon had been abusive throughout the filming of the show. "Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” she wrote on Twitter, per US Weekly. “While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively."
This claim was later corroborated by others who worked with Whedon, including Amber Benson. Meanwhile, Sarah Michelle Gellar issued a statement of solidarity with the victims. "While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don't want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon,” Gellar shared in an Instagram statement. “I am more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently so I will not be making any further statements. At this time, but I stand with all survivors of abuse and I’m proud of them for speaking out."
15.Amber Rose said her ex, Kanye West, bullied her.
If there's one pattern in this list, it's that hurt people hurt people. In the case of Ye, he's also faced allegations of bullying others, including his ex Amber Rose. Following their split, Ye publicly made derogatory comments towards her, especially after he got together with Kim Kardashian. During his appearance on the Breakfast Club, he said he had to take 30 showers before anyone else wanted to date him after they broke up.
In an interview with Everyday Struggle, she pushed back against the public narrative surrounding her. "I see this a lot on the internet: ‘Amber’s going to hurt him,’” she said. “I have been the one that has been heartbroken. I have never cheated on any of my boyfriends. I still have never said anything mean about West... This is after six, seven years of constant bullying from him... I was quiet for so long.”
Did we miss any instances of celeb bullying? Tell us in the comments.
