Famous Families Who Had Public Feuds Falling Outs
For all the perks that come with being a celebrity, there’s no denying that it’s known to cause some friction with your nearest and dearest — AKA your perhaps not-quite-as-famous family.
Where there’s money, power, and influence, there’s bound to be drama, and celebrity families like the Trumps, Jacksons, and even the British royal family have all fallen prey to in-fighting from time to time. The nature of these feuds varies wildly, be it a one-time thrashing in an elevator or years of targeted attacks through, say, publishing a series of pointed tell-alls (a well-worn practice when fighting with famous loved ones).
For these families, the difference is the fighting itself (sometimes physical) that’s played out in the public eye. However these families go on to resolve or not resolve the aftermath of these issues, there are some famous fights the public just won’t ever forget.
Read on for the family feuds that we can’t believe actually happened.
A version of this story was originally published in November 2020.
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Matthew McConaghuey & Mary Kathlene McCabe
Matthew McConaghuey discussed his 8-year estrangement with his mom on the Whine Down with Jana Kramer podcast in 2023, explaining that his mom’s habit of sharing his personal life with the media caused issues.
“Anything she asked me, I couldn’t tell her personally because she didn’t have a governor, she’d go to the press. She showed up on Hard Copy, taking people to my childhood room, showing people, ‘This is where he lost his virginity,'” he explained. “I need just a mom right now, not a fan and I didn’t have it.”
He added that he eventually rebuilt trust and is on speaking terms with his mom once again.
Jennifer Aniston & Nancy Dow
Jennifer Aniston’s fraught relationship with her parents began early in life after her dad left their home. “My house was not a fun house to live in,” she told Allure in 2022. “I was thrilled to get out.”
The pair reportedly didn’t speak for 15 years after Dow released a 1999 memoir From Mother And Daughter To Friend which included many personal details about her daughter such as Aniston seeing a psychiatrist for help in dealing with “boyfriend problems and some old issues with Dad.”
However, Aniston claims she healed the bond with her parents before they died.
“I forgave my mom,” she told Allure. “I forgave my father. I’ve forgiven my family.”
Caitlyn Jenner & The Kardashians
While the Kardashian family were publicly supportive of Caitlyn Jenner’s transition from the jump, tensions arose after Caitlyn spoke badly about ex-wife Kris in her 2017 memoir.
“I’ve never been so angry and disappointed in somebody in my whole life,” Kris vented on Keeping up with The Kardashians after the book’s release.
Caitlyn has not held back when it comes to criticizing her ex and former stepchildren in the media, even appearing in a Hulu documentary to accuse the family of orchestrating their fame, saying: “Kimberly calculated from the beginning, ‘How do I become famous?’”
Priscilla Presley & Riley Keough
Following the passing of Lisa Marie Presley on Jan 12, her mom Priscilla Presley and oldest daughter Riley Keough began a legal dispute over Lisa Marie‘s estate.
According to the Associated Press, Priscilla filed legal documents disputing the validity of a 2016 amendment to her daughter’s trust that removed Priscilla and replaced her with Lisa Marie’s two oldest children, Riley and Benjamin Keough.
The legal dispute was settled in June 2023 with Keough being declared the sole executor of the will. Presley was reportedly paid a lump sum. She later addressed the alleged feud, claiming there was never any ill will with her granddaughter.
“Riley and I are on good terms. We were never not on good terms. That was all publicity,” she said. “This is private and this is not something to fool around with and say that we’re not agreeing.”
Britney Spears & Jamie Lynn Spears
The feud between Britney Spears and her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears escalated very quickly — and all in view of the public eye. After gaining freedom from her 13-year conservatorship, Britney called out members of her immediate family for the pain and trauma they caused her for more than a decade. At the same time, Jamie Lynn was planning to share her side of the story.
Less than three months after her sister gained her freedom, Jamie Lynn’s memoir, Things I Should Have Said, debuted. The younger Spears sister’s publicity campaign for the memoir included going on podcasts, Good Morning America, and Nightline to share anecdotes from the book — including stories about her big sister and where their relationship stands today.
Britney continued to air her frustrations on social media, and the two sisters eventually began trading barbs on Twitter and Instagram. Finally, Britney issued a cease and desist letter to her little sister, requesting that Jamie Lynn abstain from sharing more stories about her.
Jamie Spears & Britney Spears
Few family dramas have played out in more dramatic detail than pop star Britney Spears long battle to have her father Jamie Spears removed as her conservator — a victory she finally won in September 2021 after he’d served in the role since 2008.
Speaking out in court in June 2021, Britney finally revealed how dire her circumstance had become under this arrangement, claiming she’d been prevented from having more children with then-fiancé Sam Asghari, that her medication was changed suddenly and dramatically, that her ability to see her sons was restricted, and much more. As the #FreeBritney movement surged on social media in wake of her testimony and new documentaries revisiting her media treatment, the tide finally turned for the Spears family, and Britney is now navigating life beyond her father’s control.
Meghan & Thomas Markle
Meghan Markle’s feud with now-estranged father Thomas Markle happened in the months leading up to her 2018 wedding day with Prince Harry. Despite Meghan’s pleas to respect their privacy, Thomas staged paparazzi photos and gave multiple interviews to the press, and ultimately decided against attending the London wedding after suffering a heart attack close to the date.
Meghan wrote her father a heartfelt letter that was later leaked in the media — for which Meghan successfully sued — in which she asked her father to stop using their names to make money from the press. Thomas’ increasingly scathing post-wedding interviews decrying Meghan’s choice to “cut him off” proved he simply wasn’t willing to do that, and Meghan’s relationship with him has been distant ever since.
Leighton & Constance Meester
Leighton Meester’s 2012 lawsuit win against mom Constance Meester seemed to be the final straw in this explosive mother-daughter relationship, after the actress claimed her mother had been spending the money she was sending home for her sick brother on personal expenses.
Constance countersued claiming she had been verbally promised $10,000 per month from Leighton for life, but ultimately dropped her claim. The judge ruled that Leighton was not responsible for any further support to her mother, and the pair don’t appear to have a relationship since.
Jay-Z & Solange Knowles
If your sister and your husband are getting into it this badly, a serious line has been crossed. After the 2014 Met Gala, security footage showed Solange physically attacking Jay-Z in the elevator of an afterparty after a heated exchange. They released a bland public statement claiming to have apologized and moved on shortly thereafter, but the Beyhive has long believed that Jay-Z’s infidelity was what pushed Solange over the edge that night.
Beyoncé briefly addressed the fight in 2014 lyric, singing: “Of course sometimes sh-t go down. When it’s a billion dollars on an elevator.”
Kyle Richards, Kathy Hilton & Kim Richards
The Richards sisters have gone through many ups and downs on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, beginning with Kyle and Kim’s explosive season 1 fight over inheritance and Kim’s addiction issues, which continued to be a source of tension for years.
Kyle later revealed she wasn’t on speaking terms with Kathy after being uninvited from Nicky Hilton’s 2015 wedding, which she ended up attending.
During Kathy’s stint on the show from 2021 to 2023, the sisters faced more tensions and went through many bouts of not speaking.
Kathy said in a 2023 interview that the group have many issues but will always love one another. “Things are obviously not great — I think most people know that,” she told E! co-hosts Justin Sylvester and Adrienne Bailon-Houghton. “But we’re family, we’re blood. We’ll always come back together.”
Angelina Jolie & Jon Voight
Angelina Jolie’s relationship with dad Jon Voight has had its ups and downs over her life, with their issues first beginning when he split from her mother Marcheline Bertrand after cheating on her.
They were estranged for many years, but reconnected after Bertrand died in 2007. Feud rumors flew again when he wasn’t invited to her 2014 wedding with Brad Pitt, and the latest rumblings of issues between this father-daughter pair stem from the fact that Voight has reportedly stayed in touch with Pitt post-split.
Eric & Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts grew up with the support (if somewhat overhanded) from her brother Eric Roberts, also an actor. But as his personal behavior spiraled out of control, Julia wound up taking sides against him in his ex-wife Kelly Cunningham’s custody battle for daughter Emma Roberts.
When Julia welcomed her twins in 2004, she also welcomed her brother back into her life, but Eric’s curious habit of taking credit for Julia and Emma’s acting careers has continued despite the reconciliation.
“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. When Julia first came to New York, I went into William Morris and I said, ‘Which one of you is going to sign my sister Julia?’” Eric told Vanity Fair in 2018. “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.
Madonna & Christopher Ciccone
Madonna was once close with brother Christopher Ciccone, but his scathing 2008 memoir Life With My Sister Madonna kicked off a feud that didn’t end until 2019. Madonna has recently patched things up with her brother for the sake of their aging father, but the wounds created in their sibling relationship won’t ever be fully healed.
Prince William & Prince Harry
Prince Harry and Prince William’s ongoing rift seems to have kicked off in 2018, when Harry began dating Meghan Markle.
As Harry told it in his memoir Spare, his and Meghan’s attempt to quash the British tabloid’s mistreatment of her didn’t always sit well with his older brother. With Harry alleging, in the book, that William even physically assaulted him during a heated argument, the brothers’ relationship seems irreparable now.
The Jackson Family
When Michael Jackson’s will turned out to have excluded his siblings, providing only for mom Katherine and kids Paris, Blanket, and Prince, all hell broke loose in the Jackson family. In 2012, siblings Jermaine, Janet, Tito, Rebbie, and Randy released a joint letter accusing the executors of their late brother’s estate of having falsified either the documents, circumstances of his death, or mother’s willingness to go along with the plan.
The following week, when Katherine mysteriously disappeared for eight days, they requested an emergency custody hearing that granted TJ Jackson, Michael’s nephew, temporary custody of Michael’s children, which Katherine publicly rebuked days later.
Just days before that hearing, there was an infamous incident in which Jermaine, Janet, and Randy showed up at Katherine’s house in the hopes of taking Michael’s children to an unknown location. Accounts from that night (and cell phone footage released in its wake) suggest that Janet may have slapped niece Paris and called her a “spoiled b*tch” and that Trent Jackson got into a physical altercation with the intruders before police arrived on the scene.
Kourtney & Kim Kardashian
When Kourtney stopped showing up to family events and announced that she was pulling back from Keeping Up With The Kardashians, it kicked off a feud between her and Kim the likes of which not even the most devoted KUWTK watchers had seen before.
Kim accused Kourtney of being “the least interesting to look at” while Kourtney called the whole family “disgusting” and come early 2020, the two were seen physically attacking each other in the latest season. Yikes!
Things between the two are still rocky but the pair are still supportive of one another… most of the time.
Candy & Tori Spelling
When Tori Spelling’s father Aaron passed away in 2006, it was reportedly a dispute over his will that first drove her and mom Candy apart. But Tori’s reality show and Candy’s memoir in the years that followed — both of which were highly critical of the other — certainly stoked the flames.
Candy went on to post a public letter accusing her daughter of shutting her out, and Tori went on The View to decline her mother’s request to reconcile. These days, they’re apparently on better terms.
Melania & Ivanka Trump
Former advisor and Vogue staffer Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has detailed a years-long feud between Melania and Ivanka Trump in tell-all Melania and Me, after years of frosty exchanges had the public wondering whether this stepmom relationship was as tense as it seemed. According to Wolkoff, “Princess Ivanka” (a name used by herself and First Lady Melania) has always been competitive with Melania, and never more so after they entered the White House, when Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka began a quiet campaign to use their political power for self-gain. Specific tiffs between Melania and Ivanka included Ivanka’s attempt to take over decorating the East Wing (the First Lady’s domain), and the fact that Ivanka was allowed to use the Trump name for her brand lines but Melania was not allowed to do so for her skincare line.
