Miriam Margolyes’ biggest feuds after she calls star ‘unfriendly’

We take a look back at some of Miriam Margolyes' most jaw-dropping one-sided feuds and scathing comments about celebrities now that Margolyes has called Lily Allen "unfriendly", a decade after they shared the Graham Norton sofa together.

Harry Potter star Margolyes became a national treasure thanks to her laugh-out-loud comedy performances and outrageous statements. However, it's no secret though that the comedian has shared her unfiltered opinions on celebrities including Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This week Margolyes sparked conversation when she said she "disliked" Not Fair hitmaker Allen after an awkward encounter that happened in 2014.

On the Graham Norton sofa, the actor said she always gives her opinion on an ad she is working on. At the time, Margolyes said: "I know better than they do, that is the truth. I'm experienced and I need to help them sometimes. The grammar is often bad."

To which, laughing pop star Allen said: "She really doesn't want to listen to my songs."

In 2024, Margolyes told author Philippe Sands of Allen: "She thought when she was on the programme that it was all about her."

She added: "She wasn’t friendly and I didn’t like that and so I showed my dislike, which wasn’t very nice of me because she was much younger than me and I should have just taught her how to behave."

We take a look at some of the other celebrities that the Harry Potter actor has taken aim at over the years, including fellow Hollywood stars.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Margolyes sensationally claimed Schwarzenegger farted in her face on the set of 1999 film End of Days and she even called him "rude". Hilariously she has told the story several times over the years.

She said on the I've Got News For You podcast in 2022: "He's a bit too full of himself and I don’t care for him at all. He’s a Republican, which I don’t like." She added: "He was actually quite rude. He farted in my face. Now, I fart, of course, I do — but I don’t fart in people’s faces. He did it deliberately, right in my face."

In 2015, she told Reader's Digest: "I was in the horror film End of Days with him in 1999, playing the Devil’s servant Mabel. I had my throat sliced by a glass table at the end, and I remember Schwarzenegger farted right in my face when I was down on the floor, trying not to move. I shouted, 'F*** you, Arnie!' I was really cross."

Leonardo DiCaprio

Margolyes raised eyebrows when she called DiCaprio "smelly" when they worked together on the 1996 Baz Luhrmann adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

In 2022, Margolyes made the confession while being interviewed by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on the This Morning sofa. Willoughby said Margolyes and DiCaprio had a "great friendship" and even went shopping together.

But Margolyes couldn't resist telling the story about the Hollywood star being "smelly". She said on This Morning in 2022: "He was a bit smelly because it was very hot in Mexico and young boys don't make themselves fragrant, they don't wash all the bits."

John Cleese

Margolyes crossed paths with John Cleese at Cambridge University when she was the only girl performing in the 1962 Footlights show. While she praised him being a "brilliant comedian" in his hey day, she claimed he had "gone sour" when reflecting on their time at Cambridge together.

Last year, she told The Guardian: "Graham Chapman and John Cleese were poisonous. John was a brilliant comedian in his day, but something has turned. Like milk, he’s gone sour. He’s an irrelevance."

Mick Jagger

Margolyes penned in her 2023 memoir that Mick Jagger was "smug" and a "c***" when their paths crossed. They met when the actor was starring in a London stage adaptation of The Vagina Monologues alongside Jagger's girlfriend at the time Sophie Dahl in 2001.

She wrote in her book Oh Miriam! Stories from an Extraordinary Life: "She may have been voicing a vagina in the production but if anything, he was the c***. He was always so smug and a smug c*** is a turn-off."

She repeated the claims in an interview with The Guardian last year.

Yahoo has reached out to the representatives of Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Cleese, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lily Allen for further comment.

Read more

• Miriam Margolyes names one ‘unfriendly’ Graham Norton Show guest she ‘disliked’ (The Independent, 2-min read)