From blockbuster blowups to slow-burning rivalries, these celebrity feuds show that sometimes the real drama unfolds behind the scenes.

9 explosive behind-the-scenes feuds between costars

From blockbuster blowups to slow-burning rivalries, these celebrity feuds show that sometimes the real drama unfolds behind the scenes.

By Declan Gallagher

July 15, 2026 8:00 a.m. ET

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Blake v. Justin ('It Ends With Us'), Vin v. Rock ('Fast Five'). Credit:

Netflix; Shutterstock

Hollywood loves a good feud almost as much as it loves a franchise, with some of the industry's most memorable clashes occurring in real life rather than onscreen.

One example is the now-settled dispute between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, whose *It Ends With Us* collaboration ended with dueling lawsuits, leaked texts, and a surprising legal ruling.

Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel are another infamous pair. Their battle became so heated that Johnson left the ultra-lucrative *Fast & Furious* franchise behind. (Though he got his own spinoff and later returned in *Fast X*, proving that everything in Hollywood is fluid.)

Some of these feuds were rooted in pay disputes, such as the dust-up between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall. Others, like the *Charlie's Angels* set imbroglio, stemmed from personality clashes and behind-the-scenes behavior.

Join ** as we revisit nine feuds destined to become part of Hollywood legend.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni tolerating each other (acting!) in 'It Ends With Us'.

One of the most explosive Hollywood feuds in recent memory erupted on the set of *It Ends With Us*, the hit adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel. Fans suspected something was off when star and producer Blake Lively and costar-director Justin Baldoni abstained from doing joint press — or even being photographed together — during the film's promotional tour.

Fuel was poured on the fire when sleuthing fans discovered that Lively and costar Jenny Slate had unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram.

Shortly after the film's premiere, Lively filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation against Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios, its co-founder Steve Sarowitz, and CEO Jamey Heath. She claimed the defendants orchestrated a smear campaign that caused roughly $100 million in reputational and economic damage.

Baldoni denied the allegations and filed a $400 million countersuit accusing Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Lively's publicist of defamation and extortion.

In April 2026, *The Hollywood Reporter* noted that a judge dismissed 10 of Lively's 13 claims, including her harassment and defamation claims, while allowing her retaliation and breach-of-contract claims to proceed. Baldoni was ordered to pay Lively's legal fees, but the court declined to award additional damages related to her alleged loss of work.

In May, Lively and Baldoni announced they had reached a settlement that allowed them to avoid a trial scheduled to begin two weeks later. In the April order dismissing most of Lively's claims, Judge Lewis Liman wrote that "certain conduct [on Baldoni's behalf] at least arguably crossed the line…. There are limits to the response that the accused can make in response to claims of harassment. There comes a point where the accused stops simply defending him- or herself and starts taking action that a reasonable jury could view as retaliation for the fact that the accuser had the temerity to make the accusations."

*THR *translated the legalese: "There's evidence that could lead a jury to conclude that Wayfarer planned more aggressive moves meant to destroy her career, according to the ruling."

In a joint statement announcing the settlement, the parties' attorneys redirected the spotlight to the film that spawned the tawdry saga. "The end product — the movie *It Ends With Us *— is a source of pride to all of us."

8 famous friendships between costars that ended — and where they stand now

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Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson debate the artistic merits of 'The Pacifier' and 'The Tooth Fairy'.

One of the most thoroughly documented feuds of the modern blockbuster age, Dwayne Johnson vs. Vin Diesel came to public attention in 2016 when Johnson posted an Instagram message directed at certain unnamed costars.

“Some conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals, while others don’t,” he wrote. “The ones that don’t are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling — you’re right.”

Though Johnson didn’t name names, rumors prevailed that he was calling out Diesel. He confirmed as much to *Rolling Stone* in 2018, clarifying that the feud had grown so intense that the pair didn’t really work together in *The Fate of the Furious* (2017).

“We were not in any scenes together," Johnson explained. "Vin and I had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer, What I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating.”

More blood was spilled before a recent reconciliation. In 2021, Diesel sounded off in *Men's Health*, claiming that as the producer, it was his job to give Johnson “tough love,” going on to basically take credit for Johnson’s previously well-established screen career.

“As a producer to say, ‘Okay, we're going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know’ — Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks,” he continued. “That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work… Not Fellini-esque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”

After sitting out the ninth installment, Johnson returned in *Fast X* (2023) for a mid-credits cameo which, according to the star, was the result of a “productive meeting” with Diesel.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall

Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall, both speechless, which is ... all too appropriate here.

Tension between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall dates back to the original run of *Sex and the City*. It was mostly rumors at the time, but Cattrall confirmed in 2004 that the tension was related to pay disparity.

“I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of *Sex and the City*,” she said. “When they didn’t seem keen on that, I thought it was time to move on.”

The show did not move forward with a seventh season. According to a 2008 set report ahead of the first movie’s release, the conflict began in the second season, when Parker was given an executive producer credit and her paycheck was bumped to $300,000 per episode.

While the cast maintained a united front, Cattrall was miffed at Parker’s raise and tried to negotiate for a higher payday, using Samantha’s fan-favorite status as leverage. This reportedly did not endear costars Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, with an anonymous source claiming Parker, Davis, and Nixon “wouldn’t even sit with [Cattrall] at mealtimes.”

“Are we the best of friends? No,” Cattrall admitted. “We’re professional actresses. We have our own separate lives.”

Still, she denied that stepping away was simply about money.

“It was a really tough time for me,” she told *The Telegraph*. “I was going through a divorce and my job of seven years was coming to an end. Then my dad was diagnosed with dementia. So I took a step back and returned to Canada, where my family is — that’s the reason behind it.”

Cattrall did end up starring in the film, telling *Marie Claire*, “The script and the experience of making the movie was the best possible reunion.”

For the better part of a decade, the feud lay relatively dormant. Despite reports that the two weren’t on speaking terms during *Sex and the City 2*, Cattrall blamed the feud’s genesis on tabloid journalists: “The press has to put women in these boxes, rather than show them as the movie portrays them: working together and being powerful. Things just have to be explosive for no other reason than for people’s imaginations.”

In 2016, Parker again downplayed the feud on *The Howard Stern Show*: “Was every day perfect? No, but this is a family of people who needed each other... This sort of narrative, this ongoing catfight… it really upset me.”

The conflict publicly resurfaced during negotiations for an aborted third *Sex and the City *film. While Parker expressed disappointment that the movie wasn’t moving forward, Cattrall publicly denied that she’d made any demands, as had been reported by tabloids.

In 2018, after Parker expressed “love and condolences” to Cattrall following the sudden death of her brother, Cattrall posted a scathing rebuke to her former costar: “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.”

When *Sex and the City* was revived as* And Just Like That*, Cattrall declined to return. But with some cajoling from HBO, she did make a brief, much-publicized cameo in the second season’s finale. As Carrie prepares to bid adieu to her longtime apartment with a luxurious dinner party, Samantha phones from her new home in London.

As part of the one-time return deal, *Deadline* reported that “Cattrall had no interaction with the *And Just Like That* cast or showrunner Michael Patrick King.”

Bill Murray and Lucy Liu

Bill Murray and Lucy Liu exchange kind words and mutual appreciation in 'Charlie's Angels'.

The conflict between Bill Murray and Lucy Liu on the set of *Charlie’s Angels* (2000) reportedly began during a script rehearsal in which Murray allegedly criticized lines assigned to Liu — who fired back.

In a 2021 podcast interview, Liu confirmed the confrontation, saying Murray used “inexcusable and unacceptable” language toward her.

“We had taken the weekend to rework that particular scene and Bill Murray was not able to come because he had to attend some family gathering,” she explained. “So it was everyone else, and we just made the scene more fluid. I wish I had more to do with [the rewrite], but I didn’t… Because I was the last one cast, and I probably had the least amount of privilege, in terms of creatively participating at that time.”

Liu didn’t elaborate on the rehearsal, but accused Murray of “hurl[ing] insults” at her when he learned of the revisions.

“I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down.”

On a 2021 episode of *The Drew Barrymore Show*, the host weighed in on the tension. “You want to know what happened? You want to spill the tea? Okay, so what really happened was Bill was just in a — you know comedians can be a little dark sometimes — and he just came in in a bad mood and what you have to know is how much Lucy stood up for herself… She literally said, ‘I do not accept that kind of behavior from you.’ And we all supported her and backed her up, and we moved forward.”

Murray did not return for the 2003 sequel and was replaced by Bernie Mac. He has yet to publicly address the feud.

Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte

Nick hates Julia, Julia hates Nick, in 'I Love Trouble'.

The Julia Roberts-Nick Nolte feud emerged during the troubled production of *I Love Trouble*, Charles Shyer’s famously messy 1994 journalistic thriller-romance. Before the movie was even released, Roberts lashed out at Nolte in *The New York Times*.

“From the moment I met him we sort of gave each other a hard time,” she explained, “and naturally we get on each other’s nerves.” She said that Nolte can be “completely charming and very nice,” but added “He’s also completely disgusting. He’s going to hate me for saying this, but he seems to go out of his way to repel people. He’s a kick.”

Nolte shot back: “It’s not nice to call someone ‘disgusting.’ But she’s not a nice person. Everyone knows that.”

A dissection of the on-set trouble published in the *Los Angeles Times* contended that the difficulties had more to do with the on-set environment than the stars.

“Other studio sources insist that any differences on the set were actually between the costars and Shyer and producer Nancy Meyers, with the filmmakers making Roberts and Nolte improvise repeatedly on the same line. ‘It drove them (Nolte and Roberts, in particular) nuts.'”

*I Love Trouble* flopped with both audiences and critics, many of whom rightly derided the lack of chemistry between the two stars.

In a 2022 interview, Nolte laid the feud to rest… more or less. Asked if he’s “buried the hatchet” with Roberts, Nolte responded, “No, I haven’t. Though it’s buried. I mean, it was absurd what we went through. It was partly my fault and a little bit of hers… It was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong.”

James Franco and Tyrese Gibson

James Franco, doing some Method acting in the rain, and Tyrese Gibson trying not to seem too annoyed.

The tension between James Franco and Tyrese Gibson originated on the set of Justin Lin’s military boxing drama *Annapolis* (2006).

“James Franco is a Method actor,” Gibson told *Elle* in 2007. “I respect Method actors, but he never snapped out of character. Whenever we’d have to get in the ring for boxing scenes, and even during practice, the dude was full-on hitting me. I was always like, ‘James, lighten up, man. We’re just practicing.’ He never lightened up.”

In the same interview, when asked to pick a celebrity whose house he would most like to “blow up,” Gibson selected Franco.

Gibson also told *Playboy*, “I never want to work with him again, and I’m sure he feels the same way. It felt very personal. It was f---ed up.”

Franco addressed the dispute the following year in *GQ*, admitting he “was probably a jerk… I was not purposely cruel to him, but I was probably so wrapped up in my performance that I was not as friendly as I could have been. This is such a stupid issue… when I’m asked about it in the press it makes it seem as if it’s still an issue. I think Tyrese is a sweet guy with a good heart. I wish him all the best.”

Will Smith and Janet Hubert

Will Smith and the original Aunt Viv (Janet Hubert).

Prior to The Slap, Will Smith’s oft-reported feud with *Fresh Prince of Bel-Air* costar Janet Hubert was a rare smudge on the star’s reputation. Such simple times those were.

In a 1993 interview, after Hubert left the show due to “creative differences” and was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid, Smith claimed Hubert wanted the series to focus more on her character.

“I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be *The Aunt Viv of Bel-Air *show… She’s mad now but she’s been mad all along. She said once, ‘I’ve been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.' No matter what, to her I’m just the Antichrist.”

In 2010, Hubert said she confronted Smith about what she perceived to be his racist sense of humor. “I was a dark-skinned, African-American mother, and Will used to tell the you’re-so-black jokes to the audience before the show, and at one point, I came out and stopped him… He didn’t understand how unbelievably disrespectful that was to women like me.”

The following year, she gave an incendiary interview with TMZ: “There will never be a reunion, as I will never do anything with an a--hole like Will Smith… He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up.”

The feud took a turn in 2018, when Smith complimented Hubert in a radio interview: “I think as an artist there’s so many things that she does. She sings, she dances, she’s like a really powerful artist. I loved what she brought to *The Fresh Prince*.”

Two years later, on HBO Max’s 2020 *Fresh Prince *reunion, Smith and Hubert buried the hatchet for good. Said Smith in his introduction: “We never really, together, publicly talk about Janet. And what happened. And, for me, it felt like I couldn't celebrate 30 years of *Fresh Prince* without finding a way to celebrate Janet.”

Calling the experience of her firing “insane,” Hubert explained that when she became pregnant during the third season, she was in the midst of an abusive marriage, which the cast and crew were not aware of.

“During that time of her pregnancy, I wasn’t sensitive,” Smith admitted. “Now that I’ve had three kids I’ve learned some things that I did not know at the time and I would do things very differently. But I can see where I made the set very difficult for Janet.”

Hubert explained that she was offered a “really bad deal” for season 4 that would’ve reduced her salary and prevented her from working on other productions.

“I was hurt deeply,” she said. “When I left the show, I had this new baby and no one. Family disowned me. Hollywood disowned me. My family said, ‘You've ruined our name.’ And I wasn’t unprofessional on the set. I just stopped talking to everybody because I didn’t know who to trust because I had been banished. And they said it was you who banished me. Because you were Will. It was hard.”

“I was so driven by fear,” Smith replied, explaining that he felt “everything was a threat” to his reputation as a 21-year-old artist.

Naya Rivera and Lea Michele

Lea Michele and Naya Rivera, not exactly seeing eye to eye.

One of many juicy tidbits of behind-the-scenes *Glee* drama was the rivalry between Naya Rivera and Lea Michele.

In April 2014, TMZ reported that a confrontation between the two resulted in one of them walking off set. Later that month, *E! News* reported that Rivera’s character had been written out of the season 5 finale.

In her 2016 memoir, Rivera directly addressed the feud, writing that she and Michele were “competitive” with one another professionally and personally, especially when she began to get more screen time: “One of the *Glee* writers once said that Lea and I were like two sides of the same battery and that about sums us up. We are both strong-willed and competitive — not just with each other but with everyone — and that’s not a good mixture.”

She continued, “Lea was a lot more sensitive, though, and it seemed like she blamed me for anything and everything that went wrong. If I’d complained about anyone or anything, she’d assume I was b----ing about her. Soon, she started to ignore me, and eventually it got to the point where she didn’t say a word to me for all of season 6.”

Rivera’s comments were back in the spotlight in 2020 when actress and singer Samantha Ware accused Michele of racism and creating a hostile work environment. Many actors, including former *Glee* costars Alex Newell and Amber Riley, as well as Yvette Nicole Brown and Abigail Breslin, publicly supported Ware after her allegations.

Michele apologized following Ware's remarks, saying that while she had "never judged others by their background or color of their skin," she had "used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings."

In 2021, Heather Morris said in a podcast interview that “the only person who was honest about [Michele’s behavior] was Naya… It was something that was very hush-hush on set.”

The following year, Michele acknowledged the allegations that she had created a toxic work environment. "I have an edge to me," she told *The New York Times*. "I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes. That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots."**

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette

Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette, in happier times. (Dog not pictured).

In the end, it was a dog-bite incident that reportedly sparked an irreparable rift between *NCIS* stars Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette. The two worked together for the show's first 14 seasons without issue, but by season 15, viewers began to notice that Jethro Gibbs and Abby Sciuto were no longer sharing scenes.

The trouble reportedly began in 2016 when Harmon brought his dog to work. The canine subsequently bit a crew member, who required 15 stitches. Perrette objected to the dog's continued presence on set. The "dog-bite incident" reportedly left a permanent fracture in the actors' relationship, so producers arranged for Perrette and Harmon to film their season 15 scenes separately.

"She did her scenes on one day and he did his work on other days, and they still produced a great show," a source told *TheWrap*. "It was simply scheduled that they did not work the same days."

In May 2018, Perrette posted a series of cryptic tweets alluding to "a very rich, very powerful publicity 'machine'" that she alleged was "keeping me silent."

“Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on *NCIS* and we are all going to miss her,” CBS said in its official response. “Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern… We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution. We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows.”

While the actress remained appreciative of CBS, she made it abundantly clear that she would never return to the franchise: “NO I AM NOT COMING BACK! EVER! (Please stop asking?)."

Perrette later announced her retirement from acting, confirming in 2024 that she had no intention of returning to the industry.

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