While Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger played a loving mother and daughter in the 1983 film, Terms of Endearment, their real-life relationship couldn’t have been further removed from what we saw on-screen. MacLaine apparently grew rapidly tired of Winger’s antics. The young actress just wasn’t up to MacLaine’s standards of professionalism. In fact, it was rumoured Winger even lifted her dress directed an epic fart in MacLaine’s direction. Which is disrespectful, sure… but seriously, would you not laugh?
Failed fart jokes aside, their relationship had already turned almost completely to ice when the pair were both nominated for the Best Actress award at the Oscars. Placing them in competition like that sealed the deal on their shared loathing for each other. In the end, it was MacLaine who won. Her reaction was a shout “I deserve this!” Pretty sure we know who that was directed at.
Isaiah Washington vs. T.R. Knight
Three seasons into the hit TV show, Grey’s Anatomy, and Isaiah Washington (who played Preston Burke) was loving life. Then a behind-the-scenes argument that he wasn’t even involved in started a series of events that would lead to his eventual dismissal from the show. Okay, so T.R. Knight (who played George O’Malley) got into a pretty heated bickering match with Patrick Dempsey (who played Derek Shepherd). The fight was leaked and reported in the tabloids and, in its wake, Knight got proactive, went to the press, and, amidst all the furor, came out as gay.
This is where Isaiah Washington comes into it. He really shouldn’t come into it, but apparently, he does. In an epic example of what not to do when a colleague comes out as gay, Washington allegedly repeated a homophobic joke he’d directed at Knight when the fight was in full flight. That’s right, he didn’t just say it that one time on set, he repeated it—while he was backstage at the Golden Globe Awards. Well, it seems he certainly made himself heard because his character was immediately written out of Grey’s Anatomy.
Julia Roberts vs. Nick Nolte
Here’s another case of stars filming their shared scenes separately. While you can kind of see it working with characters who are friends, it’s stunning to imagine two actors in a romantic comedy not ever actually filming a scene together. Yet that is apparently exactly what happened in the 1994 film, I Love Trouble. It was reported that co-stars, Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts hated each other with such intensity that they couldn’t even film many of their scenes together. Body doubles were used to create the on-screen chemistry you see in the film.
After filming was finished, you’d think the pair would be able to just forget about each other and move on. However, it seems the two were unable to let it go. In an interview with The New York Times, Roberts sunk a double-edged word-sword into Nolte’s personality, saying that while he could be “charming and nice, he’s also completely disgusting.” Nolte wasted no time taking an equally nasty dig back at Roberts, saying no nice person would call someone “disgusting” and then following that up with: “but she’s not a nice person. Everyone knows that.” Ouch!
Mariah Carey vs. Nicki Minaj
If you like ridiculously exaggerated showdowns, then you’re going to love this feud. After just a handful of weeks working together as American Idol judges, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj entered full diva meltdown mode. On Minaj’s side, the vocal violence reportedly escalated to threats of gun violence and her rage spilled out into an expletive-ridden rant that was, of course, shared with TMZ.
The whole thing apparently kicked off because Mariah thought Nicki had no singing talent and so wasn’t fit to be a judge on the show. Mariah eventually left American Idol and, in a radio interview with New York’s Hot 97, she said that period of time was like working “with Satan.” While she was careful not to mention Minaj by name (smooth move), it’s not hard to put the pieces together.
Debra Winger vs. Um… Everyone?
Debra Winger had everything going for her in the 80s and even into the 90s. Audiences loved her and she was getting solid roles in films that went on to enjoy sterling reviews from critics. However, as her notoriety as an actress was blooming, so too was another, darker reputation. There’s only so long you can keep feuds with co-stars on the down-low; especially if you’re also making rude (and often wildly inaccurate) public critiques of your fellow actors.
Remember the feud with Shirley MacLaine we mentioned earlier? It turns out MacLaine nearly threw in the towel completely on Terms of Endearment. She was apparently so close to leaving that they had to drag her back from the airport. Winger also compared Richard Gere’s acting style to “a brick wall,” and weirdly described John Malkovich as “nothing more than a catwalk model.” To her credit, she wasn’t discriminating with her attacks. She was known to give journalists a hard time, apparently even making one reporter interview her outside so she could bail if she didn’t like a question.