The Celebrity Feud Everyone Was Talking About the Year You Were Born
1989: James Woods vs. Sean Young
Now known for his bizarre, anti-LGBTQ tweets, James Woods was once embroiled in an even more bizarre battle with his The Woods co-star, Sean Young. The two allegedly had an affair while filming the movie but after Woods dumped her to go back to his fiancée, Young reportedly went Fatal Attraction on his ass. Reports of the affair came from on-set sources but the rest was all according to Woods, who sued Young for “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” She denied it and the matter was settled out of court, but not before the whole ordeal landed them both on the cover of People.
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1990: Sinead O’Connor vs. Frank Sinatra
O’Connor caused an uproar when she refused to allow the National Anthem to be played before a concert of hers at New Jersey’s Garden State Arts Center, which was the venue’s tradition. Sinatra performed at the Center a few days later and told the audience that O’Connor should leave the country, but also that he’d like to meet her, so he could “kick her in the ass.” She responded the next year, saying, “I can’t hit this man back, he’s, like, 78 years of age, and I’d probably kill him.” In 1992, O’Connor would go on to have an even bigger feud with the Pope when she tore a photo of him in half on Saturday Night Live.
NY Daily News
1991: Tyra Banks vs. Naomi Campbell
Campbell was one of the biggest supermodels on the planet, having graced the covers of many magazines, including as the first black woman on French Vogue. But come Paris Fashion Week in 1991, Banks was the hot new thing smizing her way to It Girl status. She was heralded as the “new Naomi,” which didn’t sit well with the Naomi. By 1993, Campbell reportedly straight-up refused to walk a Chanel runway with Banks, giving Karl Lagerfeld an ultimatum: “It’s her or me.”
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1992: Jay Leno vs. David Letterman
The biggest beef in late-night history reached the sizzling point when Leno officially began hosting The Tonight Show, replacing Johnny Carson. The problem? David Letterman, who hosted his own NBC show in the slot after Carson’s, was widely expected to land the gig. The 1991 shocker led to an appearance where Carson asked Letterman, “Just how pissed off are you?” Letterman replied, albeit jokingly, “You keep using language like that, you’re going to find yourself out of a job.” By ’92, Letterman had left NBC for CBS to helm Late Night With David Letterman — right opposite Leno’s time-slot.
Esquire
1993: Will Smith vs. Janet Hubert
Now, this is a story all about how … Aunt Viv’s life got flipped-turned upside down. Janet Hubert starred as the matriarch on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for three seasons but was suddenly fired in 1993 and replaced with Daphne Maxwell Reid. Smith addressed the exit in a radio interview: “I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel-Air Show because I know she is going to dog me in the press.” That she did. In an interview with Jet, she claimed Smith got her fired because she had to reprimand “him constantly for being rude to people and locking himself up in his room.” Hubert unsuccessfully sued Smith for “slander, negligence, and emotional distress” later that year, and decades later, she still hates his guts.
Us Weekly
1994: Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tonya Harding
These ice princesses were both at the top of their game when Kerrigan was brutally attacked after a practice for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. As Kerrigan lay on the ground famously crying, “Why? Why? Why?” the scandal became a national obsession. As it turned out, Harding’s ex-husband had hired help to break Kerrigan’s leg so rival Tonya could skate her way to victory at the Olympics six weeks later. With a limp and a bruise, Kerrigan was unable to compete at the Championships the next day, handing Harding the win. But Kerrigan had the last laugh, recovering in time for the Olympics and defeating her rival.