The Celebrity Feud Everyone Was Talking About the Year You Were Born

When two pop icons release huge albums just a month apart, you've got a sure-fire recipe for a feud. That was the case when Prince debuted 1999 in October, and MJ quickly followed suit with Thriller. The two late stars stayed quiet at the time, so not much more is known about why they butted heads, but according to Rolling Stone editor and Jackson biographer Steve Knopper, that silence was intentional. "I think both of those guys had an interest in keeping it somewhat mysterious because they are both mysterious dudes," he told Esquire.

An argument between the Love Story star and his 18-year-old son — who was just starting his own acting career — turned physical one day in May at the home of Farah Fawcett, Ryan's then girlfriend. Griffin tried a wrestling hold on Ryan, who retaliated by knocking out his son's two front teeth. Shortly thereafter, Griffin was sent to a Hawaiian rehab for his issues with drugs. In 2015, a 50-year-old Griffin revealed he was finally three-and-a-half years sober, but he was not in touch with his father, who was arrested in 2007 for allegedly assaulting Griffin with a deadly weapon.

In 1983, Williams was on top of the world as the first black Miss America. But her life came crumbling down the following year when the softcore magazine Penthouse announced it'd be publishing scandalous photos from her past. Two years prior, she'd posed nude for a shoot at the photo studio she worked at under the promise that she would not be "identifiable" in the photos, and that they'd never be released. The photographer betrayed her, and Penthouse ran them without her consent, forcing her to hand over the crown. She initially filed a lawsuit against both the photographer and the magazine, but dropped the case to move on with her life. By 1995, she was singing the theme song for Pocahontas, so it's pretty clear who came out on top here.

At the tail end of the year, bassist Roger Waters announced he was leaving the legendary rock group. Tensions had risen with Gilmour while working on their album The Final Cut, and well, Waters was no longer feeling "comfortably numb." The next year, Waters took the guitarist, Gilmour, as well as drummer, Nick Mason, to court to stop them from performing as Pink Floyd without him. They eventually made up, and Waters has since admitted to regretting the legal battle.

Long before she was eviscerating fugly red carpet dresses, Rivers was a staple of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She filled in for the host frequently and eventually became the show's permanent guest host. So it was quite a shock when she left to host her own show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. Carson felt betrayed, and banned her from appearing on his show, which his replacement Jay Leno continued through his tenure. It wasn't until Jimmy Fallon took over the reins in 2014 that Rivers was finally allowed to grace the set again.

Like MJ and Prince before them, these '80s pop tarts first battled it out on the charts—Gibson's first album Out of the Blue bowed in August, while Tiffany's self-titled debut arrived the next month. The two were pitted against one another in the press, but Gibson told Oprah in 2015 that the rivalry was overblown. "Debbie and I have really never been friends — up until now, which is funny," she said, before revealing where the source of the drama may have originated. "I think, also, a lot of management and maybe record labels like that rivalry," she said. "It keeps a little edge."

Dynasty soap star Joan Collins and her salacious novelist sister Jackie Collins were known for their sibling rivalry. It reportedly came to a head when Joan stepped on Jackie's toes by securing a multi-million dollar book deal with Jackie's publisher. The ladies always saved face in the press though, with Jackie telling the Los Angeles Times that they're "perfectly good friends." Sure.

Now known for his bizarre, anti-LGBTQ tweets, James Woods was once embroiled in an even more bizarre battle with his The Woods costar, 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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

The People's Princess and her husband, Prince Charles, had separated way back in 1992, and the dissolution of the royal couple's marriage was a source of endless fascination. In 1994, Charles admitted to cheating on her with Camila Parker Bowles, and the following year, Princess Di finally sat down for her first solo interview. "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," she revealed, while also admitting she'd been unfaithful. It got so much attention that a month later, the Queen wrote the pair a letter telling them to hurry up and divorce already.

After Tupac was shot in Manhattan, Biggie released the track "Who Shot Ya?," which the former interpreted as a diss track. He responded in turn with multiple disses of his own, heating up a coastal rap war. Of course, this epic feud came to an end in September of '96, when Tupac was shot and killed in a drive-by. Six months after that, Biggie suffered the same fate. Both deaths remain officially unsolved.

You gotta do what it takes to win, and if you're Mike Tyson, that means sinking your teeth into some human flesh. In the third round of the now notorious "Bite Fight" between the two boxers, Tyson bit off a chunk of cartilage from Holyfield's ear. Tyson was disqualified, giving Holyfield the win — if you call coming out of a fight with less than two full ears winning. Tyson was fined $3 million and had his boxing license revoked.

Stop us if you've heard this one before: woman gets internship; woman has multiple sexual encounters with President of the United States; President declares he "did… not... have… sexual… relations... with that woman"; woman's blue dress disagrees.

The two stars came to blows while filming their football movie Any Given Sunday. They played mere rivals in the movie, but during shooting, things got so tense that both men punched each other in the face. Police were called, but no charges were filed. It wasn't just a friendly misunderstanding either — the following year, LL released the track "U Can't F—k With Me," which included the line "Once and for all, what's my opinion on Jamie Foxx? He's a pussy."

Eminem got real shady when he dropped this jaw-dropping line in "The Real Slim Shady": "Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs so I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst and hear 'em argue over who she gave head to first." Aguilera did not take kindly to the accusation, telling MTV News, "It's disgusting and offensive and above all it's not true." Two years later, Aguilera released the feminist anthem "Can't Hold Us Down," which presumably references Eminem when the pop star sings, "It's sad you only get your fame through controversy."

The two rap titans' feud dated back to 1996 when they began taking coded shots at one another in their music. The beef reached a fever pitch, though, in September 2001 when Jay released "Takeover," a track that questioned Nas's street cred, as well as his rap abilities. Fans thought it was a career-killer, but then Nas released the even more vicious response, "Ether," which included calling his nemesis "Gay-Z." Both songs are now considered among the biggest diss tracks of all time.