Star siblings who famously fell out

Perhaps the messiest and most public feud that has kept audiences on the edge of their seats for decades is that of the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel.

Their feud is so famous that hundreds of articles have been written on the complete timeline of their tiff, and when their band Oasis announced their 2025 reunion tour, fans were sceptical that they’d even make it past the first show.

The Manchester-born brothers clashed from the very beginning as they tried to wrestle control of the band from each other.

During their meteoric rise to fame in the mid-’90s, their onstage spats became part of the show; who could forget when Liam hit Noel with a tambourine during an LA gig? Or when Liam questioned the paternity of Noel’s daughter? Or their numerous studio walkouts and threats to quit the tour?

Their constant insults towards each other in the press and their public brawls came to a head in 2009 when they fought backstage before a show in Paris. “[Liam] storms out of the dressing room and…picks up a plum,” Noel recounted at a press conference in 2011.

 “He threw it across the dressing room, and it smashed against the wall…So then he leaves and goes to his own dressing room and picks up a guitar. He comes back in, and he starts throwing it around like an axe.”

Noel later released a statement claiming he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer” and that he was leaving the band.

Their feud moved to social media next, with the pair making constant jabs at each other. During this time, Liam also sued Noel for libel after his brother claimed Liam had pulled out of an important show because he was hungover. 

It would take many hours and thousands of words to properly unravel the messy feud between the Gallagher brothers, but we will leave you with these golden quotes that capture how they feel about each other.

Noel told Q magazine, “He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.” For his part, Liam insulted his brother when he didn’t appear at the premiere of their documentary, Supersonic.

“Oh no, Noel won’t be here,” he told a reporter. “He’s in one of his really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really big houses. Probably eating tofu while having a face peel, isn’t that right, man of the people?”

For a feud now embedded in rock folklore, we have popcorn ready to watch the drama unfold on their reunion tour. 

The two Hollywood heavyweights were set up to fail from the start; when their parents divorced, Eric went to live with their father, while Julia and their other sister, Lisa, lived with their mother.

While the Pretty Woman star has kept quiet about their alleged feud, Eric has been forthcoming about their relationship and how they are steadily patching things up. 

Their sibling connection soured when Eric was struggling with drug addiction during the mid-’80s, which came to a head when he split from his partner, Kim Cunningham. Subsequently, they entered into a bitter custody battle over their daughter, Emma Roberts.

Julia financially supported Kim during this battle, taking sides against her brother. In a 2018 Vanity Fair interview, he reflected on how his behaviour pushed his loved ones away. “I was exhausting to be around: complainy, blamey, unable to enjoy enjoyment,” he said. “Everyone in my world needed a break sometimes, and that must have included Julia.”

In the same interview, the Hollywood veteran made awkward statements about how his career had preceded his sister’s and paved the way for her as a celebrity and actress.

“I am so proud that everybody knows I was first because I was first by a long shot,” he said. “I was first to get Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, so I’m proud of that.” 

Six years later, the father of one retracted his comment in his book, Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far. “One of the things I’d like to apologise for in this book is for publicly saying on more than one occasion, ‘If it wasn’t for me, there would be no Julia Roberts,'” he wrote. “That’s not only unfortunate, but it’s also untrue.” 

He continued, “And I hope Julie will accept this more public apology. It was an asinine thing to have said. I was proud of her, but it was pride turned on its head, to my own advantage.”

Once upon a time, Prince William and Prince Harry were as tight-knit as brothers can be. However, rumours of an alleged royal rift between the two began when Meghan Markle entered the scene.

While much of Harry and Will’s alleged feud has played out through unverified sources in the press, Harry has shared a few words on their relationship over the past few years, giving royal fans insight into their tiff.

The situation seemed to escalate in 2019 when Harry was seen largely ignoring his older brother at a royal Easter service in April. Then, two months later, Harry and Meghan officially split from their joint charity with Kate and Will.

Harry opened up about their sibling bond in the Harry & Meghan: An African Journey documentary, revealing that they were taking space from each other. “Part of this role and part of this job, and this family, being under the pressure that it’s under, inevitably, you know, stuff happens,” he said. 

“But look, we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers. And we’re certainly on different paths at the moment, but I’ll always be there for him, as I know he’ll always be there for me.”

He continued: “We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy, but you know, I love him dearly. The majority of this stuff [in the press] is created out of nothing, but you know, as brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.”

Tensions escalated in January 2020 when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their plans to step away from royal life in a bombshell announcement.

After rumours flew that the sibling relationship had reached a tipping point, a spokesperson for the brothers released a joint statement damning the press for spreading these false claims.

 “Despite clear denials, a false story ran in a UK newspaper today speculating about the relationship between The Duke of Sussex and The Duke of Cambridge,” they wrote.

“For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful.”

However, Prince Harry later revealed that he had not agreed to the joint statement. In a 2022 interview, he stated that the palace had attached his name to the statement without his consent, and he had no involvement in its release.

Harry delved deeper into their alleged tiff during the explosive interview with Oprah in March 2021. “As I’ve said before, I love William to bits. He’s my brother. We’ve been to hell together. But we’re on different paths,” he revealed. 

“The relationship is ‘space’ at the moment. And time heals all things, hopefully.” The final nail in the coffin came when the father of two shared that he had a physical altercation with his brother in his memoir Spare.

“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me,” Harry wrote after the pair allegedly fought over Meghan.

 “It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”

While the brothers have come together on multiple occasions since then, their relationship still seems distant at times.

It is always sad to see once-close sisters have a very public falling out, especially in the wake of Britney’s conservatorship, which kept her financially tied to her family.

The pair were inseparable growing up, and they seemed supportive of each other until Britney accused Jamie Lynn of being complicit in her conservatorship and capitalising off her fame.

When Jamie Lynn released her memoir Things I Should Have Said, Britney hit back on social media, claiming her sister was lying about numerous issues. “The timing of your book was unbelievable Jamie Lynn…especially knowing the whole world had no clue what was really done to me!” she wrote on Instagram.

“My whole family including you is saying YOU DIDN’T KNOW…[expletive]!!! The nerve of you to sell a book now and talk [expletive] but your [expletive] lying. I wish you would take a lie detector test so all these masses of people see you’re lying through your teeth about me!!” 

She continued her tirade, writing, “I wish the almighty Lord would could come down and show this whole world that you’re lying and making money off of me !!!! You are scum, Jamie Lynn.”

The “Toxic” singer also accused her sister of taking advantage of her pain. “As I was fighting the conservatorship and receiving a lot of press attention, she was writing a book capitalising on it. She rushed out salacious stories about me, many of them hurtful and outrageous,” Britney wrote. 

Despite a lot of back and forth on social media and in the press, it seems the siblings have made up since, with the Grammy winner writing about their reconciliation in her book, The Woman in Me.

“She will always be my sister, and I love her and her beautiful family,” Britney wrote. “I’m working to feel more compassion than anger toward her, and everyone who I feel has wronged me. It’s not that easy.”

 In 2023, Jamie Lynn spoke on Good Morning America about how healing their rift isn’t always easy. “I did take the steps to help, but how many times can I take the steps without, you know — she has to walk through the door,” she said. 

“There was a time where my sister asked me on her trust and will if I would be the person who was sure that her boys got what she needed.”

Fingers crossed that the famous sisters have reunited for good!

Thank goodness for Keeping Up With the Kardashians; if it weren’t for that show, how else would we have a front-row seat to Kim and Kourtney’s feud?

Despite trading small jabs over the years (like when Kim called her the “least interesting to look at”), it wasn’t until Kourtney’s 2022 wedding to Travis Barker that the relationship truly soured. 

The whole affair was styled by fashion house Dolce & Gabbana in a punk-rock vibe that befitted the bride and groom. Then, two months later, Kim was announced as the brand’s new face, which did not sit well with Kourtney.

“My mom has known Dolce & Gabbana for a long time and they were always asking me — even before the wedding — if we could do a book,” Kim said in a confessional on the show.

“Kourtney and Travis just worked with Dolce and that was her whole vibe of her wedding. Then after the wedding, I got a call saying they wanted me to creative direct their fashion show in Milan. I think this is such a good opportunity that I don’t want to pass this up.” 

The eldest Kardashian then accused her sister of stealing the spotlight and using her wedding as a “business opportunity”. In season four of The Kardashians, the feud heated up during an explosive phone call between the sisters.

“You cannot stand someone else being the centre of attention,” Kourtney said over the phone. “You came to my wedding, you couldn’t be happy, you complained from the second you got there till the second you left…you couldn’t be happy for me; you couldn’t be happy that I was the centre of attention.”

Kim hit back, claiming that the family shared a group chat called ‘Not Kourtney’, where her friends came to vent about the mother of four; she even said that Kourtney’s kids would go to her to complain about their mom.

 The pair appear to have buried the hatchet since, writing it off as being siblings. “We’re sisters,” Kourtney said in a confessional. “I think people forget. They always say like, ‘How are they gonna get through it?’ and they pick sides. Everyone gets really riled up.” 

“I’m sure a lot of people have had crazy fights with their siblings. Maybe ours are more extreme.“

While the Cyrus family have sadly been through years of ups and downs since Miley’s rise to fame on Disney Channel, her strained relationship with her younger sister, Noah, takes the cake. 

Noah has spoken at length about growing up as a superstar’s little sister, revealing on Instagram Live in 2020 that it was “absolutely unbearable”.

“And that’s why I write, ‘My sister’s like sunshine / Always bringing good light wherever she will go / And I was born to rain clouds / When they blew the flame out / Blessed in her shadows,‘” Noah said of her song, ‘I’m Stuck’.

“Because that’s why everybody always says to me that no matter what, I was going to be in that shadow.”

Miley addressed the lyrics on The Joe Rogan Experience months later, calling her sister’s music “the most depressing EP you’ll ever listen to” because of her “emo” lyrics that detail the difficulties of Noah growing up in her shadow.

The ‘Flowers’ singer shared that she was worried about her little sister; later, Noah commented on the video via X, writing, “The disrespect in this video…” 

The next part of their sibling drama came when they took opposite sides in their family feud.

While Miley served as a bridesmaid at their mother Tish’s wedding to Prison Break star Dominic Purcell, along with their siblings Brandi and Trace, Noah skipped the event and instead posted a picture to social media with her other brother, Braison, while wearing a Billy Ray Cyrus shirt.

The Carter family have endured unimaginable tragedy over the years, with the loss of their patriarch and three of the children: Bobbie Jean, Leslie, and Aaron. While the family had a tumultuous public life, it’s the feud between Aaron and his brother Nick that made headlines.

Nick, a Backstreet Boys member, was seemingly close to his popstar younger brother until tensions boiled over while filming their short-lived reality show, House of Carter, and they got into a fistfight. 

“My brother and I have always had an up-and-down relationship,” Aaron told US Weekly in 2017. “We’re brothers — what do you expect? We both do the same thing, too, so there’s always going to be an underlying competition.”

In Nick’s 2013 memoir, Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It, he explained that their difficult childhoods led to animosity between the brothers. “The turmoil and drama never seemed to end with my family,” he wrote.

“Havoc ruled most of the time, and we all paid a price for it. Because most of us couldn’t handle it well, it ultimately drove us apart.” At the time, it appeared the pair had reconciled.

That is until Aaron skipped Nick’s 2014 wedding to Lauren Kitt; then, the ‘I Want Candy’ singer was arrested for a DUI in 2017, which prompted a message from Nick.

“To my brother: I love u no matter what & if u feel the need to reach for help, I am here and willing to help you get better,” he tweeted. “Family isn’t always easy, [but] we’re all here for you.”

However, Aaron was not impressed with this show of support; he hit back on social media, saying that his brother never visited despite only living three hours away.

The pair’s relationship reached a breaking point in 2019 when Nick took a restraining order out against Aaron over fears that his wife and child were in danger. 

It wasn’t until Aaron’s tragic death in November 2022 that Nick spoke about his brother, revealing the pain he was experiencing over the loss.

“My heart has been broken today. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded,” he wrote on Instagram.

“I have always held onto the hope that he would somehow, someday, want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed.”

He continued: “Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know.”

The Jonas Brothers are one of the rare bands who break up and find their way back to each other years later; they’re like the Disney version of the Gallaghers. After shooting to fame as young teens, the JoBros enjoyed astronomical success until they suddenly broke up just before their tour began.

Nick revealed in their documentary Chasing Happiness that he felt trapped and stunted in his career just before their split. “Nothing is working. We hate each other, basically,” he said at the time. 

“When it ended, it was not good,” the ‘Jealous’ singer later said in an interview with Z100. “It was a couple years of rebuilding our family, and in our mind, it seemed impossible for us to do this ever again.”

As for Joe, he felt blindsided by Nick’s decision to leave the band. “[Nick said,] ‘The band is over, I want to go do stuff without you guys, and I’ve made up my mind.’ I felt betrayed. I felt lied to. I felt angry — numb,” he revealed in the documentary.

On Kevin’s part, his brothers felt that he was more focused on his new marriage to Danielle Deleasa than on the band — a stance they’ve since apologised for after starting their own families. 

The brothers each went off to do their own solo projects before finally reuniting in 2019 to the joy of Camp Rock fans worldwide. They then embarked on their redemption tour, topping charts left and right and solidifying themselves as certified pop stars.

Nick, Joe and Kevin shared that it took a lot of therapy and honest conversations to reach that point. “We need to make sure that everyone feels comfortable, and just focus on being brothers,” Kevin told his brothers in the documentary.

“[We have to] probably stop looking at [our dynamic] through rose-coloured glasses, too, and actually have an open conversation about it.”