When a romantic relationship ends, there's a social understanding that this is a hard time. We expect that people will be deeply in their feelings, maybe having regular threesomes with Ben & Jerry's, and listening to sad song after sad song. We expect that people who've gone through a romantic split might get a little emotionally messy and we have sympathy for them. But just as devastating, but rarely talked about, is the trauma that happens when a friendship breaks up.
Having a friendship end is never easy, even for the famous. Whether a friendship ends in a spectacular blowup or more of a slow fade away, losing the companionship and love of a close friend is hard. When that happens to famous BFFs, it can be both public and messy. Sometimes the fallout is super public, like the whole drama between Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods.
But even when fans never get to know the full scoop about what really went down (we are forever curious about what happened to Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss), there can still be messy fallout in terms of shady comments, blind gossip items, and snarky Instagram comments. Read on for 15 stories about celebrities friendships that ended badly.
Taylor Swift & Karlie Kloss
Perhaps no celebrity BFF duo was as high-profile as Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss between the years of 2012 and 2017. They were on the cover of Vogue together, they walked Victoria's Secret runway shows together, they took epic road trips, and Karlie even described Taylor as her "ride or die." But then something happened, and they started being seen together less and less.
By 2019, Karlie got married and Taylor was not only not a bridesmaid — she wasn't even there! The fallout from this friendship breakup has included Karlie seeming to publicly side with Taylor's archnemesis Scooter Braun and Taylor seeming to reference Karlie in the song "It's Time To Go" as someone who betrayed her. This remains one of the biggest celeb gossip mysteries of all time.
Kylie Jenner & Jordyn Woods
Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods seemed to be as close as sisters — until some drama went down with one of Kylie's actual sisters. According to the narrative on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Jordyn hooked up with Tristan Thompson, who was Khloé Kardashian's on-again, off-again boyfriend. This whole mess played out in tabloids, on KUWTK, and on social media, with lots of people wondering why Jordyn was treated like the villain and yet Khloé took Tristan back.
Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were everywhere in the early 2000s, including onscreen in their own reality TV show (The Simple Life) and in every tabloid. In 2005, the friendship hit a major wall, allegedly because Paris didn't include Nicole in her Saturday Night Live hosting gig. Gossip sites have reported that Nicole responded by hosting a party and showing the guests Paris' sex tape. Yikes! The two very publicly split and didn't talk for years. It seems like they have patched things up now, as Nicole was actually a guest at Paris' 2021 wedding.
Lauren Conrad & Heidi Montag
Another early 2000s celebrity friendship with reality TV connections that crashed and burned was between The Hills stars Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag. The demise of their friendship was captured on film for the show, though it wasn't until years later that the truth came out that Heidi's husband, Spencer Pratt, was actually the one behind false rumors that Lauren had a sex tape.
Winona Ryder & Gwyneth Paltrow
There are lots of reasons a friendship can end, but having a falling-out because one person got a plum movie role after finding about the script from their friend is a very Hollywood unhappy ending! The rumor is that Gwyneth Paltrow found out about the Shakespeare in Love role, which she won an Oscar for, after she saw the script in BFF Winona Ryder's house (Winona was gunning for the role herself). Gwyneth arranged for a secret audition, and the rest is Oscars history.
Kim Kardashian & Blac Chyna
If the Kardashians are a business (which, yes), then the org chart of partners, friends, and exes is definitely long and complicated. Consider the case of Blac Chyna. She and Kim Kardashian were close friends, she was the girlfriend and baby mama of Rob Kardashian, and she and Kylie Jenner both dated rapper Tyga (maybe at the same time — another enduring gossip mystery). Kim and Chyna's friendship couldn't survive the relationship drama when Rob and Chyna broke up, which led to Chyna spilling some tea and calling out the family for being fake. Currently, Kim is actually fighting a subpoena from Chyna's legal team regarding a pending lawsuit between the family and Chyna. Messy!
Denise Richards & Heather Locklear
Back in the day, Denise Richards was married to Charlie Sheen, and Heather Locklear was married to Richie Sambora. The two actresses were friends and neighbors and even starred on a few episodes of the same TV show. But they had a falling-out after both couples split up and Denise started dating Richie. The drama was public at the time and still comes up as gossip on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, like when Lisa Rinna used it to throw shade at Denise in 2020.
Seth Rogen & James Franco
Seth Rogen and James Franco were close friends and professional collaborators for more than 20 years, so this BFF breakup had both personal and professional consequences. Seth went on the record saying that the sexual harassment allegations against James were the cause of the split.
"What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that," he told The Sunday Times in May 2021. "The truth is that I have not and I do not plan to [work with James ever again]."
Kim Kardashian & Larsa Pippen
Kim Kardashian is no stranger to friendship drama. Larsa Pippen used to be part of Kim's inner circle but the two had some sort of falling-out in 2020. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the two stopped following each other on social media (always a drama warning sign!), and while Kim hasn't said much about the friendship split, the rumor is that it had something to do with Kanye West's erratic behavior. It will be interesting to see if this friendship recovers now that Kim and Ye have split or if Larsa's promise to spill the tea on The Real Housewives of Miami ruined that possibility.
Bella Thorne & Tana Mongeau
OK, for all of us moms who aren't totally up on YouTuber drama, here is the quick overview: Bella Thorne is a former Disney star turned aspiring musician. Tana Mongeau is a famous YouTube influencer. The two dated for a period of time (including being part of a throuple) but then broke up and switched to being BFFs. At some point the friendship ended, and Bella even released a song called "Stupid F—-ing B—-" that was said to be about Tana. Tana responded with a series of tweets, and the two have had a simmering feud since then.
Katy Perry & Taylor Swift
While some celebrity BFF breakups seem certain to last forever, it's nice to see that others can bounce back. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry were famously on the outs for years following some drama around background dancers (a friendship beef most of us probably can't relate to!) that led to song lyrics that seemed to shade each other and various famous mutual friends falling into Team Taylor versus Team Katy. Thankfully, the two patched things up in 2019, leading to a very public reunion in Taylor's You Need To Calm Down video.
Paris Hilton & Lindsay Lohan
Another celebrity BFF breakup that seems to have mended after years of messy gossip is early 2000s party girls Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. When they were fighting, both of them said shady things about the other in the press, including Paris laughing at someone calling Lindsay poor and Lindsay making references to Paris' infamous sex tape. Recently, however, Paris has said the two have moved on from their mean girls-like behavior to each other and both publicly congratulated the other on their respective engagements. Ah, growth. We love to see it.
Selena Gomez & Demi Lovato
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato have known each other since they were both child stars. They met working on the kids' show Barney & Friends and continued their friendship into their young adult lives. The two appeared to drift apart from 2010 to 2015, something that some fans blamed on Selena's growing friendship with Taylor Swift. The two still sometimes expressed public support for each other, but then rumors started that Demi had a Finsta account that made fun of Selena. By 2020, they were apparently done for good when Demi shared their feelings about Selena in an interview, saying, "When you grow up with somebody, you're always going to have love for them. But I'm not friends with her."
Gwyneth Paltrow & Madonna
Another member of the multiple BFF breakups club (alongside charter members Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift) is Gwyneth Paltrow. She and Madonna used to be high-profile friends until they got in a feud involving celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson. Tracy, who worked with both Gwyneth and Madonna, had a falling-out with Madonna which was said to be due in part to the singer being too demanding and inconsiderate of other people's time. Gwyneth sided with Tracy and even spoke out saying that it was a good thing that Tracy didn't have to work with Madonna any more because the singer was too much to deal with.
Jennie Garth & Tiffani Thiessen
Jennie Garth and Tiffani Thiessen met while working on Beverly Hills, 90210 but weren't friends right away, due to some on-set drama. However the two were eventually close enough friends at one point that Tiffani was a bridesmaid in Jennie's wedding and was present for the birth of her first child. They had a falling-out that Tiffani told Howard Stern was a reflection of how the relationship came full circle. "It's funny, our relationship started really rough and ended the way it started. I was the one who was hurt, let's just say that. I was the one who was hurt," she said.
