Celebs’ most bitter family feuds – including bust-up over secret affair and Williams sister’s fury at King Richard film
THEY’RE supposed to be your nearest and dearest, but families can also be minefields that lead to spectacular blow-ups.
This weekend, it emerged Jimmy Carr’s dad is suing his own son for defamation after a lasting two decades reached new heights.
Jim Carr Snr, 77, is said to be "sick and tired" of "false characterisation" by the 8 Out Of 10 Cats host.
The pair haven’t spoken since the death of Jimmy’s mum Nora, in 2001, and he recently told a podcast: "I haven’t seen my dad in 21 years and you know the line, 'My mother’s dead and my father's dead to me' – which sounds very cold, until you meet the guy."
But the comments, along with a recently published memoir, have driven Jim to seek legal action.
“I know it's fashionable nowadays not to get on with your father, but Jim's had enough of the lies,” a source told the .
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Comedian Jimmy is not the only star to have an epic fallout with a family member.
From a superstar footballer’s affair with his sister-in-law to the Williams sisters' split with another sibling, we explore the famous families who sensationally turned on each other.
Adele vs Dad
Growing up, the Hello singer had a complex relationship with dad Mark Evans, who left mum Penny Adkins when Adele was three and moved back to his native Wales.
But the strained relationship reached breaking point as Adele rose to fame and she was furious, in 2011, when Mark gave a magazine interview about her.
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The pair didn’t speak for over a decade but, thankfully, they were reconciled before his tragic death from cancer, in May 2021, at the age of 57.
She told Vogue her own 2019 divorce from Simon Konecki helped her understand her parents’ split.
"We actually got our peace," she said.
"I played him my album just a week before he passed, over Zoom. One thing that definitely happened in my divorce was that it humanised my parents for me. Big time. I went to hell and back!
"And in that I found the peace to forgive him. He was ready to go and he lasted a long time with it. So thank you."
Richard Williams vs daughter Sabrina
Richard, dad to tennis aces Venus and Serena, famously devoted his life to his daughters' career and was played by Will Smith in the Oscar-winning movie King Richard.
But the girls' half-sister, Sabrina, has a bitter feud with Richard that stretches back decades.
The pair fell out over Richard's treatment of first wife Betty Johnson, mother to five of his children, including Sabrina.
Sabrina says he walked out on the family when she was eight, and her baby sister was just eight weeks old, after telling her he was going out to buy her a bike.
She claims she only saw her father handful of times after he left and, in November, she slammed the Smith film, saying it ignored the first marriage and her siblings completely.
She claimed Richard - who has suffered two strokes in recent years - was already dead to her and that his new family would ban her from his funeral.
"I don't think I'll see him alive. I've even buried my dad in my head because I know I won't be able to attend his funeral," she said.
"That's just not going to be an option, they’re not going to let me, they won't even tell me.
"I can chase my dad around for the rest of my life in my head, or I can come to terms that I believe my dad loves me in his own way."
Victoria Beckham vs Nicola Peltz
Rumours of frosty relations between Posh and new daughter-in-law Nicola have been rife since Brooklyn’s lavish wedding to the heiress in April.
The bride was said to have stormed out of the wedding when Victoria took to the dance floor with her son, to the song that was intended for the newlyweds’ first dance.
There were also conflicting views on the bride’s decision to wear a Valentino dress, instead of one designed by Victoria.
Nicola left her mother-in-law “seething” after giving an interview where she blamed Victoria for reneging on a promise to supply the gown.
She told Grazia: “I was truly so excited to be able to wear a design that my future mother-in-law created.
“We connected to start designing the dress, and then a few days went by and I didn’t hear anything. Victoria called my mom and said her atelier couldn’t make it.”
Nicola appeared to take another swipe at the Beckhams when she told Tatler her new husband had felt “pressured” into trying careers he didn’t like, adding he was now taking advice from her dad, billionaire Nelson Peltz.
“I love watching him learn from my dad,” she added.
Relations did seem to be thawing last weekend, when Brooklyn and Nicola turned up to support Victoria at Paris Fashion Week.
Mel B vs sister
Mel B’s marriage to Stephen Belafonte led to a rift with both her sister, Danielle Brown, and her mum, Andrea, which lasted ten years.
The Spice Girl later revealed the split was caused by her abusive husband and said she found it “isolating”.
"One of the things that happens is you get cut off from friends and family,” she told This Morning.
Danielle revealed: "A lot of close friends and people who have always been there got pushed to one side. [The family] were the last ones to go.
"When we got her contact details they would change and you would get a horrible email back."
The family began to build bridges after the tragic death of her father in 2017, and the singer admitted: "There was a lot of apologising I had to do to my sister and mum.”
She added that she was “angry” to have lost a decade of contact and said: “I lost out on ten years with my sister and she's lost out with my kids and I've lost out with her kids."
Ryan Giggs vs brother
Brothers are usually happy to share most things but Ryan Giggs took it too far, by having an eight-year affair with his sister-in-law
Rhodri was left fuming when the illicit romance was exposed, in 2011, and he hasn’t spoken to the former footballer, or mum Lynne, since.
He told Almost Famous podcast host Barnaby Slater: “I found out on the day the papers put it out, her mum came to my house at six in the morning.”
The pair were divorced a year later and bitter Rhodri continued to stoke the feud by commenting on his brother’s affairs and the recent allegations of assault against girlfriend Kate Greville, which Ryan Giggs denies.
He has also accused his mum and other family members of choosing Ryan over him.
He told Wales Online: “All my family seem to think I’m a serial killer or Fred West or something, that I must have done something so bad they don’t speak to me after what he did. It is what it is.”
Jay Z vs in-laws
They are pop’s golden couple but when they first met in 2000, Beyonce’s parents were not happy about her romance with Jay Z.
Mathew and Tina Knowles, who had raised their daughters in a middle class home in Texas, were worried by the rapper’s unsavoury past, which included drug dealing, shooting his own brother in a row over a ring at 12, and a conviction for a stabbing when he was 19.
Beyonce’s dad, who was also managing her group Destiny’s Child, went on record saying: “I don't care for him at all. No, I'm not close to him. He is not somebody I like to spend time with."
Things were even more strained after Jay-Z urged Beyonce to investigate her dad, who she then fired amid rumours he was skimming money from her earnings, an allegation he denied.
In 2014, Beyonce’s younger sister Solange also sparked a rift by attacking Jay-Z in a lift at the Met Gala in a row over his alleged infidelity.
She later apologised for the attack and Jay-Z claimed: “We’ve always had a great relationship. We've had one disagreement. Before and after, we’ve been cool.”
Zayn Malik vs Yolanda Hadid
Zayn Malik’s six-year relationship with model Gigi Hadid produced their daughter Khai, now two.
But the former One Direction star had a fractious relationship with Gigi’s mum Yolanda, which ended in allegations of assault.
The pair got into a fight, in October 2021, after the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star came to visit her granddaughter “without calling beforehand or even knocking at the door".
Zayn allegedly pushed Yolanda into a dresser and called her names, accusing her of treating the house like her own and not respecting the couple’s privacy.
Gigi and Zayn split after the incident.
In subsequent court papers, Yolanda claimed he "grabbed and shoved her into a dresser causing mental anguish and physical pain" and said he used "lewd, lascivious, threatening or obscene words”.
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Zayn denied he had assaulted her but he "agreed not to contest" four charges of harassment.
He was sentenced by a Pennsylvania court to 360 days of probation and ordered to attend anger management classes.