Top 10 Ruthless Celebrity Revenge Stories

Before she became famous for kissing girls and liking it, Katy Perry was the average teenager, having an unrequited crush on the popular kid in her high school. But unlike most teenagers, Perry got the chance to take an epic dig at the boy who once rejected her. In 2010, the pop star returned to her alma mater in California for a surprise performance. During her set, she spotted her high school crush who turned her down and took the opportunity to point out what he seemingly missed out on. The epic “look at me now” moment was then followed up with a performance of her song “Ur So Gay,” which she dedicated to him.

Child custody battles are infamous for being a pain in the rear end for all parties involved. And celebrities certainly are no exception. In fact, for them, it is sometimes worse. After being engaged for nearly eight years, Hollywood actors Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde called it quits in November of 2020. The former couple who share two children together soon got involved in a nasty custody dispute that culminated in this shocking incident. While discussing her film “Don’t Worry Darling” on stage at CinemaCon 2022, Wilde was served with court papers in front of thousands. Although Sudeikis’ team claimed that it wasn’t intentional, Wilde seems to believe that it was, describing the occurrence as “vicious” and “really upsetting”.

Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors in history, widely known for his value investing approach and for his ability to identify undervalued companies. After first buying shares in what was then a textile company in 1962, Buffett eventually became the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. But his ascent to the top position was at least partially retaliatory. Buffett had purchased his first shares for $7.50, hoping to sell them back to the company for a small profit. Although Berkshire had initially offered to buy the shares for $11.50, their official tender was a lower offer of $11.375. Apparently feeling slighted, Buffett decided to purchase the majority stock in the company, effectively putting himself in control.

There are many ways one can exact revenge on a cheating partner. Just ask Carrie Underwood. But what do you do when the philanderer doesn’t have a “pretty little souped up four-wheel drive?” If you’re Tiffany Haddish, that seemingly leaves you with no other option but to use their shoes as a toilet. After realizing that she was no longer number one in her ex-boyfriend’s life, the actress and comedian retaliated by going number two in his Air Jordans. She then coaxed him into wearing the shoes under the guise of going to play basketball. According to Haddish, she ran out of the house afterwards, pretty confident her ex wasn’t going to pursue her for one specific reason.

The paparazzi culture in Hollywood can be quite appalling, and one celebrity decided to give the intrusive photographers a taste of their own medicine. Back in 2006, before he achieved international fame, Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt was walking with a friend when he was ambushed by two photographers. After unsuccessfully asking them to stop taking pictures, Gordon-Levitt took out his own camera and began recording them. In the footage, the men immediately get defensive when the actor asks for their names and follows them around, just like they did him. They then get into a discussion about the actual reason why they wanted to get a picture of him. The short clip, which Gordon-Levitt uploaded to YouTube, has received millions of views.

Feuds between hip-hop artists are a dime a dozen, but only a few become as lengthy and exhausting as that between 50 Cent and Ja Rule. Although both rappers have given different reasons for what exactly started it, the two have been in a very public rivalry since 1999. In 2018, 50 Cent took things to a new level of petty when he bought 200 front-row tickets to a Ja Rule concert just to leave them empty. And in case the public needed help in visualizing his antics, the rapper shared a photoshopped image of him sitting in the midst of empty seats. Ja Rule apparently took it all in good fun, joking about how much he still gets under his rival’s skin.

The 1993 film “Groundhog Day” marked a turning point in the career of Bill Murray, who had previously only done comedic projects. Murray’s on-screen dramatic performance was widely acclaimed but behind-the-scenes, there was a different drama going on. At the time of filming, Murray was in a bad place as his first marriage was beginning to crumble. Things were also getting heated on-set between him, director Harold Ramis and the production team, who suggested that Murray get a personal assistant to facilitate better communication. The “SNL” alum actually listened, only that he hired an assistant who was speech-and-hearing impaired, just to spite them. Murray eventually ditched this plan, anyway, as neither him nor anyone else on-set could communicate in American Sign Language.

Just at the start of her music career with TLC, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes struck a relationship with professional NFL player Andre Rison and moved in with him. The romance between the two was reportedly plagued by domestic violence, culminating in this infamous 1994 incident. The story goes that in the early hours of June 9th, the couple had a fight after Lopes allegedly discovered that Rison bought multiple pairs of sneakers for himself alone. Infuriated, she set a pair of his shoes on fire in the bathtub, only for the flames to engulf and burn down the entire property. Rison eventually forgave her, but their plans to get married never came to fruition as Lopes tragically lost her life in 2002.

Tabloid newspapers have long drawn the ire of celebrities. Many have even sued some of these publications, but one man decided to take matters into his own hands. The late great Burt Reynolds had been the subject of multiple stories by the tabloid paper the National Enquirer. Having noted that the organization had “been writing crap” about him, Reynolds devised a pretty apt method of getting even. The “Smokey and the Bandit” star flew over the National Enquirer’s headquarters in Florida with horse manure from his ranch. He then dumped the waste material onto their giant Christmas tree. While Reynolds may have had many regrets throughout his 82 long years on earth, this was certainly not one of them.

In 1963, the Oscar for Best Actress went to Anne Bancroft for “The Miracle Worker”. So why do archival footage and pictures from that year’s ceremony show a different actress - the legendary Joan Crawford - accepting the award? Well, that was part of an elaborate revenge plot orchestrated by Crawford against her longtime rival Bette Davis. The two had put aside their feud to star in the 1962 film “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” for which the Academy nominated Davis and snubbed Crawford. In retaliation, Crawford convinced some of the other nominees to sit out the event and let her accept the award if they win. And so, although Bancroft received the Oscar, it was Crawford who accepted it, to Davis’ utmost chagrin.