Top 10 Times Celebs Shaded Their Ex
#10: Gregg Sulkin v. Bella Thorne
When Gregg Sulkin and Bella Thorne ended their relationship in 2016, it seemed on the surface to be the kind of breakup rare in Hollywood: mutual, and even civil. In a joint statement, they blamed their busy schedules, and said they’d always share a deep love and respect. However, when Bella’s relationship with Gregg’s friend Tyler Posey became public a month later, Gregg’s tweets suggested he was, understandably, sulkin’ in life as well as name. “Who doesn’t enjoy watching entertainment at the circus?” he wrote. And: “Children want attention.” Burn!
#9: Perrie Edwards v. Zayn
With Perrie in the up-and-coming all-girl group, Little Mix, and Zayn still a part of the insanely popular One Direction, it was easy to see why the pair made a great match. Their three and a half year relationship was immortalized - or at least so fans thought - in a tattoo of Edwards on Malik’s arm. However, when Zayn broke it all off via a text message, Perrie was devastated. A year later, in 2016, Little Mix put out the hit track “Shout Out to My Ex” in which Edwards snarks: “I hope she gettin’ better sex, Hope she ain’t fakin’ it like I did babe”.
#8: Katy Perry v. Diplo
As a promo for her album “Witness” in 2017, Katy Perry streamed live on YouTube for a staggering four days straight. When the singer invited James Corden into the house, he drew her into a game of “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts”, in which each had to either answer personal questions or eat something incredibly unappetizing. Somehow, this quickly devolved into publicly ranking exes in bed. With an insistent Corden prompting her, Perry played along, putting Diplo as third, below John Mayer and Orlando Bloom. It wasn’t long before Diplo fired back: “I don’t even remember having sex.” Ouch.
#7: Sam Smith v. a mystery man
Sam Smith became a household name with the success of his debut album “In the Lonely Hour” in 2014, its singles dominating radio stations worldwide. At the Grammys, it quickly became clear that there was a muse for the album. When Smith took the stage to accept his fourth award, he thanked the man who the record was about, someone he said he’d fallen in love with the year before. “Thank you so much for breaking my heart,” he concluded, “because you got me four Grammys!” Honestly, we think it was worth it too. The man is believed to be Smith’s manager Elvin Smith, so then again, maybe Sam was just being really sincere?
#6: Rihanna v. all her exes at once
Since her rise to fame, Rihanna has had some wild relationships with some very famous figures, including her toxic relationship with Chris Brown, her brief time with Josh Hartnett, and more recently, her on-again/off-again with Drake. But in 2016, the songstress took aim at all of them on Instagram, when she laid all blame at their doors with one simple sentence: “None of my exs are married or in happy relationships so it’s safe to say that I wasn’t da problem lol." Dang, RiRi, that’s some serious shade.
#5: Taylor Swift v. Joe Jonas
Taylor Swift has built much of her career around being heartbroken, and getting even; but we can’t help but feel sorry for the queen-of-shade when we think about her Joe Jonas story. While on “Ellen”, the singer-songwriter said that when she finally meets her one, she isn’t even going to remember the boy who “broke up with [her] over the phone in 25 seconds when [she] was 18”. During that same year, she was also recorded holding a “Camp Rock” doll of Jonas, sarcastically saying “See, this one even comes with a phone, see, so he can break up with other dolls.” Very subtle, Taylor.
#4: Ariana Grande v. Pete Davidson
Their romance barely lasted the summer, but it seemed as passionate as it was fast - at least, judging by all the matching tattoos. However, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson’s engagement was over almost as soon as it began, and all that sweetness on social media quickly turned sour. On a promo for Saturday Night Live, Pete Davidson worked the breakup into his characteristic self-deprecating humor, asking singer Maggie Rogers to marry him, and when she refused, joking “O for 3”. Ariana wasn’t pleased, posting in since deleted tweets: “For somebody who claims to hate relevancy u sure love clinging onto it huh / Thank u, next."Yikes!
#3: Selena Gomez v. Justin Bieber
When did social media become a good place to feud with your ex? The pinnacle of shade between Justin and Selena came in 2016, when fans posted hostile comments on Justin’s Instagram photos of his new girlfriend Sofia Richie. Justin threatened an Instagram shut down, while Selena told Justin that if he couldn’t “handle the hate”, he should stop posting pictures of Sofia. Justin retorted that certain “people” had used him “for attention”, prompting Selena to return fire that unnamed someones had “cheated multiple times”. Gosh, we wonder who all these someones could be . . . It was a painfully public spat until Selena apologized and Justin deleted his Instagram for a while.
#2: Justin Timberlake v. Britney
Who didn’t ‘ship Justin and Britney back in the day? It was a match made in popstar heaven. So fans were understandably devastated when the two broke back in 2002, amid rumors of Britney having cheated. Justin took the drama public with his Grammy Award winning track “Cry Me a River”, which featured a Britney lookalike as his cheating partner and the iconic chorus line from the song’s title. It was the ultimate shade, but Britney’s response was relatively flippant: she called it a “desperate attempt” that was nonetheless a “great way to sell the record”. Both got their digs in at least.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions
J. Lo v. Drake
Taylor Lautner v. Taylor Swift
Nicki Minaj v. Meek Mill
#1: Amber Rose v. Kanye West
Amber Rose’s relationship with Kanye, and subsequent feud with the Kardashians, catapulted her into the limelight. But when Kanye brought up her stripper past in his Twitter tirade against Rose’s ex-husband Whiz Khalifa, Rose wasn’t having it, tweeting back: “are u mad I'm not around to play in ur asshole anymore?” Oh, and she included the hashtag FingersInTheBootyAssBitch. After chewing on THAT, Kanye responded that “Exes can be mad but just know I never let them play with my ass.” And in case there was any doubt, he added: “I stay away from that area all together.” Well, it’s sort of a comeback . . .