TV stars who couldn't stand each other – and what really happened behind the scenes

Everyone wants their favourite TV stars to get along. To know that the found families and tight-knit work colleagues they see on screen are just as close in real life – it adds a layer of comfort when watching a much-loved series to know everything was rosy when the cameras turned off.

Unfortunately, many fans seem to forget that a TV set is still, in fact, a workplace, and not everyone in the workplace is destined to get along.

Some cast members just grow apart after the series ends, some maintain a healthy level of professionalism, and some descend to downright bitter and dirty feuds which, luckily for us, always reach the public eye.

Below, we're looking at the co-stars who had the biggest on-set tension throughout their show's run, and how it sometimes even affected the series plotlines.

From classic sitcoms to epic sci-fi dramas, these are the 9 best shows where the actors clashed.

1. Sex and the City – Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall

Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattral during Filming "Sex and the City" on March 15, 2001 at Streets of New York in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Tom Kingston/WireImage)

It's a cruel irony that Carrie and Samantha's friendship was one of the key ingredients in Sex and the City's rise to power, while their off-screen counterparts became so distant. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall's relationship was seemingly testy right from the start of the show's run.

Between 1998 and 2004 rumours of tension were constantly circulated with both stars putting them down to gossip, although we did get our first sign of frostiness when Kim didn't sit with the other actresses at the Emmys – to which she said: "Are we the best of friends? No. We're professional actresses. We have our own separate lives."

However, when Sex and the City ended after six seasons Cattrall admitted money had been a factor in her not wanting to return for a seventh. On Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, she said: "I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City. When they didn't seem keen on that I thought it was time to move on."

A later report in The Telegraph stated that Parker had been given the title of executive producer back in the show's second season, increasing her salary to $300,000 – Cattrall reportedly tried to negotiate a higher salary to match Parker's which caused the other cast members to grow distant, according to the report they "wouldn't even sit with [Cattrall] at mealtimes".

What happened next?

All four leading women returned for the Sex and the City movies in 2008 and 2010, but in 2017 the Daily Mail reported that the third Sex and the City movie had been cancelled due to demands from Cattrall. They alleged the actress had "demanded they produce other movies she had in development or she wouldn't sign up for the project", leading to the film's destruction.

Cattrall denied these allegations in a then-tweet saying she had never wanted to do a third film at all, she wrote: "The only 'DEMAND' I ever made was that I didn't want to do a 3rd film....& that was back in 2016."

Samantha Jones lounging by a pool in Sex and the City

That wasn't all though. In October that year Cattrall appeared on Piers Morgan's show to wade through all the drama. She confirmed she would never be returning to Sex and the City and that the castmates had never been friends. As for Parker, she said: "I think she could've been nicer. I really think she could've been nicer. I don't know what her issue is."

A New York Post article around the same time claimed that towards the end of the series none of the cast were speaking to Cattrall. Parker was quick to deny any toxicity, telling Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live: "I found it very upsetting because that's not the way I recall our experience."

Now this is where it really exploded. In February 2018 Parker publicly expressed sympathies to Cattrall after her 55-year-old brother was found dead. Cattrall famously replied with a scathing Instagram post that read, "I don't need your love and support at this time @sarahjessicaparker." Her caption also had the final lines: "Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona."

How did it end?

Kim Cattrall as Samatha Jones in And Just Like That season 2, sat in the back of a car, clutching her phone and bag.

In 2021 it was announced that the Sex and the City crew would be returning for a new 10-episode spinoff And Just Like That. The story would delve into the friend's lives as they navigated their 50s, but Cattrall, and by extension Samantha, would not be involve. It was revealed in the series Samantha had moved to London for work. When later asked if she would ever have Cattrall on the show, Parker answered: "I don’t think I would, because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared."

But, that wasn't the end of the story, as it was confirmed in 2023 that Samantha be returning... for a very brief cameo that required no filming with Parker. The scene took place during the opening minutes of the And Just Like That Season 2 finale, and that really was it, as the series ended after its third season. The only communication we've had since then was a social media post from Cattrall on the day And Just Like That was cancelled bearing the caption: "It’s the end of a very long week."

2. Star Trek – William Shatner and George Takei

LOS ANGELES - JUNE 4: From left: George Takei as Commander Hikaru Sul and William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk in the movie, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Release date, June 4, 1982. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

One of television's longest-running off-screen rivalries, William Shatner and George Takei played on-screen shipmates on the original series of Star Trek and its six subsequent films, but it seems not all was well on the Starship Enterprise and the pair have been pretty public about it since.

It's not clear if there was ever a single moment that destroyed the relationship between these two or if they just rubbed each other up the wrong way. The first we heard of it was in Takei's 1994 autobiography To the Stars. The Hikaru Sulu actor griped that Shatner made himself the centre of attention on set, claiming he once forced photographers doing a piece on co-star Leonard Nimoy to leave, and apparently cut shots with other cast members in. He also alleged Shatner changed the script for Star Trek V so his character wouldn't take command of a spaceship.

What happened next?

The drama escalated in 2008 when Shatner claimed Takei hadn't invited him to his wedding. In an interview, he said: "There is such a sickness there. It's so patently obvious that there is a psychosis there. I don't know what his original thing about me was. I have no idea."

The thing is, Takei said he did invite Shatner to his wedding. He told Entertainment Tonight: "It is absolutely baffling to us because, in fact, we did invite Bill and we didn't hear from him."

In Shatner's 2011 memoir Shatner Rules, the actor made several comebacks to Takei including: "There's been a great deal of enmity between George and me. He's been saying mean things about me for nearly 40 years now. [...] Criticizing me publicly, in every venue imaginable!" He also came up with an acronym LTEBGT, which stands for "Love To Everyone But George Takei".

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Things got even stranger at a fan convention in when Shatner insisted he barely knew Takei, as their characters hadn't needed to know each other on screen. He later posted on X: "He was in less than 2/3rds of the episodes. He was a day player. He came in one or 2 days a week. Do the math. That's why I don't know him."

How did it end?

It didn't! These two are still taking swipes at each other in the press – 60 years on from the first Star Trek series. In 2021, Shatner travelled on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin spaceflight at age 90, and Takei told Page 6: "He's boldly going where other people have gone before. He's a guinea pig,"

To which Shatner responded: "Don't hate George. The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me."

This one could run and run!

3. Grey's Anatomy – Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey

UNITED STATES - APRIL 13: GREY'S ANATOMY - "Testing 1-2-3" - The interns take the biggest test of their careers, their first-year medical exams, as the residents attend to three injured mountain climbers. Meanwhile Callie's suspicions of George and Izzie grow, and Cristina struggles to write her wedding vows, on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, MAY 10 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network. (Photo by Scott Garfield/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

There's nasty comments on X and then there's the infamous Grey's Anatomy incident of 2006 when Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey got into a full-blown physical fight on set. The two actors played Dr Preston Burke and Dr Derek Shepherd from the show's beginning until the flare-up got Washington fired from the series.

In Lynette Rice's book, How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy, writer Mark Wilding detailed how the fight began when Dempsey turned up late to set. He said: "I think one of them had been late to set one day and the other one then decided to pay him back by being late himself. Then it sort of exploded. They got into an arguing match, and then before you know it they were physically fighting."

Fellow writer Harry Werksman said that Washington then pushed Dempsey up against the wall and said a homophobic slur in reference to their co-star TR Knight, reportedly shouting: "You can't talk to me the way you talk to–" before using the slur. Knight, who played Dr George O'Malley, was not out as gay at the time.

What happened next?

That should have been the end of it. In the tell-all book, both Washington and Dempsey said they had healed from the experience by the time the 2007 Golden Globes rolled around.

That was until Washington decided to deny ever using the slur, and ended up saying it again in front of the world's press: "No, I did not call TR a [slur]. Never happened, never happened."

At the time co-star Katherine Heigl blasted Washington. "I'm going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period," she told Access Hollywood. "I'm sorry, that did not need to be said, I'm not okay with it."

Washington later apologised for his comments, saying: "I apologise to TR, my colleagues, the fans of the show and especially the lesbian and gay community for using a word that is unacceptable in any context or circumstance.

"By repeating the word Monday night, I marred what should have been a perfect night for everyone who works on Grey's Anatomy. I can neither defend nor explain my behaviour. I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help."

How did it end?

Isaiah Washington, Eric Dane and Patrick Dempsey of "Grey's Anatomy," nominee Best Television Series, Drama at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)

Washington was eventually sacked from Grey's Anatomy later that year but Shonda Rhimes admitted the incident still haunts the cast. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she said: "I think the thorn was having the bubble of joy burst so early on Grey’s [with the Washington incident] and not having anybody interested in helping us deal with it because that really shaped a lot of how we looked at the world going forward.

“And it’s funny, every Grey’s actor I talk to who was there during that time is still traumatised by that incident. People still talk about it.”

Unexpectedly, that wasn't the last fans saw of Washington on Grey's Anatomy, as he made a guest appearance in an episode in 2014.

4. Glee – Lea Michele and Naya Rivera

GLEE: Lea Michele (L) and Naya Rivera (R) in the "Frenemies" Spring Premiere episode of GLEE airing Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (Photo by FOX Image Collection via Getty Images)

Art imitated life on the Glee set as on-screen frenemies Rachel and Santana translated into a backstage rivalry between Lea Michele and Naya Rivera.

Reports that something was amiss on Ryan Murphy's set began in 2011 when E! News claimed that hardly anyone in the cast clapped for Michele when she presented at the Grammys. "There were a few eye rolls from cast members, who shall remain nameless, but Grammy goers around them all took notice of the icy Lea reception," wrote the reporter.

From 2012 to 2014, Michele and Rivera were dogged by rumours of tension between them, to the point Michele appeared on The Late Show and denied the claims, she said: "It's really unbelievable the amount of things that can just be completely made up. The way people like to pit women against each other... is really annoying and it's sad."

One report even suggested Rivera was due to be fired from the series for complaining about her co-star's behaviour – she was later downgraded from series regular to recurring guest star for the show's final season.

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 13: Naya Rivera attends her book signing for "Sorry Not Sorry" at Barnes & Noble at The Grove on September 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

But, there is often a smoking gun, and this came one year after Glee ended in the form of Rivera's memoir, Sorry Not Sorry. In it, the actress wrote that she and Michele had often butted heads on set.

"As the show progressed, though, that friendship started to break down, especially as Santana moved from a background character to one with bigger plot lines and more screen time. I think Rachel – erm, I mean Lea – didn't like sharing the spotlight.

"It seemed like she blamed me for anything and everything that went wrong. If I'd complained about anyone or anything, she'd assumed I was bitching about her. Soon, she started to ignore me, and eventually it got to the point where she didn't say a word to me for all of season 6."

What happened next?

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 16: Naya Rivera, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele and Amber Riley arrive at the 12th Annual Warner Bros. and Instyle Post-Golden Globe Party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 16, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)

The pair seemingly ended their feud in 2019 when she liked a post of Michele showing off her engagement ring. She then told Andy Cohen: "I don't think there was like ever any beef."

However, the controversies only got worse for Michele when, after posting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, another co-star Samantha Ware accused Michele of making her life a "living hell" on set. She alleged that Michele had committed several "traumatic microaggressions" throughout the show's sixth season.

These posts caused an almighty social media furore, with Mercedes's actress Amber Riley saying: "In my inbox there are a lot of Black actors and actresses telling me their stories and letting me know they have dealt with the same things on set, being terrorized by the white girls that are the leads of the show," while Britney actress Heather Morris called Michelle "unpleasant to work with".

Rivera, however, silently unfollowed her on Instagram.

Michele issued an apology to Ware, writing on Instagram: "While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that’s not really the point. What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.

"I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused. We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings."

How did it end?

Naya Rivera tragically died from drowning in July 2020 at Lake Piru, California. The 33-year-old was reported missing after she rented a pontoon boat with her four-year-old son. Her son told investigators that his mother boosted him back on to the deck of their rented boat before he looked back and saw her disappearing under the water.

After her death was confirmed, Michele posted two black and white pictures to her story of Naya River and Cory Monteith, who had died in 2013 due to an overdose.

As for Glee, Ryan Murphy is stirring up reboot rumours once again by teasing a finished script. Michele responded to the reports in an interview with E! News in September, telling the publication that she “will follow Ryan wherever he goes”.

5. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – Will Smith and Janet Hubert

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR -- "Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy" Episode 5 -- Pictured: (l-r) Will Smith as William 'Will' Smith, Janet Hubert as Vivian Banks -- Photo by: Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank

Now this is a story all about how Will Smith got into a decades-long feud with his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Janet Hubert. Hubert played the original Aunt Viv on the series from 1990 to 1993 before she was replaced, without explanation, by Daphne Maxwell Reid.

What happened? Well it wouldn't be long before we found out. Smith told an Atlanta radio station in 1993, mid-controversy, "I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel Air Show because I know she is going to dog me in the press. She has basically gone from a quarter of a million dollars a year to nothing. She's mad now but she's been mad all along. She said once, I've been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.' No matter what, to her I'm just the Antichrist."

Will allegedly apologised for these comments at a later date – as a pre-social media age it's hard to know exactly when – but Hubert said in a Huffington Post interview: "My departure was planned for a long time... There will never be a reunion of the Fresh Prince. Will Smith and Alfonso destroyed a 20-year-career with untruths. I got slammed."

Once the age of Twitter got up and running, however, we found out a bit more. A resurfaced clip of Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton) during a stand-up comedy set featured a section on Hubert. "She went nuts!" he said "Long story short, and there were days when we were all on the set and she would literally go off on people and they got to a point by the time the second season came around where we're like, 'This is unacceptable.'"

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR -- Season 1 -- Pictured: (l-r) Janet Hubert as Vivian Banks, Will Smith as William 'Will' Smith, James Avery as Philip Banks -- Photo by: Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank

What happened next?

In 2010 Hubert accused Smith of making colorist jokes on set at her expense. She said "I was a dark-skinned, African-American mother, and Will used to tell the you're-so-Black jokes to the audience before the show, and at one point, I came out and stopped him...He didn't understand how unbelievably disrespectful that was to women like me."

She then gave another quote in 2011 to TMZ calling Smith an "a*****e" and said: "There will never be a reunion… He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up," although she later said she regretted that comment.

More promisingly, she also said in a sweep of interviews in 2013 that she and Smith "needed to heal this". She said: "We need to have a reunion, we have to end this horrible, 21-year war. I think we all owe each other an apology."

That mellow mood didn't last for long though. In 2016, Smith's wife Jada Pinkett-Smith called for a boycott of the Oscars for its lack of diverse nominees. As this was the same year Smith's film Concussion received no nominations, Hubert publicly accused Pinkett-Smith of being spoilt: "I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living and has made millions and millions of dollars from the very people that you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win? That's not the way life works, baby."

How did it end?

The reconciliation train got back on track in 2018 when Smith complimented Hubert on the UK's radio 1Xtra, calling her an "artist". Then in 2020, nearly 30 years after it began, the feud was laid to rest at last. Both Smith and Hubert appeared together on the HBO Max reunion of Fresh Prince and gave each other a worthy apology.

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Smith acknowledged that, "during her pregnancy [in season 3], I wasn't sensitive... I can see where I made the set very difficult for Janet."

And Hubert finally explained: "They offered me this really bad deal in the third season...I had a new baby and a husband who was out of work, so I said no. I did not accept their offer. I was never 'fired.' That misconception was always put out there." Smith responded by saying: "I was 21 years old. Everything was a threat to me. Not you – the world. I was so driven by fear."

The cease-fire has held these last six years and the two now seem to be budding friends as Smith helped Hubert promote her animated kids film JG and the BC Kids. May the peace continue!

6. Charmed – Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano As Phoebe Halliwell, Shannen Doherty As Prue Halliwell And Holly Marie Combs As Piper Halliwell.

Charmed's trio of sisters sadly ended up with an awful lot of family drama behind the scenes. Shannen Doherty (Prue), Holly Marie Combs (Piper) and Alyssa Milano (Phoebe) kicked off the series in 1998 as a true power of three – Doherty and Combs even served as bridesmaids at Milano’s wedding in 1999, but by 2001 the magic was gone when Doherty's character Prue was killed off and replaced by Rose McGowan.

At the time, reports suggested Doherty had left because of feuding between her and Milano, although nothing was made clear. The only hints we got were in Doherty's interview post-exit where she failed to mention Milano. She said: "There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work. You know, I’m 30 years old and I don’t have time for drama in my life anymore. To me it’s sort of whatever. I’ll miss Holly a lot and that’s really the only thing I want to clear up."

Then, in an Entertainment Weekly interview ahead of season 4, Milano acknowledged Doherty's different approach to hers. "I’m very laid-back and passive. I have my Buddha,” Milano said. "I come in here and meditate. [Shannen’s] got a lot of energy, she’s very headstrong, she wants to get the job done... I think it’s unfortunate that she left." Meanwhile, their third sister Combs, who remained close with Doherty, said her exit was handled "very poorly".

Alyssa Milano, Shannen Doherty, And Holly Marie Combs in Charmed.

Doherty and Combs remained best friends after the show ended, and although a few more hints at grudges were dropped throughout the years, Milano revealed in 2017 that the co-stars had reached a "cordial" relationship. After Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer, Milano said: "I think we're just at ages now that what happens 15 years ago, or however long ago that was, it's irrelevant [...] I prayed for her every day that she would feel well and I can't wait to see her."

What happened next?

However, like all simmering tensions, this one bubbled over again when Doherty began speaking about Milano on her podcast Let’s Be Clear. Doherty accused Milano of causing their frosty relationship and said there were days when they hardly spoke to each other.

Combs then claimed that producer Jonathan Levin was backed into firing Doherty by Milano. "He said, ‘We didn’t mean to [fire Doherty], but we’ve been backed into this corner. We’re basically in this position where it’s one or the other. We were told [by Milano] it’s her or her.’”

This claim rapidly turned into a case of she-said-she-said, as Milano denied these claims, saying: "I’m the most sad that a show that has meant so much to so many people has been tarnished by a toxicity that is still, to this day, almost a quarter of a century later, still happening, and I’m sad that people can’t move past it.”

Combs and Doherty doubled down though, stating: "This is not revisionist history."

How did it end?

Doherty sadly passed away from breast cancer in 2024 at age 53. Following her death, Milano posted: "It's no secret that Shannen and I had a complicated relationship, but at its core was someone I deeply respected and was in awe of."

7. The Good Wife – Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi?

NEW YORK - AUGUST 27: "FIXED"--As her husband's legal team continues to mount the case for his appeal, Alicia (Julianna Margulies, right) and Kalinda (Archie Panjabi, left) discover evidence of possible jury tampering on the firm's class action lawsuit against a major pharmaceutical company, on THE GOOD WIFE, Tuesday, Oct. 13 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. (Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images)

A mystery befitting a legal drama like The Good Wife – Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi played on-screen besties Alicia Florrick and Kalinda Sharma, and frequently featured in scenes together. That was until we found out at the end of season 2 that Kalinda had once slept with Alicia’s husband, causing a huge rift between the two characters.

After this incident, the two characters rarely appeared on screen together, instead occasionally interacting over the phone or through a third party. One Buzzfeed report even found the two hadn’t been featured in a scene together for at least 30 episodes, leading many to speculate that the actresses didn't get on.

This weird dynamic continued right up until showrunners Michelle and Robert King announced Kalinda would be leaving the show after season 6. When asked about the Margulies-Panjabi feud rumours, Robert King said: "First of all, I was surprised people are keeping track.

"Second of all, part of that has been intentional, which is to try and show this relationship, which was a friendship so strong, is now so worse." Margulies echoed that the separation made sense for their characters: "I think [their friendship is] kind of played out because of circumstance... I think Kalinda’s character seems to have gone in a different direction."

What happened next?

Then came the show's infamous season 6 finale, in which Alicia and Kalinda reunited on screen to say goodbye... or did they?

After watching the episode, fans pointed out it looked like the scene was made of two separate shots stitched together. TVLine later reported that the scene had indeed been shot separately using body doubles.

VANCOUVER - APRIL 3: The Good Wife is a new CBS fall drama starring Emmy Award winner Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick (right, with Archie Panjabi), a wife and mother who must assume full responsibility for her family and re-enter the workforce as a defense attorney after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail. THE GOOD WIFE will premiere this Fall, Tuesdays (10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. (Photo by Eike Schroter/CBS via Getty Images)

When asked about that controversial choice, Panjabi seemed to pour fuel on the fire: "You know, I can’t answer that, as much as I want to. But those decisions are made by the producers. I’m not privy to those decisions.”

Margulies went on to directly denied the feud. When asked to comment on a red carpet she said “Who says that? It’s totally gossip," and went on to say that Panjabi had been filming her other series The Fall when that final scene needed to be shot. And yet, Panjabi then corrected the record in a post: "@TheFallTV was not even in production at that time and I was in New York ready to film the scene!"

How did it end?

The truth? It seems both actresses are thoroughly bored of talking about it. Panjabi was asked about the supposed feud on a 2020 red carpet and replied: "You're very naughty."

She continued: "Let's put it this way. We are living in a world where everybody wants to know everything. I completely understand why everyone asks about it. Everybody I meet asks me about it, in some roundabout way.

"I just feel like, I'm doing work because of that character. Before Kalinda, I was always coming in for a few lines and it was hard to get roles. If people always want to know what happened, OK, it's a small price to pay for all the wonderful things that show has given me. It sounds diplomatic, but it's how I feel." So, it looks like we'll never know!

8. Desperate Housewives – Teri Hatcher and co-stars

UNITED STATES - JULY 18: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - "Now You Know" - The neighborhood is shocked when news about Edie spreads though Fairview, Lynette battles with the effects of chemotherapy, and a new family moves to Wisteria Lane, on the Season Premiere of "Desperate Housewives," SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network. (Photo by Ron Tom/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“You Won’t Believe What It Took Just To Get This Photo!” The infamous words that doomed the Desperate Housewives cast forever.

Back in 2005 the residents of Wisteria Lane were the hottest commodity in the TV guide. The first season of the show had rocketed to success and so the five leading ladies – Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan – were invited for a photoshoot with Vanity Fair.

However, before the shoot even started it was clear something was amiss. According to Vanity Fair, there were several mandatory stipulations like each woman having their own hair and make-up team and, most of all, one woman in particular was not to have first dibs at wardrobe, and was not, under any circumstances, to be front and centre of the group photos. That woman was Teri Hatcher. Only this singling out did not stop Hatcher arriving on set and cheerily picking out a particular swimsuit which was eye-poppingly red.

When Cross saw the swimsuit, the reporter claimed: "She exploded, grabbed her bathrobe, and walked off the set." What follows in the article is an excruciating account of how the women were reshuffled to place Hatcher on the end and the latter rushing off in tears. This situation was made even worse when the magazine came out — unfolded, you could see all of them, folded, you could only see Hatcher, Cross and Sheridan.

The details of this meltdown led ABC to issue a statement regarding the magazine cover, saying: “While negotiating certain elements of photo shoots is standard practice, and was part of our coordination with Vanity Fair, this shoot simply did not go as planned. Because of this, our talent were made to deal as best they could with a situation not of their making. This one isolated incident does not define these women or their relationship." And yet, it did.

What happened next?

UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 10: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - The cast and crew on the set of "Desperate Housewives" celebrated the series' 100th episode entitled, "The Best Thing That Could Have Happened" airing SUNDAY, JANUARY 18 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET), on the Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network. (Photo by Ron Tom/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Several other controversies popped up on the Housewives set over the years between other cast members, but the next time Hatcher was pulled into the headlines was right at the end of the final season. After the eighth season wrapped, the cast gave farewell gifts to the crew, but Teri Hatcher’s name was noticeably missing from all of them, instead replaced by Vanessa Williams who joined the show in season 7.

How did it end?

Once the show was finished, Hatcher acknowledged a rift, saying: "I will never disclose the true and complicated journey of us all, but I wish everyone on this show well. Marc created out of thin air a majestic street called Wisteria Lane with its picket fences, its flowers always in bloom… and four really complimentary characters: a selfish girl, a harried woman, a repressed control freak and a soul-searching, well-meaning fumbler. Those four characters and the actresses who played them seemed to meld together in a way that harkens the phrase ‘once in a lifetime’."

9. Community – Chevy Chase and co-stars

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 23: Actors Chevy Chase (L) and Ken Jeong (R) speak at the "Community" Panel during Comic-Con 2011 on July 23, 2011 in San Diego, California. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images)

Chevy Chase signed on to star in Community in 2009 as the arrogant CEO Pierce Hawthorne. The National Lampoon actor starred in the first three seasons of the show with only a few whispered rumours of poor on-set behaviour.

However, at the end of season 3, Chase walked off set, apparently unhappy with the edgy direction his character was taking. Chase eventually returned to film and agreed to come to the end of series wrap party, which is where it all went down. After Chase entered with his wife and daughter, showrunner Dan Harmon reportedly got the rest of the cast to chant "F**k you Chevy" at him.

Chase later left Harmon an angry voicemail about the incident — which the showrunner then publicly played at a fan event. Chase blasted Community as a “f**king mediocre sitcom” and called Harmon “a goddamn, asshole, alcoholic, fat s**t”. Harmon was then fired from the series although this wasn't linked to the feud with Chase.

What happened next?

COMMUNITY -- "Comparative Religion" Episode 111 -- Air Date 12/10/2009 -- Pictured: (l-r) Donald Glover as Troy, Alison Brie as Annie, Gillian Jacobs as Britta, Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley, Danny Pudi as Abed, Chevy Chase as Pierce (Photo by Trae Patton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

The trouble only got worse from there. During season 4, Chase reportedly objected to his character's racist actions – owning a puppet in blackface – and in the process asked whether his character would next be made to use a racial slur, allegedly saying the slur in question. In last year's documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, Community director Jay Chandrasekhar made it clear that he wasn't directing the slur at anyone but after the story broke in the media, Chase had a "meltdown" and stormed off set for the last time.

NBC and Chase mutually agreed that he would leave Community with immediate effect in November 2012 and has since then agreed it was a "mistake" to come back to the show after his blow-up with Harmon. "I just sort of hung around because I have three daughters and a wife," he told the Huffington Post UK. "And I figured out I might as well make some bread, every week, so I can take care of them in the way they want. The hours are hideous, and it’s still a sitcom on television, which is probably the lowest form of television."

In 2023, Chase brought the show up again on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and he didn't hold back: "I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. I felt a little bit constrained,” Chase told Maron. “Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me.”

He also said of the alleged racial slur incident in an interview with the New York Times: "It was too great a misunderstanding of what I was saying and not saying. I thought that there was at least one person – and another who, for some ungodly reason, didn’t get me, didn’t know who I was, or didn’t realize for one second I’m not racist. They were too young to be aware of my work. Instead, there was some sort of visceral reaction from them."

How did it end?

Every single community cast member refused to be a part of Chase's 2026 documentary I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, aside from director Chandrasekhar.

Cast member Joel McHale has also said Chase "isn't allowed" to star in the upcoming Community movie: “I don’t think it would happen. I don’t think [him returning] is a thing. Obviously his unceremonious departure in season 4 pretty much did that in.”

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Original source TV stars who couldn't stand each other – and what really happened behind the scenes

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