Friendships can be tricky. It can be hard to stand by someone when they’re making decisions that you don’t agree with or to show up for them when they’ve been neglecting you for weeks. Even some of our favorite on-screen BFF’s (who all live in perfectly scripted worlds) go through their ups and downs. Like when Charlotte didn’t talk to Miranda for weeks after Miranda had announced her intentions to have an abortion, or when Joey started avoiding Chandler after he overheard Chandler describing the bracelet he had gifted him as tacky.
If that doesn’t make you feel better about the rocky waters your friendships sometimes go through then this should: many of the actors and actresses who portray those iconic best friends on our TV screens didn’t actually get along in real life. In fact, some of them flat out hated each other. Here’s a look at 16 on-screen BFF’s who not-so-secretly hated each other. These are the ones who could hardly shoot a scene together, let alone go for happy hour after work.
1. Leighton Meester and Blake Lively from Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl literally revolves around the complex friendship between Serena and Blair, but in real life, the friendship between the two actresses was far more complicated than anything you ever saw on screen. Tensions arose between Leighton Meester and Blake Lively when they repeatedly clashed over the direction of the show. And things were only made worse when Blake discovered that Leighton’s wardrobe budget was double her own, something she felt was unfair because her career was more prolific than Leighton’s. Things were so rough between these two that despite being co-stars for over five years neither actress attended the other’s wedding.
2. Lea Michele and Naya Rivera from Glee
The on-screen friendship between these two was complicated at best. Naya Rivera was the back-stabbing, head cheerleader to Lea Michele’s queen bee, head soloist. The two dated the same guys and squabbled over their roles in the glee club, but at the end of the day, they were always there to support each other and see each other through the hard times. Off-screen, however, things weren’t always so rosy. Rumor has it that Naya felt Lea was a major diva and called her co-star out on the behavior, which, unsurprisingly, wasn’t very appreciated. In return it seems that Lea used her power on the show to ensure that Naya’s character would never be as central as her own, keeping her out of the spotlight she’d felt she’d earned.
3. Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth from Beverly Hills, 90210
This feud is among most notorious co-star feuds in Hollywood. Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth starred as best friends Brenda and Kelly in Beverly Hills, 90210. On-screen the two were inseparable despite spending years vying for the same potential boyfriend, but off-screen it was often difficult to get the two in the same room. It’s never been entirely clear what caused all of the drama (a personality clash? a struggle over being the “main” character?), but in 1994 Shannen left the show citing conflicts on set as her reason. In an interview several years later, Jennie chalked it all up to “two young girls finding their independent voices” and said that the two get along “just fine” today.
4. Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande from Victorious
These two former Nickelodeon stars were once the best of friends. When they started shooting Victorious, Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice were just as close as their on-screen characters. But as the show progressed, things got increasingly tense between the two. It all exploded with some shady tweeting — Ariana took to Twitter to accuse Victoria of being the reason the show was canceled, and Victoria fired back telling Ariana to”#StopBeingAPhony.” The fighting words didn’t stop there, and for a while, the two refused to work together at any point in the future. Things have gotten better, but we’re still not expecting to be invited to a sleepover with these two anytime soon!
5. Scott Patterson and Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls
This one is a heartbreaker. Luke and Loreli were the best of friends for all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls (and finally, finally got married in A Year in the Life). They were literal relationship goals: friends first, lovers later. But when the cameras stopped, the chemistry did too. Apparently, Scott Patterson was even grumpier and more difficult than Luke was, and it created some serious difficulties between him and Lauren Graham, who was not there for all of his drama. Things were so bad between the pair that Lauren had no trouble telling reporters that the two weren’t friends IRL, and she even went so far as to say she wished Loreli had ended up with Christopher instead. Go ahead and break our hearts, why don’t ya!
6. Bea Arthur and Betty White from The Golden Girls
Everyone loves The Golden Girls, whether they admit it or not. There’s something about these retired BFF’s that gives us hope for our future friendships. Well, we hate to break it to you, but off camera, these four weren’t always as close as their characters. In particular, Bea Arthur and Betty White had some serious behind-the-scenes drama. Apparently, Bea wasn’t a fan of Betty’s unfailing positivity and was often annoyed with her co-star’s happy-go-lucky outlook on life. She also was reportedly jealous of Betty’s popularity with the fans and critics and was livid when Betty was nominated for an Emmy before she was. So it turns out things weren’t always so golden with the Golden Girls as we may’ve thought.
7. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
These two ‘90s queens were vampire-fighting besties for seven years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but in reality, the friendship between Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan only lasted a few years at best. Close at the start of the show, the two drifted apart and began publically feuding as the seasons progressed. Faced with crazy shooting schedules, and dueling movies the overtired and overworked actresses began bickering, and then had a major falling out when Sarah announced her departure from the show on a magazine cover before telling any of her co-stars. Thankfully, as adults, and years removed from the show, they’ve made up… which gives us hope for a Buffy reunion!
8. Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsy from Grey’s Anatomy
Two of the hottest doctors at Seattle Grace, Preston Burke and Derek Shepard worked side-by-side for years to save lives and pioneer medical breakthroughs. However, Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey spent most of their spare time on the set of Grey’s Anatomy fighting. Personality clashes and Isaiah’s anger management problems apparently led to harsh words and the occasional physical altercation between the two. After using a derogatory slur aimed at one of his other co-stars, T.R. Knight, Isaiah was fired from the show, easing on-set tensions and blowing, once and for all, the idea that he and Patrick were actually good friends.
9. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny from The X-Files
We’re positive that we wouldn’t know nearly as much about extraterrestrial life and the supernatural if it wasn’t for Scully and Mulder. Over the course of ten seasons and two movies, the two made us reluctant believers. But, in another devastating reveal, it turns out that Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny of X-Files fame weren’t always as close as their characters were. After years of working together day after day, their relationship became a strained one, and speculations about what exactly had happened swirled around them for years. They seem to have made up, though, appearing on each other’s Instagrams multiple times as they’ve shot the upcoming eleventh season.
10. Alyssa Milano and Shannen Doherty from Charmed
Apparently even being one of the most powerful good witches of all time doesn’t ensure that you’ll always get along with your sisters/BFFs. Two-thirds (or one-half, depending on what period of the show we’re looking at) of “the charmed ones,” Alyssa Milano and Shannen Doherty had some major beef on set while shooting Charmed. Things were so bad between the duo that Alyssa has described her time on the show as high school-esque, being open about the cliques that were formed and the gossiping that was going on among the cast and crew. In a not very surprising move (considering what happened with Beverly Hills, 90210), Shannen ended up leaving the show after the third season, temporarily throwing the “power of three” into jeopardy.
11. George Taki and William Shatner from Star Trek
Even out-of-this-world friendships aren’t safe from a little drama. Aboard the USS Enterprise, there were plenty of fighting words between George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu, and William Shatner, who starred as the legendary Capitan Kirk. George publically called out William for having a “huge ego,” and William quickly fired back, saying that he had “nothing but pity” for Mr. Takei. Things got so tense that by the end of Star Trek‘s run the two had difficulty filming scenes together, and George even shunned William Shatner from his 2008 nuptials, inviting the rest of his co-stars but neglecting to add William to the guest list.
12. Miley Cyrus and Emily Osment from Hannah Montana
Yes, really. It seems that pre-teens always are in the midst of some major friendship drama, and these two Disney darlings were no exception. While neither one has ever spoken outright about what exactly caused all of the cold feelings, Miley Cyrus has been forthcoming about the fact that she had really wanted to have a close relationship with Emily Osment in real life, but always felt that Emily was less than thrilled about the idea. Rumor has it that the two fought often on the Hannah Montana set and even threw a couple of jabs at each other on Twitter. But it seems that since the show has wrapped, they’ve put some of those issues behind them and thawed some of the ice.
13. Juliana Marguiles and Archie Panjabi from The Good Wife
This will probably come as a total shock, but Juliana Marguiles and Archie Panjabi didn’t shoot a scene together for over 50 episodes of The Good Wife! The two on-again, off-again TV best friends were certainly off-again when it came to real life, though no one really has the details on what caused the cold feelings. As a producer on the show, it was reported that Marguiles requested that the two not film scenes together, and as a result, after the early seasons, all of their characters’ interactions began happening over the phone. Even in the season six finale, which marked Archie’s departure from the series, a green screen was used to film the ladies’ final conversation. Both women have remained tight-lipped about their dislike for each other, but there’s no denying something’s not gelling between them.
14. Terri Hatcher and Marcia Cross from Desperate Housewives
If you were a teenager in the early ‘00s, then you definitely remember Desperate Housewives because it glued you to the TV once a week every week from 2004-2012. But what you might not remember is the DH drama that filled the tabloids for those eight years — specifically the drama surrounding Terri Hatcher and Marcia Cross. Terri didn’t get along with many of her fellow castmates, who all reported that she was closed off and cold towards everyone else on set, but it was Marcia who really made the feuding public. She once threated to walk off a photo shoot set if Terri was placed in the center of the shot, and publically called her co-star out when she didn’t contribute to the wrap gifts that were given to the crew.
15. Audrina Partridge and Lauren Conrad from The Hills
In another case of “what exactly happened there?” Audrina Partridge and Lauren Conrad who were once the best of friends on The Hills are no longer on speaking terms. This one kind of makes sense to us — the two were forced into friendship by the producers for the sake of the show, and to keep storylines moving along, they had to get close fast. So it’s not totally surprising that when the show wrapped, they went their separate ways. But there is one thing that has us dying to know a little more. In a 2012 interview, Audrina said she and Lauren had had a “bit” of a falling out, which leads us to think that there had been some drama behind the scenes as the show was shooting as well.
16. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City
These Sex and the City girls were definitely BFF goals for us at one point in our lives. They were there for each other through everything—cancer, breakups, career troubles and sleazy dates. They genuinely cheered for each other and celebrated each other’s successes. They were rarely judgmental or catty behind the other’s back (a total rarity in on-screen female friendships). But in real life, things weren’t quite so perfect. Sarah Jessica Parker was often upset over Kim Cattrall’s popularity with fans and Kim wasn’t happy that SJP was making significantly more than any of the other girls. The feud is still going strong today, 13 years after the show’s end, evidenced by Kim’s refusal to sign on to a third Sex and the City film unless she was paid as much as SJP.