Stars With Really Bad Tempers

No one likes a Hollywood diva, yet some stars manage to have booming careers while exhibiting quite the temper. It's not their fault they're talented enough that studios sometimes let bad behavior slide — and everyone loves a heartfelt public apology.

Some A-listers have managed to rack up quite a bad reputation when their out-of-control tempers got the best of them (along with some hefty legal bills, probably). Their weapons of choice seem to be a quick Twitter tirade or an unfortunate mobile phone (why is everyone always throwing phones?). When you're making a blockbuster hit, there's a lot of pressure. It's no wonder tensions on set can get pretty high, especially when you don't show up to work (sorry, Lindsay Lohan) or crew members keep ruining your close up (is anyone ever going to forget Christian Bale's Terminator Salvation meltdown?).

Whether it's because of unfortunate family stress, a substance abuse struggle, or a flat-out ego issue, these stars who seem to have really bad tempers have all allegedly raged out on people in public. Now duck and cover before you're next!

Naomi Campbell paved the way for people of color in the fashion industry. According to New York Magazine, the star was French Vogue's first black cover girl. Though she spent business trips working with the African National Congress and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, her massive contributions are almost overshadowed by her insatiable temper.

The model's ire appeared to rise with her fame, and she has a litany of lawsuits under her belt as a result. One of the first notable glimpses of diva behavior was in 1993 when she reportedly refused to share a runway with Tyra Banks. That same year, Elite models dropped the star claiming, "No amount of money or prestige could further justify the abuse..." Then, there was the cell phone incident.

In 2007, the supermodel pleaded guilty to assaulting an assistant with a mobile phone (thankfully, iPhone had yet to come out with the super-sized 7 Plus). Elle reports that Campbell agreed to anger management classes, but they apparently had a very minimal effect. The following year, she was banned for life from British Airways after a row over lost luggage.

Campbell has been open about her anger issues and appears shockingly self-aware. In a 2000 interview with Barbara Walters (via i-D) she said, "It's a manifestation of a deeper issue, I think, anger. And that for me I think is based on insecurity, self-esteem and loneliness."

Christian Bale got a pretty bad rap over his infamous Terminator Salvation meltdown which somehow leaked onto the Internet and shocked fans of the franchise. The blow-up was so bad that a film executive sent the tape to the movie's insurance company in case Bale decided to say hasta la vista, baby.

According to TMZ, the incident happened after director of photography Shane Hurlbut accidentally ruined a scene by walking on set. Bale proceeded to scream at Hurlbut and threatened to " f***ing kick [his] f***ing ass" if he didn't "shut up for a second." Hurlbut stayed calm and continued to apologize while Bale hurled profanities and threatened to quit.

Days after the full transcript was posted by The Telegraph, Bale issued a lengthy apology claiming his behavior was "inexcusable" and he was "out of order beyond belief." According to The Guardian, he partly blamed the blow-up on being stuck in character (he played a human leader of the resistance, which we imagine gets pretty rowdy and tense). He also urged fans to not "allow [his] incredibly embarrassing meltdown to overshadow this movie and to have all of those people's hard work go to waste."  

Bale was arrested shortly after his blow-up over a separate incident with his mother and sister. No charges were pressed, but there seems to be a trend here.

Taryn Manning may not be so far removed from some of her fellow Litchfield inmates on Orange Is the New Black. The Netflix star has a notable temper that's gotten her into some legal hot water — or maybe she just picks problematic pals.

In 2012, Manning was "charged with misdemeanor assault and choking" after allegedly getting into a scuffle with her assistant/makeup artist Holliann Hartman, according to The New York Daily News. Manning's attorney Joseph Tacopina claimed the pair "had a late-night argument that turned into a bit of a physical altercation" after very long hours of work. Those charges were dropped, but that wasn't the last of it.

In 2016, Manning found herself at odds with Hartman once again. According to TMZ, the makeup artist accused the actress of a brutal attack where she allegedly yelled, "Pick a knife. I'm wearing a white shirt there will be a lot of blood. You will be famous for killing Taryn Manning." Manning's legal team denied the allegations, and the judge dismissed the case after Hartman failed to show up to a hearing.

Regardless of the details in Manning and Hartman's tumultuous working-friendship, the actress still isn't known for biting her tongue. In 2018, the star donned a headline-making, $200 dress to the SAG awards. After the event, she lashed out at her stylist for dressing her in an inexpensive gown. She eventually apologized claiming she felt "used for someone else's gain."

Val Kilmer may have helped Batman Forever gross a whopping $184 million, but that kind of success may have come at a price for the cast and crew who had to work with him. Hollywood has been plagued with talk of Kilmer's temper tantrums since the '90s, and few have a reputation as notorious.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher claimed the star was "childish and impossible." Schumacher also revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that the star ditched the series last minute for The Island of Dr. Moreau because it starred Marlon Brando. Unfortunately, things didn't fair better for Kilmer on the set of his Brando blockbuster. Director Richard Stanley, who lasted three days before getting fired, claimed arguments would happen when Kilmer showed up on set. Stanley's replacement, director John Frankenheimer, also bluntly told EW, "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again." 

After years of rumors surrounding Kilmer's notorious attitude, the star took to Reddit to almost apologize. He claimed his bad rap was because he "didn't do enough hand holding and flattering and reassuring to the financiers." He added, "I only cared about the acting and that didn't translate to caring about the film or all that money. ... I was often unhappy trying to make pictures better." If you want it straight, Kilmer's your guy. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, telling the New York Times he underwent surgery, chemo, and radiation that left him cancer free, but required a tracheostomy that affected his speech.

Thomas Gibson was a crucial part of Criminal Minds, but all all of Agent Hotchner's well-placed, inspirational quotes couldn't save the star from his fiery temper. According to Deadline, Gibson was booted from the CBS crime drama in 2016 after allegedly kicking co-executive producer Virgil Williams.

Following his initial suspension, the star told Deadline, "There were creative differences on the set and a disagreement. I regret that it occurred." Yet, after his termination, Gibson brought it all up to the surface. Though he owned up to the verbal argument — for which he apologized — he claimed he didn't kick anyone. Gibson told People that Williams "brushed passed" him and his "foot came up and tapped him on the leg." Interesting. Regardless, Hotchner was written off the show after the alleged assault. 

As it turns out, it wasn't Gibson's first incident. In 2010, he allegedly shoved Criminal Minds assistant director Ian Woolf" and was forced to take anger management classes. He was also arrested for a DUI in 2013. Combined with the alleged assault on Williams, these incidents "weighed heavily on the studios' decision to terminate Gibson," according to Variety.

With the freckles, the red hair, and the adorable smile, Lindsay Lohan was once a Disney sweetheart who starred in classic remakes like The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. Unfortunately, her reputation was derailed by two DUIs, her sketchy admission of cocaine use, an 84-minute stay in jail and three trips to rehab. And her temper certainly didn't help soften those bad vibes.

In 2010, Lohan was involved in an alleged altercation with a Betty Ford Center employee. The employee, who was later fired for violating patient confidentiality, claimed Lohan hit her with a phone and hurt her wrist after refusing to take an alcohol test. Three years later, a New York Times article about Lohan's adult film-inspired mega-flop The Canyons, painted her as an unreliable, unpredictable hot-head.

According to the Times, Lohan had a near-meltdown over getting fired from The Canyons after she failed to show up for pre-production meetings. Tracking down director Paul Schrader at his Beverly Hills hotel, Lohan reportedly pounded on doors until she found his room. She was allegedly "manically" texting him and crying, and made such a scene that the hotel manager asked if he should call the cops. Lohan was eventually rehired, but ultimately left a bad taste in star James Deen's mouth.

"There were days when she would scream and yell and cry and refuse to come out," he told The Sun (via The Huffington Post). "Lindsay was like a child lashing out."

There are few people as happy-go-lucky as Wayne Campbell from Wayne's World, but apparently, the same can't be said for actor Michael Myers. According to Entertainment Weekly, the star frequently had dark moods on the set of the iconic flick which were compounded by his father's failing health. 

Director Penelope Spheeris claimed that in an an effort to appease her star, she put her daughter in charge of giving Meyers "whatever snack he needed," because who isn't happier with snacks, right? That would be Myers, apparently, who allegedly stormed off-set because there was no margarine — only butter — for his bagel. The horror!

"He was emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along," she told EW. "You should have heard him b—-ing when I was trying to do that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' scene: 'I can't move my neck like that! Why do we have to do this so many times? No one is going to laugh at that!'"

Myers later admitted to Rolling Stone that he actually did almost walk out over the famous scene but only because he felt so strongly about the song being included in the film. To be fair, he wasn't wrong. The scene was an instant classic. 

Russell Crowe's hot-headed reputation is decades in the making. According to E! News, the star's troubles began sometime in 1999 when he was "involved in a fight at the Plantation Hotel." The brawl was captured on video and later aired on Australian TV. Strike one?

His reputation didn't get any better by the early aughts. In 2002, The Guardian reported that Crowe was miffed after the BBC cut part of his speech from the BAFTA broadcast. He retaliated by pinning TV producer Malcolm Gerrie against a wall and launching into a verbal tirade, for which he later apologized (strike two). That same year, police were called when Crowe got into a bar fight with a New Zealand businessman, and he even fought his own bodyguard on the set of Cinderella Man in 2004 (strike ... we're starting to lose count).

Perhaps Crowe's most famous temper tantrum was the infamous phone incident of 2005. According to E! News, the actor "was charged with felony assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon" after allegedly throwing a phone at a Mercer Hotel employee (though his rep claimed he threw the phone at a wall). In a 2005 interview with David Letterman, Crowe claimed it was "possibly the most shameful situation I've ever got myself in ..." At least he now has something in common with Naomi Campbell. Most of us can't say the same.

A certain one of Alec Baldwin's Saturday Night Live impressions may incite anger in a certain U.S. president, but that's par for the course. Apparently, the actor knows a thing or two about anger — just ask his daughter.

Alec famously called his then 11-year-old daughter Ireland Baldwin a "rude, thoughtless little pig" in a leaked voicemail message, according to ABC News. He later apologized on The View. Ireland ended up coming to her father's defense when he was accused of hurling a homophobic slur at a photographer and was subsequently suspended from MSNBC.

"For someone who has battled with anger management issues, my dad has grown tremendously," the star wrote on Twitter (via The New York Post), adding, "Sometimes we let our tempers get the best of us. Tempers are like wildfires. Something or someone can easily fuel the fire." If you mess with a Baldwin, consider yourself burned.

In 2021, Baldwin was involved with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust," when a gun he was holding fired; instead of the dummy round that should have been loaded, the gun contained live ammunition. Baldwin was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, and has consistently maintained his innocence. "Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set," attorney Luke Nikas said (via CBS News). "He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds."

Would Shia LaBeouf even be Shia LaBeouf if he wasn't surrounded by bizarre headlines? The actor reportedly has a pretty terrible temper — which you never would have guessed from his unsettling, strangely aggressive motivational speech. Do it!

In 2013, LaBeouf allegedly threatened to have a man killed during a London bar fight. Apparently, the fight broke out after LaBeouf upset a female fan who approached him at a restaurant. The fan's boyfriend swooped in to defend her, sparking the brawl. How many hitmen does LaBeouf actually know? You'll have to ask The Sun (via The New York Daily News).

This incident wasn't completely an outlier. That same year, the actor was allegedly kicked in his sensitive nether regions after trying to film a woman who was throwing up in the street. The year prior, Yahoo reported that LaBeouf got into another London bar fight after someone stole his hat. LaBeouf also famously ditched out on his Broadway debut because of creative differences with Alec Baldwin. He ended up airing the dirt on Twitter (via The Guardian), which is never a classy look.

In 2016, things continued as usual for LaBeouf, who allegedly got kicked out of a Warpaint concert. According to NME, fans on Reddit alleged he "kept pushing the envelope with his harassment towards girls." Was this performance art like his bizarre elevator punch? Do we even trust anonymous Reddit users, anyway?

There are few celebs as outspoken as Azealia Banks. The star has had a couple rows with A-listers like Zayn Malik and Nicki Minaj. She's not afraid of a good Twitter rant (she reportedly had to apologize to Sarah Palin after a particularly offensive outburst) and was quick to call out Russell Crowe for allegedly spitting on her, choking her and calling her a racial slur (rapper RZA, who was there during the alleged assault, admitted that the spitting was true but claimed Banks was the one who tried to get physical).

Things came to a head for the star in 2017 when she agreed to take anger management classes after allegedly punching and biting a nightclub security guard. According to The Guardian, her charge would "be reduced to disorderly conduct" if she completed the 26-week program.

Banks does have a way to help deal with her terrible temper. She told Broadly that she actively practices witchcraft — and her favorite spell, "the egg spell," helps dispel negativity. Based on her past, the rapper must be blowing through a whole lot of eggs.

Among the many films in which Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson has starred is "Anger Management," something he's had real issues with throughout his life. As a young man, he once told The Sun (via Vanity Fair), he blew up at a customer while working as a short-order cook in his native New Jersey. "One day, a woman came in to ask for pancakes and my pancake came out about three inches thick. She said: 'What the hell is this?' I lost my temper, hit the pancake and said, 'Make your own damn pancakes!'" Nicholson recalled.

The passage of years had apparently not mellowed Nicholson. In 1994, the 56-year-old actor was driving in Los Angeles when another car cut him off. When their vehicles stopped at a red light, Nicholson exited his, pulled a golf club from the trunk and proceeded to repeatedly bash in the roof and windshield of the motorist's Mercedes. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Nicholson was charged with misdemeanor vandalism and assault. The other driver sued; the case was settled out of court, reportedly costing Nicholson a hefty $500,000. 

"I was out of my mind," Nicholson confessed in an interview with Golf Digest. "I was on my way to the course, and in the midst of this madness I somehow knew what I was doing, because I reached into my trunk and specifically selected a club I never used on the course: my two-iron."

Jack Nicholson isn't the only Hollywood legend to experience road rage. In 2001, Gene Hackman — Oscar-winning star of such films as "The French Connection," and "Hoosiers" — was driving along Sunset Boulevard when another car cut him off, causing Hackman to rear-end the vehicle. As The Associated Press reported (via the Irish Times), two men exited the other vehicle and angrily exchanged words with Hackman. At some point, something was said that caused Hackman to unleash his fists. Hackman reportedly got in a few good punches before one of the men stopped him cold with a kick to the crotch that caused Hackman to drop to the pavement. "The two men confronted him, were belligerent, and they persisted in their belligerence," a rep for Hackman — who was 71 at the time — said. "They shoved him in the chest, they hit him, and he got in a fight with the two of them."

Despite the fisticuffs, no charges were filed. "Gene thought it was funny, really. He's not a soft guy, he's an ex-Marine and he can take care of himself," Hackman's spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly. "Really, he's a very gentle guy, but anybody can be provoked." 

For Hollywood insiders, news of Hackman's violent temper was hardly news. According to a profile in The Independent, Hackman had a long history of fiery battles with his directors, eruptions that happened so frequently he came to be nicknamed "Vesuvius." 

Steven Seagal, faded action hero and BFF of Vladimir Putin, has beaten the spit out of countless make-believe bad guys onscreen. Seagal wasn't averse to using those martial arts skills against fellow actor John Leguizamo while they worked together on 1996's "Executive Decision." "The first day of rehearsal, there was the director [Stuart Baird], Joe Morton, B.D. Wong, Oliver Platt — we're all big actors, we're all big boys, we're all experienced. And we start rehearsing and he came in and was like, [low, breathy voice] 'I'm in command. What I say is law,'" Leguizamo recalled in an interview with the AV Club. 

Leguizamo responded by laughing out loud, resulting in Seagal smashing the stunned actor into a brick wall, so forcefully that he fell to the floor, gasping for oxygen. "He can fight," Leguizamo conceded. "That's the only downside to my comment: He can actually knock me out. He runs like a girl, but he hits like a six-foot-five dude who has trained his whole life."

Seagal's volatile temper was also on display in 2018, when he sat down for a satellite interview with BBC's Kirsty Wark. As the interview was winding down, Wark asked how he was dealing with the multiple claims of sexual harassment (including an allegation of rape) that had been made against him. Before she'd completed her question, Seagal ripped out his earpiece, stood from his chair and stormed off.

Lily Tomlin isn't usually the type of star associated with temperamental outbursts — or at least she wasn't until working director David O. Russell on the 2004 indie comedy "I Heart Huckabees." Leaked footage from the set emerged indicating that Russell really knew how to push Tomlin's buttons. "I've had it up to here!" Tomlin yelled at the director, unleashing an impressive string of profanity punctuated by the pithy, "F**k you, motherf****r!"

Another leaked clip, during filming of a different scene, demonstrated that the animosity between actor and director wasn't a one-time thing — and the anger extended both ways. "F*** you, I'm just trying to f**** help you," Russell bellowed at Tomlin, apparently so exasperated by her questions that he stormed over to the desk at which she was seated and furiously brushed aside a stack of papers, then calling Tomlin a very rude word beginning with the letter C.

Despite video evidence to the contrary, Tomlin later insisted to The Hollywood Reporter that their spat "wasn't any big deal." She and Russell, she explained, had "made up in just a few hours, and then we had a second fracas ... But we've overcome it. It dissipates and it's gone." Addressing the incident more than a decade later during an interview with Vanity Fair, Tomlin shrugged it off. "It didn't bother me that much," she said. "Things happen on the set, you know."

Bill O'Reilly was Fox News' most prominent on-air personality — until 2017, when he was shown the door after a spate of sexual harassment allegations. Another less-than-charming aspect of O'Reilly's personality is his explosive temper, hilariously captured on video while he attempted to shoot a show-ending farewell while anchoring "Inside Edition" back in the 1990s. Reading from the teleprompter, O'Reilly's inability to grasp how a video from Sting could "play us out" of the show led him to erupt in fury. "We'll do it live! F*** it!" O'Reilly shouted in anger, in what's since become a classic clip. "F**kin' thing sucks!" According to Theresa McKeown, who worked for "Inside Edition" at the time, O'Reilly's behavior wasn't out of character. "He was definitely hot-tempered and he was impatient, so when I was going to be dealing with him, I was so afraid," she told HuffPost.

Meanwhile, allegations of domestic violence emerged during O'Reilly's bitter divorce, with his daughter (as reported by Gawker) testifying that she'd witnessed her dad "choking her mom," and then dragging her down a flight of stairs. O'Reilly denied his daughter's claims, declaring her testimony to be "100 percent false" (via The Hollywood Reporter).

O'Reilly's temper is apparently still an issue. In 2022, video emerged of O'Reilly, irritated over a long flight delay, threatening a JetBlue employee with physical violence. "You're lucky I don't put my fist through it," he snarled while reading the employee's name tag.

Comedian Katt Williams has a well-earned reputation as a hothead, and 2012 was a banner year in that regard. His greatest hits (pun intended) included slapping a Target employee in the face, being arrested for allegedly beating up a guy outside an Oakland hotel, and fighting with audience members during his own comedy performance.

After a 2014 arrest — over an incident in which he and now-imprisoned rap impresario Marion "Suge" Knight took a camera from a paparazzo in Beverly Hills — the Los Angeles Times reported that Williams was sentenced to attend anger-management classes for an entire year.

Williams clearly wasn't paying attention during class. In 2016, within the span of just a few weeks, Williams was: arrested for allegedly physically attacking a woman and then pulling a gun on her after she told him she thought he wasn't as funny as Kevin Hart; arrested again and charged with battery after allegedly punching out an employee at a pool supply store (he was subsequently ordered to pay $87,000 in damages). He was arrested yet again, this time for allegedly assaulting one of his own bodyguards; and captured on video at a Beanie Sigel concert taking a swing at a member of the rapper's entourage before said entourage returned the favor with their fists. And who can forget that time in 2018 when Williams was placed under arrest for an alleged beatdown of the driver who picked him up at the airport?

As a mixed martial arts fighter, it could be argued that having a hair-trigger, uncontrollable temper is more of a benefit than a drawback when one's vocation is, quite literally, beating people up. That's certainly been the case for Irish UFC champion Conor McGregor, the first guy in the sport's history to hold simultaneous titles in two distinct weight classes. His nickname — "Notorious" — is apt, not just for his skill in the Octagon, but also for his propensity for fueled eruptions when he's not on the job.

There have been numerous examples of McGregor losing his cool, ranging from a jubilant McGregor slapping a referee after a victory, to punching out a dude in a Dublin pub for declining McGregor's offer of a shot of his Proper Twelve whiskey (McGregor subsequently commemorated the incident by buying the pub).

McGregor's most infamous incident, however, took place in 2018, at a UFC media event held at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. Having just been stripped of his title, the ticked-off fighter made an uninvited and unexpected appearance. As Esquire noted, McGregor spotted a bus containing several fighters, and proceeded to viciously attack the vehicle by using a metal barricade as a weapon. Three fighters sustained injuries, and McGregor was arrested, hit with charges that included criminal mischief and assault. According to TMZ Sports, McGregor avoided jail time, and was sentenced to five days of community service, in addition to attending anger-management classes.

These days, John McEnroe is something of an elder statesman of tennis. However, longtime fans of the sport will certainly remember that during his prime, McEnroe was prone to outrageous temper tantrums on the court. Dubbed the bad boy of tennis, McEnroe's angry outbursts became legendary — but none more so than his epic meltdown while competing at Wimbledon in 1981. When an umpire ruled that his serve was out of bounds, McEnroe initially seemed confused, slowly walking toward the official and then blurting out what came to be come his signature catchphrase. "You cannot be serious, man," he said, then raising his voice and furiously shouting, "You cannot be serious!"

According to McEnroe, taming his temper has not been a random occurrence, but something at which he's worked hard over the years. As he explained during an interview for "In Depth with Graham Bensinger," anger had become an addiction for him, which he compared to a smoker's craving for nicotine. At a certain point, McEnroe felt it was time to kick that habit, and underwent anger-management counseling — sometimes voluntarily, sometimes when it had been ordered by a court. "I do believe that overall it's helped," McEnroe admitted, confirming he planned to continue seeking the help of professionals to keep his temper in check.

Those efforts appear to have paid off. "I feel like I'm in a pretty good place now," McEnroe told the Los Angeles Times in 2022.

Mel Gibson was one of Hollywood's hottest stars when, in 2006, he unleashed a rage-filled, profanity-laden, anti-Semitic rant during his DUI arrest. "I've been angry all my life," the "Mad Max" star later confessed during an appearance on "Good Morning America" (via CBS News).

He wasn't exaggerating. That anger was on display in a recording leaked in 2010, featuring Gibson arguing with then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. "You look like a f*****g pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of [n-words], it will be your fault," he screamed. The following year, Gibson received three years' probation after pleading no contest to charges of domestic violence after Grigorieva claimed he struck her, breaking her tooth. Meanwhile, more recordings emerged, each more unhinged than the last. In 2012, screenwriter Joe Esterhaz released his recording of Gibson belligerently screaming obscenities about an overdue script. "I am earning money for a filthy little c********r who takes advantage of me!" Gibson ranted, referring to Grigorieva. Yet another taped exchange between Grigorieva and Gibson found him threatening murder. "I'll put you in a f*****n' rose garden you c**t! You understand that? Because I'm capable of it. You understand that?" Gibson angrily bellowed.

In 2016, Gibson unrepentantly looked back at his 2006 arrest. "I was loaded and angry and arrested," he told Variety, insisting the real problem wasn't what he'd said, but that it had been leaked to the press. "So, not fair," he complained.