A new lawsuit claims Patti LaBelle hurled insults at a mother for not watching her 18-month-old daughter at a New York apartment building. The woman claims it wasn’t long before LaBelle started throwing water and obscenities in their direction, too. From Britney Spears’ infamous umbrella bashing to Bjork’s unwelcoming airport behavior, see legendary women—and one man—who’ve gotten in legendary altercations.
Patti LaBelle may be one of the original queens of R&B, but not everyone heeds her royal proclamations, as she reportedly learned in the lobby of a New York apartment building late last year. On Monday, a lawsuit was filed against the “Lady Marmalade” singer after she allegedly hurled a slew of profanities (and half a bottle’s worth of water) at Roseanna Monk and her 18-month-old daughter Genevieve. The alleged altercation took place after LaBelle chastised Monk for letting her toddler wander one too many steps away. When Monk scooped up her daughter and told LaBelle that it was none of her business, the suit claims the singer let the water and obscenities fly, eventually even trying to take a swing at Monk, who had Genevieve in her arms. LaBelle’s attorney has called the lawsuit “frivolous on its face” and stated that “this is another case of individuals and their attorney targeting someone who is in the public eye.” This is the second lawsuit filed against LaBelle this year. In March, a West Point cadet accused her bodyguards of attacking him for no reason at a Houston airport.
Charles Dharapak / AP Photo
When crossing the princess of pop, one can at least expect a smashed SUV window. In 2007, Kevin Federline learned that lesson the hard way when his former wife, Britney Spears, appeared at his house to see the couple’s two sons and was denied access. Frustrated, the freshly head-shaven Spears used an umbrella to ferociously smash the windows of an SUV outside the house in front of paparazzi cameras. Though Spears checked into the Promises rehab facility shortly following the incident, she later explained her behavior as preparation for a movie role. “I was preparing my character for a role in a movie where the husband never plays his part so they switch places accidentally,” Spears wrote on her website. "I take all my roles very seriously and got a little carried away. Unfortunately I didn't get the part."
Yaroslav Debelyi / AP Photo
Temperamental supermodel Naomi Campbell takes “fierce” to a whole new level. In 2000, she first pleaded guilty to assaulting a former assistant with a cellphone and threatening to throw her out of a moving car. The model established the cellphone as her weapon of choice when another assistant accused Campbell of slapping and beating her with a BlackBerry in 2005. Two years later, Campbell reportedly threw a crystal-studded cellphone at a maid because of missing jeans. (The British beauty assured the judge she “did not intend to hit her”.) Campbell also reportedly spit and threw punches at police officers at London’s Heathrow Airport in 2008. "I want my luggage!” the supermodel allegedly screamed. “It's just because I'm black and I'm famous!" And last year, Campbell reportedly punched and slapped her limo driver (with a cellphone). She has decried these frequent accusations, saying, “I just feel like I am a target. People have told me for months and years, ‘You’re a target,’ but it’s only just kind of sunk in that I am a target.”
Evan Agostini / AP Photo
British pop singer Lily Allen is known for being frank with her lyrics. But in 2007, she let her fists do all the talking. While leaving the Wardour Club in London’s West End, one paparazzo got a little too close to the “Smile” singer, prompting her to punch the camera away. The photographer escaped with only a bloody nose, but in 2009, Allen stepped up her fighting technique. She threw kicks and a water bottle in addition to punches at a photog who rear-ended her car. He caught the whole thing on film and the assault charges cost Allen her spot at music festival Coachella. Soon thereafter, her lawyer got a legal injunction to protect the popstar from harassment by two paparazzi agencies. Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?
Richard Drew / AP Photo
Icelandic songstress Bjork first struck back at the overbearing press in 1996 after a long flight to Thailand with her then 10-year-old son, Sindri. When Julie Kaufman, a reporter for a cable TV news station, approached Bjork’s son and said, “Welcome to Bangkok!” Bjork pounced on the woman, slapped her repeatedly and knocked her to the ground. In early 2008, history repeated itself when another horde of reporters and photographers crowded around the singer as she landed at New Zealand’s Auckland International Airport. Glenn Jeffrey, a photographer for the New Zealand Herald, snapped a few frames of Bjork and then turned to walk away—but not before the chanteuse ripped the back of his shirt in half, knocking herself down in the process. Bjork later apologized for both attacks and, seemingly, the paparazzi have learned their lesson.
Frank Franklin II / AP Photo
Diva attack tendencies also apparently rub off on pets. Jennifer Lopez’s military-trained guard dog, a German Shepherd named Floyd von Meierhof, let a stewardess on private airline NetJets know exactly what he thought of the in-flight service when he launched into an attack of her pant leg in 2007. According to the suit filed by the stewardess’s legal team, Floyd head-butted the flight attendant’s leg, which caused her to fall and seriously injure her back. The dog, which Lopez gave up following the legal woes, was later adopted by former West Wing star NiCole Robinson. In 2010, the dog attacked a babysitter for the actress’s daughter Shirley.
Peter Kramer / AP Photo
Beauty is not joke to rapper Foxy Brown, who lashed out at two nail salon workers in Manhattan during an alleged fight over a $20 manicure in 2005. The rapper later scoffed at the allegation, saying “I wouldn’t pay for a $20 manicure? Are you serious?” Brown was ordered to take anger-management classes, but they don’t seem to have done her much good. Just over a year later, she was at it again, this time in a beauty-supply store in Florida. Brown allegedly sampled products in the store’s bathroom and when the owner stepped in to tell her it was closing time, that didn’t jive well. Brown threw hair glue at the owner and spit on him when he tried to call 911. Later in 2007, Brown took a page from Naomi Campbell’s book and reportedly used her BlackBerry as a personal weapon against her longtime neighbor in Brooklyn, who reportedly ended up with a black eye, a swollen lip, and loose teeth.
Seth Wenig / AP Photo
With her frequent legal woes , it can’t be easy being Lindsay Lohan’s personal assistant. The job sounds hard enough as it is, but when one of her assistants quit, Lohan wasn’t ready to let go. In July 2007, Lohan commandeered an SUV—with three men still sitting inside—and allegedly chased after her former assistant’s mother. The stunt earned Lohan a list of legal charges against her, including a DUI, suspicion of driving on a suspended license, and possession of cocaine. As for the three men who were along for the ride, they described feelings of “surprise, shock, fear and panic at Lohan's surprising and sudden act,” though the actress’s spokesman called the lawsuit “absurd.” He said, “These guys had the night of their lives, playing with the radio and leaving the vehicle at one point and getting back in.” But four years later, Lohan is the one still paying the price.
Mario Anzuoni / AP Photo
Entertainer Diana Ross, named by Billboard as “Female Entertainer of the Century” in 1976, may have let the acclaim go to her head, according to a book by biographer J. Randy Taraborelli. Call Her Ms. Ross details myriad instances of Ross’s rumored diva behavior. There was one in which Ross allegedly hit a flight attendant over the head with a hat box, which contained an animal; another about Ross reportedly firing her entire staff and trying to have them blacklisted; and yet another about Ross’s alleged rule that nobody should look her in the eyes.
Peter Kramer / AP Photo
Though it’s hardly surprising that cast members of MTV’s Jersey Shore would turn to violence to solve their problems, the allegations that Jenni “J. Woww” Farley’s former boyfriend made against her this year raised some eyebrows. J. Woww’s ex, Tom Lippolis, told Star magazine he had an “abusive” relationship with Farley, who, at one point, allegedly stabbed Lippolis’s arm with a kitchen knife. “I thought she was going to kill me,” he said. Lippolis claimed the fight came over his decision to pose with another woman for a photo. Farley’s rep had no comment about the allegations, though he may have just been busy dealing with the nude photos of the reality-TV star that Lippolis was threatening to sell.
Joel Ryan / AP Photo
Da Brat had already had her share of legal issues when she was arrested for smashing a bottle of rum in a waitress’s face at Jermaine Dupri’s nightclub outside Atlanta on Halloween 2007. In 2000, the rapper had been accused of beating a woman with a gun during a dispute over VIP seating at another Georgia nightclub. In the earlier case, Da Brat had gotten away with paying a $1,000 fine, serving 80 hours of community service, and a year’s probation. But she wasn’t so lucky when it came to the rum bottle incident. Da Brat was sentenced to three years behind bars, seven years of probation, and 200 hours of community service. She was released from prison in February 2011 and put under house arrest.
David Goldman / AP Photo
Men can be divas, too. Russell Crowe made a classic diva move in 2005 when he attacked an employeeat New York’s Mercer Hotel, where he was staying in a $3,000-a-night suite. The Gladiator star hit the desk clerk with a telephone because he couldn’t get a call through to his wife back home in Australia. The clerk suffered cuts under his eye and Crowe was arrested. But as the actor left the hotel, surrounded by dozens of photographers, he at least had the good promoter’s sense to wear a jacket bearing the name of his new movie, Cinderella Man.
Matt Sayles / AP Photo
