Beyoncé Knowles' dad was her manager for two decades—since her Destiny's Child days—until she sacked him. Their relationship was reportedly strained after Matthew Knowles admitted to having an affair with Alexsandra Wright, who gave birth to their child. After the news, Matthew and Beyonce's mother Tina filed for divorce. But Beyoncé insisted the decision had nothing to do with tense family relations. "He is my father and I love my dad dearly," she said, before adding that they were only parting ways on a "business level." She thanked him for his influence on her career (he saw her through three blockbuster solo albums, 16 Grammys, and three major film roles) but Matthew probably won't get a cut of his daughter's latest, A Star Is Born.
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Usher's in an on-again off-again relationship… with his mother. On Mother's Day in 2007, Usher fired Jonetta Patton from her post as manager, supposedly over her opposition to his then-fiancée Tameka Foster. "At this time in my life, I am simply more interested in building the strength of my family. And in order to do that, I feel it's best to separate my business life from my personal life," Usher said. In 2008, the mother-son duo reunited when he rehired her, but only one year later, she got the boot again. Family drama has its toll: Her departure put a hold on Usher's latest album after Jive Records refused to launch the album without a manager.
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Leighton Meester recently gave her mom Connie the heave-ho as her manager. The Gossip Girl star was worried about her reputation after Connie allegedly said she was going to "hunt down and kill" one of her daughter's old friends, who then issued a restraining order on Mama Meester. Connie has a checkered past: She gave birth to Leighton at a halfway house while serving a prison sentence for being involved in a marijuana-smuggling scandal. But Leighton's always claimed she has a healthy relationship with both her parents, and told Seventeen magazine she doesn't judge them for their pasts.
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Known for his role as little Arnold Jackson on the '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, Gary Coleman was one of the decade's most promising child stars. The show ended in 1986, and three years later Coleman's bright future took a turn for the worse. At 21, he sued his parents and business adviser for pilfering his assets. Four years later he won the suit. "The judgment confirms what Gary has been saying all along. All he has wanted was fair treatment from the people who handled his money when he was a minor," his attorney said after the settlement. Coleman, who suffered from health problems for much of his life, sadly remained estranged from his parents until his death in 2010. "Gary wanted to live his life the way he wanted to live it, on his own terms," his mother told People last year. "He could've gotten in touch with us any time he wanted to. We were always open to him and he knew that we loved him."
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After releasing her platinum first album, Tiffany Reneé Darwish went from being an average high school student to a pop star in only a year. But the instant fame must have gone to her head. Shortly after her record debuted, 16-year-old Tiffany wanted to take control of her career and requested that her mother, Janie Williams, sign papers legally declaring her an emancipated minor. When Williams wouldn't sign, fearing her daughter was being brainwashed by her manager who had committed the artist to seven albums with him as boss, Tiffany moved out of her mother's apartment and was briefly declared a runaway by the Los Angeles County sheriff's office. Shortly afterward, her career stalled, proving mother always knows best.
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The notoriously hot-tempered chef of Hell's Kitchen had no problem saying "You're fired" to his business adviser, despite the fact that the firee was his father-in-law. Ramsay and Chris Hutcheson met each other in 1993 and became business partners with Hutcheson acting as a mentor. In 1998, he helped Ramsay open his first restaurant, London's Gordon Ramsay, which has since been awarded three Michelin Stars. Hutcheson guided Ramsay as he gradually expanded his flagship into a global empire. Since they split last October, Hutcheson and Ramsay have been at war, with Ramsay calling Hutcheson a "dictator" in a letter to his mother-in-law. Hutcheson just recently put one of Ramsay's restaurants up for sale for $8.9 million (the only one in which he owns half a stake).
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It's an eternal question: Michael Jackson and Joe Jackson may have had a troubled relationship, but without Joe, would we ever have had the brilliance of the Jackson 5? Joe Jackson started the musical group with his sons and helped secure the quintet its first deal with Motown Records in 1968. Under Jackson's seriously strict rules—he has admitted to using "the whip" to get his sons in line—the Jackson 5 became one of the top groups of the '70s, although the brothers have always maintained their father was a bad business manager. Young Mike fired Joe in 1979, and the group broke up in the early '80s. Afterward, Michael Jackson the solo artist was born. Despite the physical abuse, Michael and Joe Jackson were not estranged later in life, and Michael even acknowledged his father with an annual " Joseph Jackson Day" at Neverland Ranch. Following Michael's death in 2009, Joe Jackson and his wife, Katherine, became the guardians of Michael's three children: Paris, Prince Michael, and Blanket.
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LeAnn Rimes became a star when she released her first, instant-hit album "Blue" at age 13. But early success put a lot of pressure on the young country singer, and it didn't help that her parents divorced a year later. The combination of fame, money, and adolescent angst caused Rimes to rebel. In 2000, 16-year-old Rimes attempted to take over her own career from her manager father Wilbur and sued him for withholding $7 million of her earnings. Roughly a year later when Rimes became engaged, she decided to mend her relationship with her father and settle the suit so he could come to her wedding. "I go by the saying 'Money's the root of all evil.' And I definitely believe that the love for money is the root of all evil, because it changes people," she said.
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Not many people can quit with they're 14 and still have a $17 million fortune, and perhaps Kit Culkin takes credit for the success of his son, Macaulay Culkin. But it's cold comfort to Macaulay, who says his father ruled the family as if they were "his kingdom" and used humiliation and physical abuse against his children. Macaulay says he "learned how to read court papers at 14," when his parents got involved in a bitter custody dispute. Macaulay had no idea how much money he was worth, and when he learned that his father controlled his millions, young Richie Rich went to court to remove Kit's access. The move drove a permanent wedge between father and son, with Macaulay now saying he "thinks" his father lives in Arizona. Macaulay wrote a book called Junior in 2006, described as a "quasi-fictional chronicle of a former child star," and as for the career his father so harshly managed, he refers to himself as "not exactly the hardest-working actor."
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Being in the family of a music "god" didn't help Hank Williams Jr. and his mother, Audrey, form a lasting relationship. After Hank Williams, considered by many to be the father of country music, died, the bereaved Audrey Williams forced her then 8-year-old son to go on stage and perform many of his father's beloved songs. Hank made his recording debut with "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" in 1957, one of his father's signature songs. He made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 11 and recorded solo albums by the age of 14. But the loving devotion went a bit too far for Junior's taste: Throughout the 1960s, he became known as a "Hank Williams' impersonator"—in some cases, he even performed in clothes identical to his father's. At the age of 18, he severed ties with his mother and branched out on his own—although Hank would become a hit country musician in his own right, he also struggled with drugs and alcohol.
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Shirley Temple's mother began taking her daughter to auditions when she was only 2 years old, and brought her on never-ending visits with agents to create a show-business career. The hard work paid off, at least at first: Temple signed on to a contract in 1932 with Education Pictures, Inc. when she was only 4 years old. Temple became one of the most beloved faces of 1930s movies, and cashed in on her appeal with merchandise, including dolls that made $45 million in sales by 1941. But as Temple later wrote in her autobiography, she saw little of this money: Her parents mismanaged finances and spent recklessly throughout her young career. Temple never officially fired her parents, but later in life—around the same time the studios tried to pen her into child roles—she had the sad realization that they were not looking out for her best interests. Shirley Temple struggled to regain an acting career in the 1940s, but would never recapture the magic she created during her early years.
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