Television may show us romantic duos, but the truth behind the scenes often seems to be quite different. Check out this list of 25 shocking truths about TV couples that hated each other off-screen.
We all have characters that we love, like Mary Tyler Moore or Tyrion Lannister, and characters that we just absolutely hate. Enter Joffrey Baratheon. In this list, we count down the real-life drama behind some of the most memorable twosomes on TV.
See how actors hated each other but put on a show of chemistry on the screen. Have you ever been completely flabbergasted to discover your favorite onscreen pair absolutely loathed each other? Well, this list is for you!
Let’s continue as we reveal off-screen feuds of TV’s most famous couples, one through 10. Vote on the most shocking revelations and add any infamous pairs that you know of. Let’s get to the bottom of TV’s lovey-dovey illusion!
#1 Mila Kunis & Ashton Kutcher – ‘That ’70s Show’
Now, according to them, they say Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have a happy marriage, but they haven’t always been that easy. When they first met on the set of ‘That ’70s Show,’ where they portrayed Jackie and Kelso, they could not even stand each other.
In contrast to the on-screen love affair, Kunis and Kutcher actually hated each other. It might have been an issue of maturity or even the difference in the generation gap since Kunis was only 15 when the show started, while Kutcher was 20.
Funny enough, Kunis had her first kiss with Kutcher, who was playing Kelso, during the show. According to sources, finally the two ended up in a real relationship, and that surprised their co-stars.
#2 Stana Katic & Nathan Fillion – ‘Castle’
The ‘Castle’ stars reportedly have ‘utter disdain for each other.’ It was rumored that Stana Katic, the actor who was Kate Beckett, and Nathan Fillion, the lead actor who was Richard Castle, were actually enemies on set and were never seen talking to each other off-camera.
In fact, the two reportedly ended up in such a bad situation that supposedly, Katic would break into tears because of Fillion’s antics. Producers reportedly sent the two to couples counseling. However, both actors have played it cool professionally. Katic never addressed the tension publicly, and Fillion even tweeted his support for her.
#3 Lauren Graham & Scott Patterson – ‘Gilmore Girls’
Stars Hollow’s favorite couple, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Luke (Scott Patterson), proved to be as unattainable off-screen as they were on: Despite both the actors insisting that there is no beef between them, the rumors are that the two ‘Gilmore Girls‘ stars were not friends.
When asked in an interview if she and Patterson were friends off-set, Graham emphatically replied, ‘No.’ Though they posted a smiling selfie when ‘Gilmore Girls’ wrapped its new episodes, it left fans wondering if they were just relieved they wouldn’t have to see each other anymore. The truth remains unclear.
#4 Vivian Vance & William Frawley – ‘I Love Lucy’
Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) from I Love Lucy are probably the most well-known television couple sidekicks of all time and were equally as popular as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Offscreen, however, Frawley and Vance despised each other.
It began with Vance hating the fact that she was 22 years younger and that Frawley was such a curmudgeon. For his part, Frawley had a habit of disparaging Vance’s looks. Yet, they managed to work with each other and never spoke off-camera.
#5 Gillian Anderson & David Duchovny – ‘The X-Files’
Not even the favorite pair of Scully and Mulder, played by Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X-Files, were free of friction issues. Anderson admitted that there had been periods of antipathy between them, the last time when she won the Emmy and failed to thank her counterpart.
Duchovny also pointed out that they had never had a true friendship together. Nonetheless, both of them went on with a professional level of things, working on several X-Files programs in the current century. According to Duchovny, “It’s a successful working relationship, and that’s the relationship we needed to have.”
#6 Jean Hagen & Danny Thomas – ‘Make Room For Daddy’
During the first season of the classic hit comedy series Make Room for Daddy, Danny Thomas’s character, Danny Williams was married to Margaret, portrayed by Jean Hagen.
On the show, the two were the essential driving force and furthermore plot device but in reality, Thomas and Hagen hated one another. Hagen eventually quit the series along with frustration, and Thomas merely told the writers that they needed to murder her character in response.
#7 Nina Dobrev & Ian Somerhalder – ‘The Vampire Diaries’
Throughout The Vampire Diaries, co-stars Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder dated for three years, thus adding to the onscreen complexity of Elena and Damon. The two had what was viewed as an amicable break-up, but backstage tensions were reported to be awkward.
Dobrev eventually left the show, though it appeared she did so with a great deal of grace. In 2015, she commented on her relationship with Somerhalder, highlighting the professionalism between them and maintaining that they were friends through it all, having formerly dated.
#8 Patti LuPone & Bill Smitrovich – ‘Life Goes On’
Life Goes On was a groundbreaking 1989 drama focusing on the Thatcher family in suburban Chicago, with mother Libby, father Drew, daughters Becca and Paige, and son Corky, played by Chris Burke, who actually had Down syndrome.
The series broke ground by having a main character with Down syndrome and, for that matter, was one of the first primetime network dramas to openly discuss the HIV virus, but its leads Patty LuPone and Bill Smitrovich hated each other.
Describing herself and Smitrovich as ‘oil and water’, LuPone writes in her autobiography that he was a ‘self-absorbed bully’.
#9 Shelley Long & Ted Danson – ‘Cheers’
Ah, those good ol’ “creative differences.” They were thought to be one of the main reasons Shelley Long left her role as Diane Chambers on Cheers. It was widely reported that she and Ted Danson were not getting along, resulting in Diane leaving Danson’s Sam Malone at the altar in the Season 5 finale.
What exactly defines a creative difference? Is it a simple disagreement on how to play a scene? Or is it an overwhelming desire to scratch your co-star’s eyes out? No one knows the answer, but Long, acknowledging some friction between Danson and herself, insists they really got along well.
#10 Julie McCullough & Kirk Cameron – ‘Growing Pains’
In season four of Growing Pains, Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) gets a crush on nanny Julie Costello (Julie McCullough). The character’s storyline resulted in plans for McCullough’s character to marry Mike, but the actress was unceremoniously dismissed after eight episodes following complaints by the series star, Kirk Cameron.
A committed evangelical Christian, Cameron took exception to McCullough’s previous nude Playboy photo session which took place four years before her appearance on Growing Pains. A decade later, Cameron expressed regret, offering that he was less mature at that time.
In his memoir, he blamed the move on showrunner Dan Guntzelman. Guntzelman and producer Mike Sullivan insist McCullough was let go for story reasons. Of course, McCullough was replaced by Chelsea Noble, then Cameron’s girlfriend and now wife, so his version of events doesn’t hold water.
