Celebs Who Got Revenge Over People Who Once Bullied Them
We tend to imagine that the rich and famous have always had it easy, that they've coasted through life on their good looks, natural charm, and pure charisma from the moment they were old enough to walk and talk. Of course, that's very rarely the case, particularly when it comes to high school years.
Indeed, think of any Hollywood pin-up or chart-topping singer and it's likely that they suffered at the hands of bullies back in the day. While some might be reluctant to talk about such a traumatic time in public, others — perhaps as a form of therapy — will quite happily discuss the times they were beat up in the bathroom or called names on a daily basis. And then there are those who will admit to seeking vengeance on their teenage tormentors.
From acts of passive aggression and red carpet confrontations to on-stage pranks and musical ripostes, here's proof of how revenge is a dish best served by a wounded celebrity.
Eminem got revenge in song
No doubt at least one person now rues the junior high days in which he mistreated an aspiring rapper who then went by the name of Marshall Mathers. For one of the superstar musician's former school bullies was later shamed in song — and by his full name.
Yes, appearing on Eminem's 1999 second studio effort "The Slim Shady LP," "Brain Damage" references one particular incident in which the provocateur was tormented at high school by an older student. The verse begins, "Way before my baby daughter Hailey / I was harassed daily by this fat kid named D'Angelo Bailey / An eighth grader who acted obnoxious, cause his father boxes /so everyday he'd shove me in the lockers."
Eminem, who was repeatedly mocked in his teenage years for attempting to make it in the hip-hop world, went on to rap about how Bailey once allegedly assaulted him in the bathroom, adding, "He banged my head against the urinal 'til he broke my nose." The album this act of revenge appeared on went quadruple platinum in the United States alone. As per Rolling Stone, Bailey tried to sue Eminem for defamation, but the judge dismissed the suit.
Winona Ryder told off her tormentor
Winona Ryder had something of a nomadic childhood, which meant she often had to deal with being the "new girl" in school. This, of course, made her an easy target for bullies. Unfortunately, there was a particular incident at one junior high in which those who should have protected her only added to her misery.
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar UK (via Intelligencer), the "Stranger Things" star recalled how she once turned up to school in a Salvation Army suit designed for a boy. The 10-year-old was subsequently called a homophobic slur by some of her classmates, before receiving such a savage beating that she needed stitches. But incredibly, the school in question decided that the best course of action was to expel the future Hollywood star instead of the bullies.
Several years later, when she had established herself as an actor, Ryder got the perfect opportunity to enjoy some sweet revenge when she bumped into one of her tormentors at a coffee shop: "She said, 'Winona, Winona, can I have your autograph?' and I said, 'Do you remember me? I went to Kenilworth. Remember how, in seventh grade, you beat up that kid?' and she said, 'Kind of,' and I said, 'That was me. Go f*** yourself!'"
Chris Rock silently gloated over his bully
While appearing on "The Howard Stern Show" in 2020, Chris Rock discussed the constant bullying he faced while growing up, comparing his young existence to the hell that Tim Robbins' character Andy faced in "The Shawshank Redemption." In a coincidental turn of events, the funnyman later ended up on the same film set as one of his tormentors, and this time the balance of power had shifted firmly in his favor.
The encounter occurred during the shooting of "Top Five," the 2014 comedy which Rock not only starred in but directed, too. While the comedian was busy calling the shots, he noticed a familiar face in the security team. But instead of confronting him, or using his position to get him fired, Rock decided to kill his former bully with kindness.
The star told Stern that after the man in question nodded at him in recognition, he returned a look which said, "Hey, man, hope you're doing well. You take care." Rock explained that the disparity between the pair was punishment enough: "The fact that he had to go through that whole day and watch me walk around and watch me — I was directing a movie — and watch me be me in all my glory. And to be so close to me and yet so mother****ing far."
Wendy Williams showed off at her high school reunion
In her 2008 autobiography "Wendy's Got the Heat," chat show host Wendy Williams revealed that she constantly felt alienated during her years at Ocean Township High School: "I was the black girl in a practically all-white school. And among the handful of blacks, I was the 'white girl,' the outcast."
By the time she received an invitation to a school reunion several years later, Williams had fulfilled her ambitions of forging a career in radio: she was working as a late-night DJ at HOT 103. And the star wasn't going to miss the opportunity to rub her success in the faces of those who had previously ostracized her.
Williams explained that her appearance at the event was made all the sweeter because of her former bullies' contrasting circumstances: "Many of my classmates had either dropped out of college or were still trying to finish or trying to find a job, and I was already a big-time New York jock. Yeah, I was working overnights, but I was on my way." And to make sure that no one ignored her this time around, the broadcaster rocked up to the party in all of her self-described fabulosity.
Topher Grace dropped a big name in front of his bully
In 2011, Topher Grace returned to his Connecticut hometown of Darien to film romantic comedy "The Big Wedding" with some of Hollywood's most illustrious names. And he made sure to drop most of them when he bumped into an old high school foe on location.
The "That '70s Show" favorite recalled the moment he came face to face with the man, whose identity he kept secret, during an appearance on talk show "Anderson." During their impromptu catch-up, Grace revealed that he'd been working with Katherine Heigl and Robert De Niro, also cheekily asking his former tormentor whether he knew them, too. "It was the reason you want to go into being an actor," the star said, later admitting without any remorse, "I was a real jerk."
And De Niro had inadvertently helped to make it sound like Grace was best buddies with the "Taxi Driver" star: "[De Niro] had said, 'Call me Bob', which I had real trouble with because he's such a fantastic actor but when I saw my childhood bully, I was able to say, 'Hey, do you know Bob?'"
Henry Cavill deliberately ignored his bully
It's hard to imagine anyone now picking a fight with the muscle man that is Henry Cavill. But the Superman actor hasn't always been insanely ripped. In fact, in his high school years he was considered overweight, and many of his classmates used this as a stick to beat him with.
In a chat with People, Cavill admitted that he found growing up hard because of all the bullying. However, he did acknowledge that he took some positives from the experience, too: "Someone who is on the outskirts of popularity is someone who gets to look in. So I became very much an observer, and that taught me an awful lot about people."
Cavill has been able to use these observer skills to get his revenge. As he explained to The Sun (via Showbiz Cheat Sheet), "I've had a couple of awkward moments where I've seen one in the room and deliberately ignored him and really enjoyed it. He kept looking over and trying to make eye contact and I just kept on blanking him."
Michael B. Jordan confronted his bully on the red carpet
We don't know whether Michael B. Jordan has now forgiven his high school bullies. But it seems safe to say that he certainly hasn't forgotten them. While taking to the red carpet for the "Creed III" premiere in 2023, the actor was approached by an interviewer who was all-too-familiar.
"The Morning Hustle Show" host Lore'l had gone to school with Jordan in New Jersey and had previously boasted about the way she and her friends treated him, telling podcast "The Undressing Room" (via NME), "We teased him all the damn time because his name was Michael Jordan. And he also would come to school with a headshot. We lived in Newark, that's the hood. We would make fun of him like, 'What you gonna do with your stupid headshot!?"
Lore'l claimed she'd been misquoted when Jordan brought up her "corny" description of him before trying to make amends. But the unimpressed director wasn't having any of it and walked away halfway through her attempt at buttering him up.
Katherine Ryan publicly named her daughter's bully
Katherine Ryan's school bully tale is slightly different due to the fact it wasn't her own she took revenge on but her young daughter's. While appearing on British panel show "Unforgivable," the comedian recalled how she once shamed the boy in question on Richard Herring's podcast by revealing his full name.
"The Duchess" creator explained (via Metro), "I thought it was a funny angle to bully these children in my stand up. To talk about them, to slag them off because to me, comedy is a lot about surprise. So it's very surprising to have a sweet-looking young single mom slagging off a bunch of toddlers." Ryan went on to tell a story about the said young terrorizer which involved him defecating in a money tin — subsequently giving half his class worms — and aggressively bullying her daughter.
The funnywoman remembered thinking, "This f***ing kid. I can slag this kid off, if his parents don't like it, they can maybe sort the bullying out and give my child a good day at school." Unsurprisingly, the boy's mother wasn't quite so amused and confronted Ryan on the school premises. The star apologized to the irate parent for disclosing her disruptive son's identity.
Anna Camp served her nemesis toilet water
Who knew that the rather sweet-looking Anna Camp could be so twisted? While appearing on Lisa Vanderpump's show "Overserved," the actor revealed that she once took revenge on her high school nemesis by serving her a specific type of water. And it wasn't of the Evian kind.
Camp explained that there was one school production she had to work behind-the-scenes on, having watched her bully land the leading part. Unfortunately for the latter, one of the "Pitch Perfect" star's duties was filling up a water pitcher for the main character to drink from on stage. Instead of using the tap, Camp headed straight for the dirtiest toilet in the dirtiest bathroom and then sat back to watch her rather gross masterplan unfold.
"I was so excited and felt so riveted watching her do this," she recalled, adding, "I have a little dark side." Camp didn't name the girl she enacted her deeply unhygienic revenge on, but having told the story on national television, it seems pretty likely that her victim is fully aware now.
Ava Max asked her tormentors Who's Laughing Now?
Eminem isn't the only chart regular who's shamed their tormentors in musical form. Ava Max might not have followed the rapper's lead by naming them specifically but she still let them have both barrels on the aptly-named "Who's Laughing Now?"
In 2020, Max revealed to The Sun that she'd found her early teenage years particularly tough due to constant bullying from a group of girls: "I even got cornered in a bathroom. Someone put my head in a toilet. That was middle school for me and I didn't like it. And I didn't want to go to school and at one point I didn't go. I started doing home-schooling."
Appearing on her debut album "Heaven and Hell," Max's revenge song includes lines such as "Don't ya know that I'm stronger? / Don't ya see me in all black? / Don't ya cry like a baby? / Ha-ha-ha, ha, ha-ha-ha / Who's laughing now?" By this point, she had already reached pole position in no fewer than 22 different countries with her single "Sweet But Psycho."
Mike Tyson never forgot his bullies
Widely regarded as one of the all-time greatest heavyweight boxers, Mike Tyson is the last person you'd expect to have suffered at the hands of bullies. But back when the sportsman was only knee high to a grasshopper, he was indeed picked on by some older boys who soon realized they'd made a grave mistake
As a first grader, Tyson was beaten up before having his glasses thrown down a truck's gas tank. It's an incident which still affects him as he admitted in book "Undisputed Truth": "I still feel like a coward to this day because of that bullying. That's a wild feeling, being that helpless. You never ever forget that feeling." Of course, once he began to forge a reputation as the Baddest Man on the Planet, the former world champion was able to fight back.
Tyson recalled how the red mist came over him whenever he encountered an old tormentor: "I'd be walking with some friends, and I might see one of the guys who beat me up and bullied me years earlier. He might have gone into a store shopping, and I would drag his a** out of the store and start pummeling him." The ear biter remarked that although the man in question might have forgotten about the glasses incident, he certainly never did.
Ashley McBryde wrote the ultimate high school revenge song
"You got a closet drinking problem / And a juvenile delinquent souvenir from Senior Prom / I got a Budweiser endorsement / You're re-financing your mortgage." These stinging lyrics probably weren't what one particular high school reunion organizer had in mind when they asked attendee Ashley McBryde to honor their graduating class.
The lines appear on "Fat and Famous," a diatribe against the country singer's bullies which she wrote in response. As Whiskey Riff recounted, McBryde put on an overly enthusiastic voice and recalled the initial request while performing live on stage at a 2018 London show: "You know what'd be great. What would happen if you like wrote a song about our graduating class and you did it like at the show? Wouldn't that be awesome?"
Appearing on her 2016 album "Jalopies and Expensive Guitars", the offending track sees McBryde look back at the abuse she received in her teenage years before taking aim at the perpetrators in no uncertain terms. Hell hath no fury like a Grand Ole Opry member scorned.
Georges St-Pierre shamed his old nemesis
During an interview on radio station Hot 97, mixed martial artist Georges St-Pierre revealed that he once encountered his old childhood tormentor on the street. And it's fair to say that the pair had experienced contrasting fortunes in the intervening years.
While the former had been busy racking up titles in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the latter was now asking strangers for money in public. In fact, he'd even approached his one-time schoolmate before recognizing him. And St-Pierre told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to get his act together: "I gave him a few dollars and I [told] him, 'Get out of here ... you should be ashamed, you should be embarrassed of what you're doing, man. A lot of guys would kill to be like you. You know you're full of potential. You're good looking, healthy, tall and strong. Go do something with your life."
St-Pierre's no-nonsense pep talk appeared to do the trick. Several months later, his parents were visited by his former nemesis who subsequently told them that he was now healthy, employed, and eternally grateful for receiving such a kick up the backside.
Danai Gurira sought justice against her bully
Rather than let her grudge fester for decades, Danai Gurira did not waste any time when seeking vengeance against her school bully. Shortly after being repeatedly punched in the stomach aged around nine by a student two years older than her, the future "Black Panther" star decided the best course of action was to tell the principal.
In an interview with Self, Gurira remembered thinking that the resulting punishment would affect her world view: "Depending on what she was going to do, it was going to define how I felt I could push my way through the world as a woman when she deals with injustice — when she deals with whatever — or when she wants to put her voice out there. It was going to be very definitive."
Luckily, the principal believed Gurira and reprimanded the boy for his behavior. This outcome ultimately taught the actor that standing up for what you believe in can reap its rewards. She added, "I feel like there was something very powerful in it for me, as a girl, to know that it's not okay for someone to lay their hands on you like that, and someone would stand up for me, so I would want to stand up for others."