It Wasn't Just Hollywood Envy: Inside The Fallout Between John Cusack & Jeremy Piven

Maintaining a childhood friendship into and past Hollywood success is a rare feat, but John Cusack and Jeremy Piven managed to do exactly that — until they didn't. Having met when they were around 8 at the Illinois theater company run by Piven's parents, they grew up together to become actors in their own right. It worked out perfectly until Piven landed his career-defining role as Ari Gold on HBO's "Entourage." Amid the show's success, Piven and Cusack had a public falling out that permanently impacted their friendship.

While easy to blame it on jealousy when Cusack's own Hollywood career was waning, Piven's history of playing second fiddle — many times to Cusack — may also have played a role. Things came to a head when Piven accused Cusack of having a hard time accepting his "Entourage" fame. "It just says so much about a person if he has space for other people's success," he told Best Life in 2007. In one of Cusack's many controversial moments, he delivered a dry reply to his friend's grievances. "I am very happy for Jeremy. I wish him the best and I always have," he told People. It was definitely the breaking point, but the situation had likely been brewing for years.

Up until that point, Piven had largely played the role of friend to main characters. Piven had previously demonstrated frustration over this. "I just thought I don't know if I can play this guy again," he told the Chicago Tribune in 2001. When Piven finally had his break, he had a lot of emotions pent up that likely aggravated how he perceived Cusack's response to his success. 

Jeremy Piven and John Cusack may no longer be best friends, but the "Entourage" alum will never dismiss the friendship they once had. In 2015, he praised the childhood bond he shared with the "Being John Malkovich" actor and his family. "We met when we were kids at my parents' theatre and my parents were doing 'The Seagull.' We took turns playing the child and we were friends ever since. And Joan [Cusack] is such an angel. I have a lot of history with the Cusacks," he told The Guardian. 

The reply was a clear dodging of the question of whether he and John were still friends, but Piven stood by it. Whatever the present may look like, it didn't erase the past. "Once you have such history with someone, then yeah. I think we were all lucky to find each other," he continued, when the reporter called him out. Since the feud, Piven has largely lost his spot in Hollywood, finding himself in a similar position as his old friend.

Time and distance from Hollywood fame may have softened Piven's views on John. Whether the same is true for the "Say Anything" actor is unclear, as he has seemingly never mentioned Piven since the 2007 fallout. Nonetheless, it is a sad outcome for a friendship that had previously been described in near-devotion terms. "Johnny and I are kindred spirits, maybe even soul-mates. Who knows? Maybe a friend can be that for you," Piven told the Orlando Sentinel in 2001, while discussing his own and John Cusack's unmarried status.