You might be able to get away with throwing a little shade from time to time, but it's a somewhat different when you're a celebrity. Every time you diss someone, even in the most subtle way, you will soon see that your fans have immediately figured out. So why not just go for it, like these celebs did when they absolutely burned their exes.
1. Drake and RihannaDrake attended a New Year's Eve party with his then-rumored flame girlfriend. In the early hours of 2017, he made the DJ change the song when Rihanna's 'Work' came on. "That was an old vibe," he reportedly said.
2. Perrie Edwards and ZaynFans have deduced that Little Mix's 'Shout Out to My Ex' is almost definitely about Zayn. "I hope she gettin' better sex / Hope she ain’t fakin’ it like I did, babe" is pretty brutal in itself. The lyrics also included “Guess I should say thank you / For the ‘hate yous’ and the tattoos / Oh baby, I’m cool by the way / Ain’t sure I loved you anyway" - a reference to Zayn's Perrie tattoo, which has since been altered.
3. Selena Gomez and Justin BieberAt one point, Justin threatened to shut down all his social media when fans criticised him for a photo of then-girlfriend Sofia Richie back in 2016, after his split with Selena. Gomez later commented: "If you can't handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol". In response, he wrote, "It's funny t see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad."
4. Mariah Carey and Nick CannonIn a performance in Tokyo, Mariah changed the lyrics of Billie Holiday song 'Don't Explain' from "And I know you cheat / right or wrong, don't matter" to the more direct "I know you cheated, motherf*cker".
5. Gregg Sulkin and Bella ThorneAfter their split, Bella started making headlines with Tyler Posey in 2016. Just as the photos surfaced, Gregg tweeted: "Who doesn't enjoy watching entertainment at the circus?" and "Children want attention".
6. Britney and Justin TimberlakeSpeaking to Rolling Stone in 2011, Britney spoke about the 'Cry Me A River' music video, which starred her lookalike alongside Timberlake. "I think it looks like such a desperate attempt, personally," she said. "But that was a great way to sell the record. He's smart [laughs]. Smart guy."
7. Amber Rose and Kanye WestIn one of the most memorable tweets to have hit the internet, Rose wrote: "Awww @kanyewest are u mad I'm not around to play in ur asshole anymore? #FingersInTheBootyAssBitch". The rapper later responded: "Exes can be mad but just know I never let them play with my ass. I don’t do that… I stay away from that area all together".
8. John Mayer and Jennifer AnistonIn a now-infamous interview with Playboy, Mayer said:
"If Jennifer Aniston knows how to use BitTorrent I’ll eat my fucking shoe [...] The brunt of her success came before TMZ and Twitter. I think she’s still hoping it goes back to 1998. She saw my involvement in technology as courting distraction. And I always said, 'These are the new rules.'"
9. Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney"I think women love very hard," Gaga told CBS Sunday Morning when talking about their relationship. "We just love with everything we have. And sometimes I don’t know that that love is met with the type of dignity that we wish it would be met with. You know, we’re not trying to make you less of a man. We just want you to love us as deeply and as wholesomely and as fully as we love you."
10. Lana Del Ray and G-EazyWhile performing in Denver earlier this year, Del Ray made a slight change to the song 'White Mustang', which is supposedly about G-Eazy. She changed the line "Couldn't stop the way I was feeling the day your record dropped" to "Couldn't stop the way I was feeling the day his record dropped," adding, "and it wasn't even that good".
11. Katy Perry and DiploDuring a livestream, Katy was asked by James Corden to rank her exes from best to worst in bed. John Mayer came first, then Orland Bloom, with Diplo ranking last. Diplo tweeted in response: "I don't even remember having sex".
12. Rihanna and all her exesIn an Instagram post, Rihanna wrote: "None of my exs [sic] are married or in happy relationships so it's safe to say I wasn't da problem lol".
While there is plenty of hearsay out there about celebrity relationships, some stories are far more believable than others. Just look at this list of the most ridiculous rumors about celebrities.