Piers Morgan has a lot of enemies - but one of the wildest tales is his ongoing feud with Madonna.
In the latest turn of events, the outspoken presenter mocked her appearance at this week's Grammy Awards, rudely comparing her looks to a 'Halloween' costume.
Refusing to back down, Piers then tweeted: "Every time I've met Madonna, she was a rude little madam. She probably speaks as fondly about me."
The presenter has previously labelled the legendary singer "pathetic", "embarrassing", insisted she " doesn't know how to age gracefully" and claimed she was "an irritant in my life".
Last year, he blasted Madonna's "cringe" dominatrix-style outfit at the VMAs and claimed she's "so mean with money her purse has to be opened with chainsaws".
The heated feud goes back decades - and bizarrely it all started with Piers chucking a bread roll at the pop sensation.
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Their beef started in the 90s, but it really escalated in 2001 when the pair both attended celebrity chef Marco Pierre White's 40th birthday party.
According to Piers, "obnoxious" Madonna, who was there with then-husband Guy Ritchie, took offense to late comic Bernard Manning's routine.
So he launched a bread roll at her, as you do.
"Madonna is pretty awful. She never forgave me for throwing a bread roll at her at Marco Pierre White’s birthday," Piers told OK! Magazine. "She was just being really obnoxious, not just to me, but generally.
"There was only 40 of us at this dinner party and she got annoyed because Bernard Manning started being offensive and that wound her up.
"She was with Guy Ritchie at the time and he'd been laughing his head off… I just picked up a bread roll and chucked it at her!"
Piers claimed Madonna was "attention seeking" and boldly claimed her "15 minutes of superstardom has probably run its course".
Madonna has never actually addressed any of Piers' claims or hit back at the presenter, who banned her from his CNN show, but she has made indirect comments about her haters.
Just before he started hosting Piers Morgan Tonight in January 2011, Piers referred to the Queen of Pop as "an irritant in my life for 20 years".
He insisted the only way she would be allowed on was if she apologised to him live on CNN, but remained coy on the details of his anger.
"There is a story here. There’s no way you would pick Madonna out of nowhere," he told Access Hollywood.
When asked what she had specifically done to him, Piers continued: "Something has happened with Madonna, a few things have gone down between Madonna and I. There’s a few things have happened. She knows."
Piers claimed the pair had never really seen eye-to-eye and cited the bread roll, as well as an incident at the Cannes Film Festival involving a photographer and a bodyguard.
He also referenced an incident involving a pub where his brother Rupert was manager, which was owned by Madonna's ex-husband Guy Ritchie.
But it gets worse, as Piers claims he was sabotaged by Madonna's team.
He explained: "You know the worst thing Madonna did to me? Madonna’s publicist once said to me, 'Listen to me, Madonna is not pregnant,' when I was running a newspaper. And I said, ‘Are you sure?’ She said, 'Listen to me, Piers. Madonna is not pregnant.'
"The next day, they announced [the news] on a rival newspaper's website. There's a series of crimes."
In December 2016, Piers took great offence at Madonna's Carpool Karaoke segment with James Corden on his The Late Late Show.
After watching a clip of her twerking and revealing she once kissed Michael Jackson, Piers said: "I loved Madonna when she acted her age. You can't be 58 and prancing about.
"I want her to just put it away... my mother just text me, saying 'do not show that clip of Madonna in the car'... and she speaks for middle England."
Then in May 2019, Piers branded the popstar "grotesquely offensive" for appearing to wear a burka out in public.
He branded the singer "shameless" and called her an "attention seeker" for opting to cover herself head-to-toe in all black while at JFK airport in New York, accusing of "mocking" Muslims with her incognito outfit.
Taking to his Mail Online column, an angry Piers fumed: "She knew exactly what she was doing, because it’s the same thing she’s been doing for 40 years: shameless attention-seeking.
"Only this time, when I stopped laughing at the headlines, I suddenly realised that her latest publicity-grabbing move wasn’t actually very funny at all. It was actually grotesquely offensive."
Although he clearly holds the Material Girl singer in high regard ,as he declared himself as an A-list celebrity on the basis of having more Twitter followers than her.
In August 2020, one critic wrote: "I never followed you Piers. But there's a difference between thinking it's over and it's under control/ realising the country needs to get going or go bust. Btw are you an A list celeb?"
To which Piers proudly drew the conclusion by responding: "Well, I have three times as many followers as @Madonna, so...."
The following month, Piers launched into a furious tirade against Madonna on Good Morning Britain after she announced she would be taking the helm of her own biopic, focusing on her music and co-written with Academy Award winner Diablo Cody.
Piers gave fresh life to his feud with Madge as he branded her "pathetic" and "embarrassing" and even took a swipe at her relationship with Ahlamalik Williams.
He remarked: "When she did Holiday, she was the best popstar in the world. No question. Now it's just pathetic watching Madonna now. Pathetic. Everybody finds her pathetic and now we're having a biopic."
Not one to back down, Piers continued: "She's 62 now going on 20. The act doesn't work. It's embarrassing.
"She doesn't know how to age gracefully. She's trying to act the age of her boyfriends. I think the latest one's about - what is he, 18? They're always older than her kids, I know that."
At the start of this year, Piers took aim at Madonna after she announced her Celebration world tour - claiming she was a "hot mess".
Taking to Twitter, Piers wrote: "I think Madonna’s become the biggest cringe-making fiasco in world entertainment."
On his TalkTV show, he also said Madonna "should be put out to pasture" and criticised her for "trying to be a sex kitten when you're in your 60s".
Piers then showed a series of X-rated snaps Madonna had shared on social media, including one of her lying underneath a bed with her bare bum on display.
The talk show host said the singer has hit "rock bottom" and suggested she should do her arena shows while sitting in a rocking chair.
Piers was slammed for making "misogynistic" and "unnecessarily cruel" remarks, with some suggesting he was "tragic" and "obsessed".
Now Piers is facing a massive backlash for his comments about Madonna's appearance at the Grammy Awards this week.
The Material Girl singer surprised people with her youthful appearanc e at the annual awards ceremony in LA, as her lips appeared plumped and pouty and her skin was smooth and without wrinkles.
In his typical brash manner, Piers posted a close-up snap on Madonna and sarcastically asked his followers: "I thought Halloween was in October?"
Then he got into a row with comedian James Barr on his TalkTV show, after stating: "The fact is she's done stuff to her face surgically which means when she goes out know we all shriek in horror."
"She was incredibly rude every time I met her, but I don't hold that against her."
When James questioned whether anyone was discussing how Piers looked, the presenter replied: "I literally get fat-shamed all the time even though as you can see I'm basically emaciated."
Piers was inundated with criticism from his fellow social media users who deemed his comment unnecessary - and Madonna indirectly hit back.
The pop sensation, who presented an award, shared a series of clips and snaps of herself partying with Sam Smith, Kim Petras, Cardi B and more stars as she clapped back at her haters.
In a lengthy statement, she wrote: "Instead of focusing on what I said in my speech which was about giving thanks for the fearlessness of artists like Sam and Kim- Many people chose to only talk about Close-up photos of me Taken with a long lens camera By a press photographer that Would distort anyone’s face!!"
"Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny That permeates the world we live in.
"A world that refuses to celebrate women pass the age of 45 And feels the need to punish her If she continues to be strong willed, hard-working and adventurous.
"I have never apologized for any of the creative choices I have made nor the way that I look or dress and I’m not going to start. I have been degraded by the media since the beginning of my career but I understand that this is all a test and I am happy to do the trailblazing so that all the women behind me can have an easier time in the years to come."
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