Shakira, Miley Cyrus, Megan Fox: Celebrity breakups in the age of social media pettiness 

Shakira set the petty precedent after her split with Spanish footballer Gerard Pique who she split with after more than decade together. Initially seeming to take the high road for the sake of their two children, that decision was short-lived and it wasn’t long before the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer had put a lifesize witch doll on her balcony, aiming it in the direction of her former mother in law’s house. A cryptic message to her ex? Well, that’s how many read it.

Probably doesn’t help that the ex-couple have been plagued by cheating rumours since news of their split broke. Whispers that the former Barcelona star was having an affair emerged in June 2022, days later, Shakira and Piqué anounced they had gone their separate ways. Three months after that, the footballer went public with his new relationship with 23-year-old model Clara Chía. According to unconfirmed reports, the two have been seeing each other for much longer though, with some claims suggesting they first met way back in 2019. Last month, it was alleged that old video footage from August 2021 showed a figure resembling Clara in the background of a Zoom interview Piqué did at their family home – Shakira was reportedly abroad with their children at the time. 

Shakira wasn’t going to take this lying down though and her new “diss track” is far from subtle with pointed lyrics attacking Piqué, his new girlfriend and his mother. “You left me your mother as my neighbour, media at my door and in debt to the government,” she croons, later adding, “I’m worth two 22-year-olds, you traded a Ferrari for a Twingo, you traded a Rolex for a Casio.” She also questions his intelligence, suggesting he should spend less time in the gym and more time training his brain.

Petty sells though and the public ate. it. up. The official music video for “Out of Your League” racked up more than 63 million views in just 24-hours, making it the most-watched Latin song in YouTube history. 

In all honesty, though, Shakira walked so Miley could run – nothing says petty quite like a Billboard Global 200 numer one. Safe to say she took the Beyoncé line “when he wanna smash, I’ll just write another one” very much to heart. 

Thematically, “Flowers” is a classic breakup anthem, one where Cyrus concludes that, actually, she’s better off alone. She can buy herself flowers, she can write her name in the sand. Hell she can take herself dancing and hold her own hand. As Esquire notes, Miley has ushered in “a new assured era”’ her aura is “less look at me, and more, here I am,” as they put it. 

Timing the song’s release with Hemsworth’s birthday, Miley is assured, yes, but not above pettiness either. In fact, the music video apparently holds many a Liam Hemsworth-shaped Easter egg. There’s mention of their burning Malibu home, a reference to past red carpet clips of the two and a Vanity Fair interview the couple did together back in 2019 which culminated in Cyrus twerking on Hemsworth. 

The gold lamé dress she wears is strikingly similar to one Jennifer Lawerence wore during the Hunger Games press tour (not coincidental), the workout she does is reportedly the same one Hemsworth used to do. Some fans even believe that the villa she filmed in was chosen because it’s – allegedly – where Hemsworth cheated on her with 14 (14!!!) different women. None of this has been confirmed as of yet, but… damn. 

Which brings us to Megan Fox who has jumped aboard the petty bandwagon with gusto, deleting all photos of her fiancé Machine Gun Kelly from her Instagram and posting a photo with a caption hinting at infidelity. “You can taste the dishonesty/it’s all over your breath,” she wrote underneath a pic of herself looking uber-glam – a line she borrowed from Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”… which Bey wrote about Jay-Z cheating on her, so y’know, we have questions.

Fox seems to have deleted her own account altogether since but not before she unfollowed everyone she had previously followed including MGK. Only Eminem, Timotheé Chalamet and Harry Styles made the cut…which does little to clear the situation up for the rest of us. To quote one Instagram user: “if she DID break up with MGK we need to get eyes on Pete Davidson STAT”.  

While it’s too early to tell how this will play out, Beyoncé is most often the first port of call in post-breakup pettiness – Fox may be speaking in clear-as-mud riddles but quoting “Lemonade” usually means someone done f*cked up.

Feature image via @machinegunkelly