From Yuvraj Singh and Kevin Pietersen to Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, friendships that have stood the test of time

By Apoorva Puranik

It doesn’t take much for friends to turn foes. Forget and forgive is the true test. These celebrities have had their friendship boats rocked, only to anchor them safely again.


YUVRAJ SINGH AND KEVIN PIETERSEN

No sport is complete without some on-field rivalry. In the run-up to an India vs England Test series in 2008, Kevin Pietersen and Yuvraj Singh were all praise for each other. That didn’t last for long though. The battle of egos between them turned nasty after Pietersen labelled Yuvraj a “pie-chucker”, after he was dismissed by Singh’s bowling. Not the kind to take insults lying down, Singh responded in a press conference — “If I’m a pie-chucker, Pietersen is a useless batsman.” The two have buried the hatchet since, and even have a running joke about the incident on social media.

SHAH RUKH KHAN AND FARAH KHAN

The actor and choreographerturned-director have worked on multiple movies together and been friends for a long time. However, the duo had a falling out in 2012 when Farah’s husband, Shirish Kunder and Shah Rukh had a spat, during which Khan allegedly also slapped Kunder. What followed was a very public clash. They patched up almost two years later. “This is the best phase of SRK and me as an actor and director. I think we don’t take each other for granted anymore. When you lose a friendship like that, you realise the worth of it,” Farah said in an interview.

NICO ROSBERG AND LEWIS HAMILTON

Their rivalry is legendary. The teenage friendsturned F1 team-mates-turned title rivals at Mercedes have had their ups and downs. The two famously crashed last season at Barcelona and Austria’s Red Bull Ring, and it caused a large divide between the them, with the German announcing his shock retirement shortly after winning his maiden world championship. However, it seems the two are now trying to put their rivalry behind. Rosberg says he would be open to rebuilding his friendship with Hamilton now that they are no longer teammates in Formula One. “Who knows, I’m open to having a better relationship with him again in the future — we were best friends 15 years ago after all.” he told reporters a few months after his retirement.

DEMI LOVATO AND SELENA GOMEZ

The former Disney stars put the bad blood between them behind and rekindled their friendship. The two, whose social media feed used to be filled with pictures of them hanging out together, suddenly disappeared in 2010, leaving fans wondering what went wrong. Speculation about a fight between the singers was rife when Lovato, while in London, ran into a fan who asked how her pal Selena was doing lately. At the time, Selena had become good friends with Taylor Swift. “Ask Taylor,” she answered. Come 2014, Gomez and Swift’s friendship went kaput while Lovato and Gomez’s pictures on Instagram made a comeback.

NICKI MINAJ AND DRAKE

The two rappers have been longtime friends and even have an entire song about how ‘Proud’ they are of each other. But that blossoming friendship took a backseat after Drake’s highly-publicised feud with Minaj’s then-boyfriend, Meek Mill.

The two grew apart after that, with Drake saying that she “was like family” to him. Fast forward to two years later — the Feeling Myself singer dumped Mill and the two were back together as friends. Minaj shared a photo on social media with Drake days after announcing that she was single.