8 stars who hit back at paparazzi after being harassed: from Taylor Swift’s dad in Sydney to Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Grant and Britney Spears’ infamous ‘umbrella incident’

Fame isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. Rising to the top of your game in film or music has serious drawbacks, from dangerous stalkers to social media trolls. One of the most intensely frustrating aspects of being a famous face has to be dealing with paparazzi, who follow stars everywhere – heckling and goading them to get a reaction.

Even Taylor Swift’s dad reportedly lost it last month when an Australian photographer took things too far. On the last night of her Eras Tour in the country, the pair had just disembarked a boat in Sydney when two paparazzi “were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel, and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water”, the singer’s rep said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Now Scott Swift, aka Papa Swift, 72, is being accused of assault by one of the photographers.

In 2009, a relentless photographer ran into the back of the “Smile” singer’s car in London, as reported by The Express at the time. She jumped out of the car, hurled a water bottle at him, and then proceeded to lay into him with her feet, repeatedly kicking him while other paparazzi filmed the entire thing.

The rapper once known as Kanye West has had numerous run-ins with paparazzi over the years, including most recently when a female TMZ reporter hijacked him in January to ask if his wife Bianca Censori had “free will”.