Pink Says That Christina Aguilera Tried to Punch Her at a Club

Pink was part of a wave of pop stars who hit big in 1999-2000.

After a decade defined by grunge and alternative rock, the explosion of teen pop stars at the end of the '90s was a breath of fresh air on the radio. Several acts broke big in rapid succession, starting with Britney Spears in 1999 and followed quickly later that year by Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. Shortly thereafter, in 2000, Pink, Mandy Moore, and Destiny’s Child hit the scene.

The media was obsessed with pitting these pop stars against each other.

Whether it was Britney vs. Christina (who had been co-stars on The Mickey Mouse Club), Jessica vs. Mandy (who were battling it out for last place), or Pink vs. ...well, everyone, the media ate up the idea of feuds between these competing pop princesses. Pink’s tough-girl attitude defined her Missundaztood album, which included the single "Don't Let Me Get Me." One lyric on that song goes, "Tired of being compared to [expletive] Britney Spears/She's so pretty, that just ain't me."

In 2021, Pink told People that she was "marketed" by her record label to be the antithesis of Spears, and that the constant competition was "unfair to all the girls."

"None of us wanted that," she added.

The drama between Aguilera and Pink started with "Lady Marmalade."

The soundtrack to the hit 2001 Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rogue! featured both songs sung by the characters and contributions from some of the biggest music stars of the day. The lead single was a remake of the Patti LaBelle disco classic “Lady Marmalade” and featured R&B singer Mýa, rapper Lil' Kim, Pink and the newly styled “Xtina” as the main vocalists. In an oral history of the video shoot published by Cosmopolitan in 2021, the clip's choreographer Tina Landon confirmed, "I do remember there was a little bit of tension. I think it’s pretty public knowledge that there was tension between Christina and Pink."

In one instance, Landon said, Aguilera asked someone to repeat something they'd just said to her that she hadn't heard. When Pink answered her instead, Aguilera allegedly snapped at her. "I just sank down in my chair going, 'Oh, god, please don’t let this get worse,'" the choreographer said. She added that the tension "dissolved" when the women were dancing together, and Aguilera noted, "There was no drama whatsoever when all of us were on that stage together." (Pink didn't participate in the piece.)

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Pink claimed that Aguilera tried to punch her.

In a 2017 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Pink was asked during "Plead the Fifth" about her comments earlier that year indicating that she and Aguilera had buried the hatchet. Host Andy Cohen asked what initiated the bad blood, and the "Get This Party Started" singer answered, "We were super young and super new at the whole thing, and I think I'm an alpha and she's an alpha. And I'm used to taking my altercations physical and she's used to having them verbal, and we're just very different." She also added, "Women have to learn how to support each other; it's not taught to us on the playground."

When Cohen asked Pink point-blank whether she "ever tried to get physical" with Aguilera, the star responded, "Actually, she swung on me in a club. It was hilarious." The host expressed surprise that Aguilera would come after "a Philly girl," and Pink remarked, "I was like what's happening right now? What's happening?"

Aguilera refuted Pink’s claims.

Aguilera, however, remembers the incident very differently. During her own appearance on Watch What Happens Live in 2019, Aguilera did admit that Pink had "intimidated" her on the "Lady Marmalade" set and claimed that she was "heckling [her]...a little bit behind the director." But the singer also refused to fan the flames of any ongoing rumors adding, "But [Pink's] a different person now. She's a mom, she's cool. "

Pressed by Cohen about the club night, Aguilera said with a laugh, "I seem to have a different memory of a night we had at a club where we played spin the bottle." The host asked if this led to the two stars locking lips, and Aguilera answered that while she was "excited about a kiss" with her rival, Pink put her hand over her own mouth to shut the moment down.

As for the alleged almost-punch? "I wouldn’t swing on her!" Aguilera insisted. "She can beat my [expletive]; are you kidding me?"

The feud recently resurfaced with a new comment.

Speaking to Buzzfeed this month, Pink ranked her many music videos and shared stories about them. When it came to "Lady Marmalade," the star said, "It wasn't very fun to make; I'm all about fun, and it was a lot of fuss. There were some personalities… Kim and Mýa were nice."

Of course, fans took her exclusion of Aguilera to mean that the two stars aren't actually on good terms now, as they've both asserted. But Pink wasn't having it.

"Y’all are nuts," the singer responded to a tweet. "Xtina had [expletive] to do with who was on that song. If you don’t know by now- I’m not 'shading' someone by telling it over and over and over what actually happened. I’m zero percent interested in your [expletive] drama. If you haven’t noticed- I’m a little busy selling."