Chaos of the Oasis ex-wives club: Bad blood between Liam and Noel’s former partners is just as bitter as their own feud – and even their children can’t resist public scraps

Being twice divorced isn’t usually a cause for celebration, but with Liam and Noel Gallagher in line for a £50m joint payday from their reunion tour, they may well be reflecting that there is a silver lining to those marriage splits. 

The feuding pair have both been divorced twice and there’s also been a lot of bad blood between their ex-wives too, with Noel stating that his first bride Meg Matthews and Liam’s then-wife Patsy Kensit ‘hated’ each other. 

While their second wives Nicole Appleton and Sara McDonald appeared to get on better, the latter had an extremely fractious relationship with her brother-in-law – with her calling him a fat t**t, while Liam referred to her as ‘Rose West’.

As well as the suggestion that her dislike of Liam stood in the way of the brothers reuniting, Sara and Noel’s 2023 divorce has provided a financial incentive to bury the hatchet. 

The split was expensive – costing the elder Gallagher brother a reported £20million of his £53million fortune. 

With so much ill feeling swirling, it’s perhaps no wonder that the bad blood has spilled over into their children’s relationships, with Liam’s sons Gene and Lennon publicly taunting their cousin Anais – Noel’s daughter with Meg Matthews. 

Meanwhile, Liam’s daughter Molly, born during an affair with singer Lisa Moorish, grew close to Noel and Sarah amid a rift with her father, only for her to ditch her uncle and his wife when she patched things up with her dad.   

Here, FEMAIL delves into how the Gallagher brothers’ feud spread to their ex-wives and children.

Patsy Kensit

Actor and singer Patsy Kensit, 56, was Liam’s first wife – though their marriage marked her third.

The duo, who met on a plane in 1995, hit it off instantly. They went on to tie the knot in April 1997 at Marylebone Town Hall in London, before welcoming their son Lennon two years later.

Many were fascinated by the relationship between the glamorous actor and rugged rockstar, who was five-years her junior. But others were concerned that the union could spell trouble for Oasis.

Despite describing Liam as ‘protective and loving’, and revealing that the two had ‘a chemistry that lasted to the end’, Patsy divorced Liam in 2000 – with his infidelity a major factor in the split (he fathered daughter Molly Moorish-Gallagher with Lisa Moorish during that time).

And there was no love lost between Patsy and her brother-in-law Noel and his first wife Meg Matthews either. 

Noel once famously blamed Liam’s first wife for his brother’s once-heavy drinking, admitting that his then-wife Meg ‘hated’ Liam – and Meg and Patsy hated each other.

In fact, in 2001, the elder Gallagher blamed Patsy and Meg for much of the brothers’ shocking behaviour and furious rows.

He said: ‘Liam used to really annoy me, but now I think he’s a comic genius, the funniest guy I have known in my entire life. I believe that in the old days he was difficult and drinking so heavily because of his ex-wife [Kensit].

‘She made him unhappy and he used to take it out on the rest of the band. Meg hated Liam and I was always trying to please her but I didn’t get on with him myself, anyway. Meg and Patsy didn’t get on. It was a vicious nightmare. 

Meg Matthews 

Meg, 58, was Noel’s first wife, with the couple tying the knot in a Las Vegas ceremony in June 1997, and welcoming daughter Anais, 24, in January 2000.

They met in 1994, when the rocker was dating Meg’s flatmate, MTV presenter Rebecca de Ruvo.

Speaking in a 1996 interview with NME, Noel said that Oasis’ hit track Wonderwall was about Meg, explaining: ‘It’s about my girlfriend, Meg Matthews. She had a company which folded and she was feeling a bit sorry for herself. The sentiment is that there was no point in her feeling down, she has to sort my life out for me because I’m in bits had the time.’

However, following their 2001 split, he retracted this, telling the BBC that ‘the meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it’.

He added: ‘How do you tell your missus it’s not about her once she’s read it is? It’s a song about an imaginary friend who’s gonna come and save you from yourself.’

Meg later revealed that being in the spotlight (she was heavily featured in the media during the relationship) had left her with PTSD. As part of what was then known as the ‘Primrose Hill set’, Meg was frequently seen partying with Kate Moss, Sadie Frost and Fran Cutler.

As well as claiming that Meg had an ongoing rift with Liam and his then-wife Patsy, she was also at the centre of a major row between the two brothers in May 2000.

Noel punched his brother and split his lip open after Liam questioned the paternity of Anais.

After their split, Noel fiercely criticised Meg saying he ‘just walked straight past’ her when seeing her in court during their divorce, adding: ‘That woman has taken me to court and I abhor it. It is all so unnecessary. 

‘But if somebody wants their pound of flesh that badly, there is nothing you can do to stop it. If it means that much to her that she is going to drag me through the courts and have our lives splashed all over the newspapers again because she can’t keep her mouth shut, then fine.’

Since the break-up, Meg has been open about her struggles with drinking and depression. Talking to the Sun in 2019, she said she reached a point where she realised she had to ‘grow up and stop partying’ as she had Anais to look after.

She attended rehab, where she says she realised she ‘hadn’t dealt with [her] divorce’. 

‘I was heart-broken about me and Noel but I couldn’t let anyone see how badly it hurt me so for five years I pretended that it didn’t matter. I had to learn to let all that go, all the anger and bitterness and emotion,’ Meg added.

Nicole Appleton

Liam started dating Canadian singer Nicole, 49, who was famously a member of 90s girlband All Saints, in 2000.

The pair would wed in 2008, after having a son Gene together in July 2001. 

In 2013, the couple split following news that Liam had been unfaithful, before divorcing the following year. 

As a result of his infidelity, Liam had a fourth child with journalist Liza Ghorbani. The rocker has previously said he has never met his daughter Gemma Ghorbani, though he added: ‘But I wish them [mother and daughter] well. If they ever need anything, give us a shout.’

Liza took Liam to court in 2015 over child support. 

Nicole appeared to have a decent relationship with her brother-in-law Noel and his then-wife Sara, with the rocker describing the All Saints star as a ‘good lady’ in 2001. 

Sara Macdonald 

Noel met his second wife, PR executive Sara in 2000 at an Ibiza club named Space.

The couple welcomed two sons during their relationship, Donovan, who was born in 2007 and Sonny, born in 2010. 

Initially, Liam and Sara got on well, but two years into the relationship things went downhill when the couple split up briefly. 

‘He rang me 11 times in one night,’ she recalled in an interview with Vogue. ‘It was “f***ing b***h this, f***ing b***h that’.”

The brothers’ relationship became increasingly difficult, with Sara remembering, in particular, a fight between them in a hotel room which led to Liam throwing her handbag down the corridor.

‘They were rolling around like geckos,’ she said. ‘Noel’s shirt was in ribbons. We left, but then I realised I’d left my bag in there. Noel knocked on the door and it was hurled down the corridor. It just became untenable, exhausting.’

Noel and Sara went on to tie the knot in 2011, marrying at the Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest in a £60,000 ceremony, with guests including Russell Brand watching on – but according to brother Liam, he wasn’t invited.

‘He goes on about how he wasn’t invited to my wedding. No one was at my wedding but Nic’s [his ex-wife Nicole Appleton] mum and my mum. Get over it, mate. I’ve not been invited to his wedding,’ Liam told the Chicago Sun Times. 

That same year, Liam sued Noel for libel for claiming the band had to cancel a V Festival set because he was hungover.  

In court papers, filed in defence, Noel accused his brother of leaving abusive voicemails on Sara’s phone, as well as attacking him with a guitar.

The libel case was eventually dropped, but by 2018, relations between Sara and Liam had deteriorated to a shocking extent.

Liam said in a newspaper interview at the time that he ‘didn’t care’ if Sara, Noel or his brother’s ‘f****** kid’ were abused on social media. Responding, Sara wrote on Instagram: ‘ “His f****** kid”? You mean your gorgeous niece, you deplorable w*****.’

That same year, in a series of angry tweets, Liam compared his brother and Sara to being ‘like [the serial killers] Fred and Rose West’ and claimed Sara was the reason Oasis split up.

Singer Liam added: ‘She’s the reason OASIS is no longer. Have to put it out there, she’s DARK.’

The following year, accused Liam of threatening Sara MacDonald after she branded him a ‘fat t**t’ on social media. 

The Wonderwall singer’s ire was ignited when Sara mocked him ahead of his performance on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival.

In a post on Instagram about whether she’d be watching her brother-in-law’s set, which she later deleted, Sara responded: ‘Think I’m going to swerve that. The fat t**t doing his tribute act balancing a tambourine on his head is going to look pretty dated after Stormzy.’

Liam then messaged his niece Anais, then 19, advising her to tell her stepmother Sara to be ‘very careful’. 

This prompted blowback from Noel, who took to social media to slam Liam for contacting his teenage daughter, mocked his latest single Shockwave, branding it ‘S**twave and said ‘you were always good at intimidating women.’

He wrote: ‘So you’re sending threatening messages via my teenage daughter now are you? You always were good at intimidating women though, eh?

Referencing a shock incident the previous year where Liam was caught on CCTV grabbing girlfriend Debbie Gwyther by the throat, he continued: ‘What you planning on doing anyway?

‘Grabbing my wife by the throat to show her who’s boss … or maybe trying to waddle through our double gates and performing ‘S**twave’ in the communal garden or daubing your w**k lyrics on the toilet walls?’

Amid the resulting fallout, Liam issued an apology to their mother Peggy and his niece Anais for them ‘getting caught up” in the ‘childish behaviour’.

Liam’s repeated clashes with Sara throughout her relationship with his brother saw him publicly blame her for obstructing an Oasis reunion. 

For example, in a response to a message on X (formerly Twitter), Liam hinted that Sara was a factor in Oasis not reuniting.

A fan tweeted the younger Gallagher asking: ‘Hi Liam, do you know why Noel hates Oasis reunion so much??????’

To which Liam replied: ‘I’ve told you before he’s rite up for it but you know who won’t let him as she doesn’t like Oasis music [sic].’

In January 2023 Sara and Noel announced that they were going their separate ways after nearly 12 years of marriage. 

In a statement released to MailOnline at the time, announcing their separation, they said that their two sons ‘remain their priority’.

The split was costly for Noel, with Sara reportedly receiving a payment of £20 million, as well as the couple’s £8million mansion, and ongoing maintenance payments.

However, there was an unexpected upside in the form of better relations with his brother.  

Last December sources who know the siblings said that the split had an ‘instant impact’ on relations between Liam and Noel, and it brought them ‘closer’ than they had been for years. 

Following the divorce, a source said: ‘Liam did not have the best relationship with Sara. There were many reasons for the bitter feud that erupted between Noel and Liam after Oasis split up.

‘It was never going to be easy for any woman caught up in the middle of this spat to have to deal with Liam. But Sara and Liam both blamed one another, often for things that were sparked by factors outside.

‘It [the divorce] made Liam and Noel confront some of the issues that they were constantly clashing over, rather than blaming somebody else. The pair of them are now closer than they have been for years. 

Warring cousins 

While the brothers and their wives have argued amongst themselves, it appears that even their children are not immune from the Gallagher in-fighting.

Noel’s daughter Anais, a student at the University Of The Arts London as well as a model who’s worked with top brands including Dolce and Gabbana, was the target of a jibe from Liam’s youngest son Gene in 2017.

Gene, who has also worked as a model, appeared to hit out at Anais after she walked in the Tommy Hilfiger London Fashion Week show in September that year, alongside Jude Law’s son Rafferty, Daniel Day-Lewis’ son Gabriel-Kane and Suki Waterhouse’s sister Maddi.

Describing the event as a ‘celebrity driven, posh rubbernecking, kids culture club’, he said ‘whoever got to chose who got to model for Tommy Hilfiger is a complete doughnut who should go spec-savers’. 

Addressing Anais directly, he added: ‘Firstly, u look like ur dad [with a] blonde wig on…Secondly, u model coz u look like ur dad not coz of who u are nobody care about who u are lmao.’

Several days later, she appeared to be the target of a sarcastic comment from Gene’s brother Lennon – also a model.

Taking to X (then Twitter), Anais wrote: ‘I need love today. I’m feeling super fragile and basically need a boyfriend. But keep reminding myself I’m too embarrassing to get one.’

Instead of showing support for his cousin’s plight, Lennon simply penned: ‘Really?’ 

However, in recent times, it appears the relationship between Anais and her cousins may have thawed somewhat, after the trio were photographed together at the annual Chanel Métiers d’Art fashion show in December last year, which was held in Manchester. 

A snap taken at the event’s afterparty shows the cousins all smiling, as they pose alongside footballer Rúben Dias.

And Lennon and Gene are also now understood to enjoy a good relationship with their half-sister Molly Moorish-Gallagher, who they got to know in 2018 when reunited with her father Liam.

Until then, it is understood that Molly was close with her uncle Noel and his then-wife Sara. In 2017, a photo shared on social media featured Molly and Noel posing together was captioned ‘#FAMILYFIRST’.

While Molly was estranged from Liam, Noel and Sara reportedly helped her through her education, and took her on holiday – but she is believed to have since ‘turned her back’ on Noel and his family.

Speaking around that time, a source said: ‘Liam didn’t give a s*** for years, now suddenly she’s part of the gang and Noel is a distant memory.  

‘Molly is family to him and Sara, and they treated her as such. Since she went over to the dark side it’s all stopped.’

It was also claimed that Noel’s circle believed Molly was using Liam’s popularity to boost her modelling career.

Speaking about the relationship with Noel to Grazia magazine in 2020, Molly said: ‘We don’t “not speak” but we don’t speak, if that makes sense.’

She added that it ‘wasn’t [her] decision’ to cut communication. At that time, she confirmed that Liam and Noel were not in touch, and even said the chances of an Oasis reunion were ‘zero’. It’s not currently known whether Molly has since patched things up with her uncle.