Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp-Amber Heard: 5 celebrity divorces that turned ugly

Angelina Jolie recently alleged that Brad Pitt shook her, choked one of his children, and threw alcohol on them on a private flight. This is the latest in a divorce that was filed in 2016, and seems to be getting messier by the day.

Here are some celebrity divorces that featured seemingly-perfect couples, and quickly turned ugly:

1. Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt

'Brangelina', the celebrity couple nickname the media gave the two actors, were one of the most famous pairs in Hollywood. They were together for 10 years before they got married in 2014. In 2016, following the now infamous private plane journey, Jolie filed for divorce.

The court records allege that on the flight, Pitt exhibited aggressive behaviour, pushing Jolie into a bathroom wall, choking one of his children and slapping the other, and throwing alcohol on them, according to AP.

Although the couple was declared single in 2019, the battle for custody and financial issues continues.

2. Johnny Depp & Amber Heard

The highly publicised case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard was live-streamed to millions, and featured lurid and intimate details about the Hollywood celebrities' private lives.

The case centred around an op-ed piece that Heard wrote where she suggested that she was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Depp. He sued her in a trial was followed closely on social media.

The jury eventually announced its verdict on June 1, largely siding with Depp. The jury found Depp should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, but the judge reduced the punitive damages award to $350,000 under a state cap, reported AP.

3. Kim Kardashian & Kanye West

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West’s marriage officially ended in March 2022.

Kim filed for divorce last year, citing irreconcilable differences with West, reported ANI. The former couple share four children – eight-year-old daughter North, son Saint, six, daughter Chicago, four, and two-year-old son Psalm.

Kanye West is a controversial figure. The split has been rocked by disagreements between the two on how to raise their children, as well as West's treatment of Kim's new beau (now ex) Pete Davidson.

4. Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise

'Mission: Impossible' star Tom Cruise wed Katie Holmes, who first gained fame on television drama 'Dawson’s Creek', in a glamorous wedding in an Italian castle in November 2006. Their daughter Suri was born six months earlier.

Media speculation arose in the years that followed regarding the pair's differing opinions on raising Suri as a Scieontologist – although neither ever commented on the matter, Reuters reported.

Holmes filed for divorce after six years of marriage, seeking sole custody of Suri, in a move that took Cruise by surprise when he was filming in Iceland.

Cruise later filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against magazines that claimed he had abandoned his daughter. "To say he has ‘abandoned’ her is a vicious lie", Cruise’s lawyer, Bert Fields, had said in a statement.

"To say it in lurid headlines with a tearful picture of Suri is reprehensible.”

5. Britney Spears & Kevin Federline

The pop superstar married former backup dancer Kevin Federline in 2004, after a whirlwind romance just three months long – but things turned sour two years later when rumours that the marriage was rocky began circulating.

Spears filed for divorce in early 2007, citing irreconcilable differences with Federline and requesting sole custody of their two sons Sean Preston and James Jayden, Reuters reported.

While they initially agreed to share the boys, Spears' public battle with mental health prompted Federline to fight for sole custody. The spat escalated in 2008 during a three-hour police stand-off where the pop star, reportedly intoxicated, locked herself in a bathroom, refusing to hand over her two toddler sons to representatives of Federline.

Spears and Federline eventually reached a settlement after the former checked into a rehabilitation centre. The children remain in Federline's custody.

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