Joost: I have filed for divorce
2010-08-06 08:43
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Joost
This title follows the careers of Joost the rugby player and Joost the man.
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Johannesburg - Joost van der Westhuizen and Amor Vittone are getting divorced.
Former Springbok captain Van der Westhuizen confirmed to Beeld on Thursday evening that he had acted "on legal advice" and had filed for a divorce from Vittone.
Vittone, a singer and TV presenter, had work commitments on Thursday evening and couldn't comment.
The filing of divorce papers brought to an end the marriage of a couple described by some as the country's David and Victoria Beckham.
Robert Klinkenberg, Van der Westhuizen's lawyer, said on enquiry that the sheriff of the court in Randburg had served Vittone with the notice of divorce proceedings on Thursday.
Not about the video
He could not talk about the reasons for the divorce.
"I can, however, confirm that Joost was (filing for divorce) for completely different reasons than the video debacle of last year."
If Vittone didn't contest the divorce, the marriage could be over very soon.
The video debacle of which Klinkenberg spoke, referred to the media storm regarding the so-called Joost sex video in which Van der Westhuizen, in his underpants, was cavorting with a scantily-clad woman. Van der Westhuizen also took drugs in the video.
Both he and Vittone at the time said they wanted to work on their marriage. Earlier this year, Van der Westhuizen left the couple's home in the upmarket suburb of Dainfern Valley in Johannesburg and moved in with a friend.
Van der Westhuizen said on Thursday night he was "truly sorry that the marriage had come to an end in this way".
He didn't want to elaborate about the "other reasons" which had caused him to file for divorce from Vittone.
Tried to save marriage
"It is on record that Amor forgave me in public in February already for the video scandal. The reasons for me (filing now), therefore have nothing to do with the video."
"I still love Amor and our children deeply. I respect them and will say nothing bad or negative about them."
"Until very recently, I did everything in my power to try to save our marriage. I wore my knees out crawling and pleading. Now we have reached the end of the road."
To a question whether he and Vittone were on amicable terms, he said: "I would like to think so."