10 of the messiest celebrity divorces

Kim Kardashian and Kanye "Ye" West married in 2014 in an opulent ceremony in Italy. The two had been friends since 2008 and took their relationship public in 2011 following Kardashian's split from Kris Humphries that same year. 

However, things turned rocky for the power couple. Kardashian and West were married for six years before Kardashian filed for divorce on February 19, 2021. She cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the couple's split, and stated that no amount of counseling would help repair their relationship.

Prior to the split, West had been living almost full-time in Wyoming, where Kardashian said she had no desire to move. Rumors over the couple's relationship also swirled when West announced his presidential run in 2020. No members of the Kardashian family, including Kim, declared their support for his nomination publicly.

In October 2021, Kardashian hosted "Saturday Night Live" and reportedly began dating cast member Pete Davidson. In December, the pair were photographed on their first public date night. West was also publicly dating, and has been linked to celebrities like Julia Fox and Irina Shayk. On March 2, 2022, Kardashian was declared legally single by a court decision.

Later that month, Kanye West posted a series of Instagram posts aimed at Davidson, referring to him as "Skete" and sharing text messages from him to the comedian saying that Davidson would never meet his children. The posts were later deleted.

West also released a music video for his song "Eazy," which appeared to show him burying the "SNL" star alive. The lyrics to the song directly reference Davidson by name.

According to Page Six, West later told Kardashian he would be seeking help after his comments about Kardashian and Davidson's relationship, as well as posts he made claiming Kardashian was preventing him from seeing his children and disrespecting his wishes for their oldest child, North, to not be allowed to post on TikTok. The pair appear to be handling their co-parenting relationship in private.

Supermodel Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook were married from 1996 until 2008 and share two children. The pair had a high-profile split after Brinkley learned about Cook's affair with his 19-year-old assistant Diana Bianchi. At the time of the divorce, Cook was 49 and Brinkley was 54. 

In an explosive interview with The New York Post in 2006, Bianchi claimed that Cook had made repeated physical advances and told her that his and Brinkley's marriage was on the rocks. 

"I felt uncomfortable," Bianchi said. "I had never been with anyone who was married. I was always on the right track. This was all new to me."

Bianchi also claimed that Cook had other relationships with young women, saying they were "all tools of his little game."

Brinkley recalled the moment she was informed about the affair from Bianchi's stepfather, a police officer, after she gave a commencement speech in Southampton, New York, on June 25, 2006. During the couple's divorce proceedings, Brinkley amicably named Bianchi and her role in the couple's split. 

"I want her and her family to know that I feel for her. I forgive her — she was manipulated," Brinkley told reporters as she left the courtroom, according to ABC News.

Cook received $2.1 million in the divorce settlement but later told Barbara Walters that, for him, the battle was about having access to his children, rather than the money. He was also awarded visitation rights.

"I was fighting to continue the role in my children's lives that I had played in their entire lives," he said in the 2008 interview, but added, "Christie is mad at me. She's entitled to be mad at me. I'm an idiot. I made a mistake."

Despite the pair's bitter divorce, Cook maintains a good relationship with his and Brinkley's daughter.

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren married in 2004 and welcomed their first child together, daughter Sam Alexis Woods, in 2007. They had another child, son Charlie Axel, in 2009. That year would become a turning point in the couple's relationship. 

In November 2009, the National Enquirer published a story that claimed that Woods had been having an affair with a woman named Rachel Uchitel, a New York City nightclub manager.

Both Woods and Utichel denied the claims but, before long, more women had come forward with allegations of affairs. Woods and Nordegren were also involved in a car accident that was thought to be caused by a fight between the two.

On November 27, after Woods steered his car off the road and hit a fire hydrant near his neighbor's front yard, Nordegren ran out of the house and broke the car's back window with a golf club. She then pulled Woods out of the car and waited for paramedics and the police to arrive. Woods was not badly injured but was mumbling and incoherent, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Though Utichel denied having an affair with Woods at first, another woman named Jaimee Grubbs came forward with text messages she exchanged with the golf star and claimed they had a two-year-long affair. More women soon came forward, and Utichel eventually said she did have an affair with the golfer.

"I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves," Woods said in a statement in December 2009. "I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone."

"I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children," Nordegren said in an interview in August 2010, according to Us Weekly. "I also feel stronger than I ever have. I have confidence in my beliefs, my decisions and myself."

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren finalized their divorce in 2010 after almost a year of highly publicized scandal and intrigue about their relationship. They are now focusing on coparenting their two children and were spotted looking friendly in December 2020.

In perhaps the messiest divorce in recent memory, Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard are currently fighting it out in court in a $100 million defamation case. Depp filed a lawsuit against Heard in March 2019 alleging that a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post implied that he was domestically abusing her during the time of their relationship. Depp claimed the article irreparably damaged his career.

In January 2021, Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, a few months after her motion to move the case to California was denied.

Depp and Heard met in 2009 on the set of their movie "The Rum Diary" and began dating in early 2012. In 2015, the pair married in a private ceremony in their home in LA. However, by 2016, Heard had filed for divorce and accused Depp of physically abusing her during their relationship, usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Depp denied the claims, and the pair later released a joint statement saying, "There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm."

Heard received $7 million from a divorce settlement but donated it to a children's hospital, according to People. In 2017, their divorce was finalized. 

The defamation hearing has become highly publicized. Depp asserts that he was never physically violent towards Heard, but rather that she was abusive and violent with him. Depp claimed the tip of his finger was severed, saying Heard threw a vodka bottle at him and that she or one of her friends defecated in their bed after he broke up with her. 

The case is still ongoing. Here are the biggest bombshells about the case that we've learned so far.

Before their shocking split, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were the ultimate power couple. Aniston and Pitt met in 1998 and were married two years later in July 2000. Both were Hollywood royalty, thanks to Aniston's success starring in "Friends" and Pitt's career-making role in "Fight Club." 

However, their relationship soon became the subject of a tabloid frenzy after reports alleged that Pitt had an affair with his "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" costar, Angelia Jolie, between 2003 and 2004. Aniston filed for divorce from Pitt in March 2005 after separating in January.

In April, Pitt and Jolie were photographed together in Kenya on vacation. In September 2005, Aniston recalled her surprise at seeing the photos of them together so soon after their split.

"The world was shocked, and I was shocked," she told Vanity Fair.

However, the pair have since appeared to make amends and were even photographed happily reuniting at the 2020 SAG Awards.

Pitt and Jolie announced their engagement in 2012 — by that time, they were already parents to six children, three of whom were adopted. The pair tied the knot in August 2014 in Nice, France. Their children Maddox and Pax walked their mom down the aisle, Zahara and Vivienne were flower girls, and Shiloh and Knox were ring bearers. 

Pitt acted as a support system for Jolie after she underwent a preventative double mastectomy in May 2013, and they were last photographed together in July 2016 with Shiloh. In September 2016, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences and petitioning for primary custody of their six children.

In October 2016, Pitt was accused of physically abusing Maddox Pitt-Jolie while he was intoxicated, but he was cleared of all charges by the LA Department of Children and Family Services and the FBI.

Pitt and Jolie have since endured a long custody battle over their six children. Jolie's lawyers claimed that Pitt had not paid her "meaningful" child support, though his representation rebutted that he had in fact paid her more than $1.3 million in contributions over a span of two years and that Pitt gave Jolie an $8 million loan.

While a judge officially declared in 2019 that their marriage was over, the details of their divorce still needed to be worked out, and the dispute over their children's custody is still ongoing.

Kris Jenner married Caitlyn Jenner in "a very intimate, small wedding" in 1991. Their marriage was well-documented on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and the pair share two daughters, Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

The pair separated in June 2013 and their divorce was finalized in December 2014 after 23 years of marriage. In April 2015, Jenner came out as transgender in a "20/20" special with Diane Sawyer. Later that year, she introduced herself to the world as Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Episodes of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" showed Kris Jenner's conflicting emotions over her spouse's transition. However, the pair's relationship turned downright volatile in 2017 after Caitlyn released her memoir, "The Secrets of My Life." Kris Jenner took issue with claims that were made in the book that said she knew about Caitlyn's struggles with her gender identity, saying, "Everything she said is all made up."

However, they appear to have repaired their relationship — Kris even offered Caitlyn career advice during the pandemic, recommending that she start making YouTube videos while her public speaking engagements were on hold.

Moore and Kutcher were together between 2003 and 2011, a lengthy relationship in terms of many Hollywood pairings. The pair married in 2005 and divorced in 2015, reportedly due to Kutcher having an affair. Moore wrote in her memoir, "Inside Out," that she tried to "put [Kutcher] first" in their relationship, and agreed to bring outside people into their sexual relationship at his request. 

"Because we had brought in a third party into our relationship, Ashton said, that blurred the lines and, to some extent, justified what he's done," Moore said, alluding to allegations that he had been unfaithful in their relationship, according to People.

Moore also wrote that Kutcher had cheated on her a second time with a 21-year-old woman in 2011 while she was filming the movie "Another Happy Day."

The couple's 15-year age difference also contributed to the downfall of their relationship, Moore admitted. 

"I was a forty-year-old who had had a big life, with a big ex-husband [Bruce Willis] and three children," Moore wrote. "Ashton's adult life was just beginning — both his personal life and his career. I didn't see all that because I was inside of it. I just felt like a fifteen-year-old girl hoping somebody liked me."

Moore is now supporting her ex-husband Bruce Willis as he steps back from Hollywood following an aphasia diagnosis. Kutcher married his "That 70s Show" costar Mila Kunis two years after his split from Moore. They have now been married for seven years and share two children, Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher and Dimitri Portwood Kutcher. 

Moore and Kutcher also appear to have put the past behind them, as Moore recently appeared alongside Kunis in an AT&T commercial that poked fun at their many similarities, including the fact that they attended the same high school. 

Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray were young Hollywood royalty in the early 2000s. Stars of the hit teen drama "One Tree Hill," Bush and Murray's romance seemed meant to be. However, their marriage in 2005 would soon come crashing down. 

The pair split just five months after their nuptials and finalized their divorce in 2006. 

In 2018, Bush spoke about their short-lived marriage on "Watch What Happens Live" with Andy Cohen.

"It was not a thing I actually really wanted to do, but you know, it's cool," she said of marrying the "A Cinderella Story" heartthrob. "How do you let everybody down ... What's the fight? And when you have bosses telling you that you're the only person who gets a person to work on time, and 200 people either get to see their kids at night or they don't because our days start on time."

Chad Michael Murray disputed the claims in a statement through his rep. 

"This story is ludicrous. Chad conducts himself in a completely professional manner and would never marry for any reason but love," the statement read, according to Us Weekly in 2018. "Thirteen years since his divorce from Sophia, he has a very happy family life with his wife and children. He has completely moved on and doesn't feel the need to engage in this type of behavior."

Jesse James and Sandra Bullock split in 2010 after five years of marriage. While the divorce itself was quick — it was finalized just two months after Bullock filed to end their marriage — the circumstances leading up to it were still messy: Multiple women had come forward claiming to have had affairs with James, which he admitted to.

"I never shied away from anything I did," James told Men's Journal in 2011, ABC News reported. "I took full responsibility. I cheated on my wife. Guess what? So do millions of other men."

Speaking to "Dateline" in 2011, he added, "I'm sorry it happened. I'm sorry it went down the way it did, but I forgive myself and now I can move on."

At the time of the couple's divorce, Bullock had just won her first Academy Award for "The Blind Side" and had adopted a child. 

In March 2022, she spoke about how the scandal and subsequent end of her marriage caused her to worry about how her grief would affect her son.

"I mean, so much had happened," Bullock told CBS. "How do you process grief and not hurt your child in the process? It's a newborn. They take on everything that you're feeling. So my obligation was to him and not tainting the first year of his life with my grief."