Salman-Aishwarya to Akshay-Shilpa: 10 messiest celebrity splits that happened publicly

When a famous romance unravels, it rarely stays private. In the worlds of Bollywood and Hollywood, a breakup or divorce can spill into news cycles and courtrooms, turning heartbreak into a public spectacle. A handful of splits stand out for the scale of the drama and the paper trail of interviews, police complaints and legal filings that followed. These are the splits that defined “messy” in the truest sense.

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai

Few Bollywood relationships have been dissected as intensely as Salman Khan’s with Aishwarya Rai. The two met in the late 1990s and for a while were the industry’s golden couple. But in 2002, Aishwarya gave an interview to The Times of India alleging that Salman had been verbally, emotionally and physically abusive and that he continued to harass her after she ended the relationship. She said he would show up uninvited on sets and create scenes. Salman denied the accusations and told reporters that if he had hit her, she “wouldn’t have survived,” a remark that only deepened the controversy. The breakup marked a turning point for both their careers and remains one of Bollywood’s most infamous public feuds.

Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut

More than a decade later another Bollywood love story dissolved into something even stranger. Kangana Ranaut casually referred to Hrithik Roshan as her “silly ex” in an interview. Hrithik responded with a legal notice demanding an apology, saying there had never been a romantic relationship. What followed was a two-year storm of police complaints, cybercrime investigations and duelling defamation notices. Hrithik alleged that someone was impersonating him through a fake email account and that Kangana had sent hundreds of messages to this imposter believing it was him. She insisted that the emails were genuine and accused him of hacking her account. Investigators traced the fake email ID to the United States, but the matter ended without a clear resolution.

Karisma Kapoor and Sunjay Kapur

When Karisma Kapoor married Delhi businessman Sunjay Kapur in 2003, it looked like the classic Bollywood-meets-high-society union. By 2014 the marriage had collapsed, and their divorce filings became public reading. Karisma accused Sunjay of mental cruelty and dowry harassment, claims that were carried in national newspapers because they appeared in sworn affidavits. Sunjay countered by alleging that Karisma had married him only for his wealth and never intended to make the marriage work. The bitterness spilled across multiple court hearings over custody of their two children, and it took years before a settlement was reached.

Shilpa Shetty and Akshay Kumar

Shilpa Shetty’s relationship with Akshay Kumar ended around the release of their 2000 hit Dhadkan, but she waited until the film’s run was over to speak. When she finally did, she accused Akshay of “two-timing” her and said she had been “used and conveniently dropped” when he began a relationship with Twinkle Khanna, whom he later married. She stressed that she bore no ill will toward Twinkle but felt deeply betrayed by Akshay. He never admitted to cheating, saying only that heartbreak was part of life. For fans who had watched the pair as an on-screen couple, Shilpa’s frank interviews were a jolt and turned a private breakup into a cautionary tale about Bollywood romances.

Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia

Preity Zinta and industrialist Ness Wadia were once co-owners of the Kings XI Punjab cricket franchise and partners off the field. Their relationship ended around 2009, but in 2014 Preity filed a First Information Report with the Mumbai police accusing Wadia of molestation and making threats during an IPL match at Wankhede Stadium. In her complaint she alleged that he had grabbed her arm and used abusive language in public and that there had been earlier incidents of intimidation, including throwing a burning cigarette and locking her in a room. Wadia called the allegations baseless. After years of legal back-and-forth, the Bombay High Court quashed the case when both parties agreed to settle. The incident turned a high-profile romance into a court case that played out in national headlines.

Aditya Pancholi and Kangana Ranaut

Kangana Ranaut’s early years in Bollywood were marked by another stormy relationship, this time with actor Aditya Pancholi. Kangana has said in televised interviews that he was violent and that she felt “held captive” in the relationship. Her sister Rangoli Chandel filed a police complaint alleging assault and exploitation. Pancholi has denied the allegations and at one point filed a counter-complaint for defamation. The public fight, which included police inquiries and legal notices, remains unresolved but has left a long trail of accusations and denials that both continue to address in interviews.

Boney Kapoor and Mona Shourie Kapoor

Producer Boney Kapoor’s marriage to Mona Shourie Kapoor unraveled in the 1990s when he fell in love with actress Sridevi. Mona spoke to magazines at the time about feeling betrayed, and Sridevi’s pregnancy before marriage turned the situation into tabloid fodder. Boney eventually married Sridevi, but the open discussion of the affair by Mona and the intense media coverage made the split one of the decade’s most talked-about scandals.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Hollywood has its own share of ugly endings. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s fairy-tale romance crumbled in 2016 when Jolie filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. Soon after, reports emerged of an incident on a private plane in which Pitt was alleged to have been verbally and physically aggressive. The FBI and child services investigated but filed no charges. What followed was a prolonged custody battle and lawsuits over their jointly owned French winery. Years later, court filings continue to reveal new details, proving that the breakup’s legal aftershocks are far from over.

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake

Sometimes the toxicity is in the narrative rather than the courts. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake split in 2002, and Timberlake’s music video Cry Me a River strongly hinted that she had cheated. Tabloids devoured the story, casting Spears as the villain. Two decades later, in her memoir, Spears revealed that she had become pregnant during the relationship and had an abortion they agreed upon, and she described the shame and public shaming that followed their breakup. The real wound, she wrote, was how the media turned a personal split into a morality play.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s split turned into one of the most publicly scrutinised court battles in recent memory. Heard filed for divorce in 2016 and sought a restraining order, alleging that Depp had been physically abusive, which he denied. They settled that year with a joint statement saying neither intended to cause harm. But in 2018, when Heard wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post describing herself as a survivor of domestic abuse (without naming Depp), he sued her for defamation. Heard countersued. Their 2020 libel trial in the UK, where Depp sued The Sun for calling him a “wife beater,” ended with the court finding the description “substantially true.” Two years later, the Virginia defamation trial riveted the world: the jury awarded Depp damages but also found him liable on one of Heard’s counterclaims. Both later agreed to drop further appeals. The case, televised, dissected on social media and fought across continents became a cultural flashpoint about abuse, credibility and the court of public opinion.

Celebrity relationships fail for the same reasons as anyone else’s, but fame magnifies every misstep. In these cases the break-ups turned into something larger, legal battles, accusations of abuse, public shaming. What might have been a private heartbreak became a lasting part of each person’s public identity. Years later, these stories still echo because they reveal how love, power and celebrity can turn a simple goodbye into a spectacle.