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JSE Vittone bares her soul over Joost sex scandal
November 04, 2009 Edition 2
JACQUES BREYTENBACH Staff Reporter
AMOR Vittone broke down during a live radio interview as she spoke publicly for the first time about the public confession by her husband, Joost van der Westhuizen, that he had had an extramarital relationship and had taken drugs.
Vittone was speaking to Darren Scott on Jacaranda 94.2's Just Plain Breakfast show yesterday and said those behind the filming of the sex video showing Van der Westhuizen with exotic dancer Marlize van Emmenis had threatened her and her husband in the months before details of the video became public.
As a couple - becoming known as the "Posh and Becks" of South Africa - their lives had been subject to public scrutiny. "We have received hostile calls at our house where people have threatened to kidnap our children if we do not pay them half a million rand," she said.
"When we wanted to report these incidents, we were told by the people behind these acts that worse things would happen to us if we took the matter further."
She had been wondering for three years why these people wanted to inflict so much pain on her family, Vittone said.
"I remember I arrived home one night and soon after heard something downstairs. When I went to investigate I saw flowers thrown on our floors and the windows were open.
"My main concern was to protect my kids. Things got to a point where I became a walking zombie because I was scared all the time. I lost weight and could not perform well at my shows."
Vittone said the threats brought her and Van der Westhuizen closer together. "The two of us had to look after our family. The same people who made our lives hell were behind the sex video. These jealous people purposely targeted us and wanted to expose Joost."
It was never their intention to be known as "Posh and Becks".
"This is who I am, I do not want to be like someone else. I guess people made the link between sport and music.
"But from the start, the Posh and Becks thing irritated me - and the public scrutiny that would follow me and Joost, I never intended.
"Before we knew it, it was not about Amor and what she does, or about Joost and what he does, but entirely about the couple. And through this, there has been a violation of our privacy. Like what underwear I was wearing."
Public life was a choice, she said, but it was never about the money. It was about success.
On her husband's admission that it was indeed him on the sex video that hit the headlines in February, Vittone said she was shocked and disappointed.
After he had told her in August, she said she did not speak to Van der Westhuizen for three days.
"I was not a mother any more. Not a wife. I would try to do things to keep my mind off what he told me. It was the most lonesome time of my life," she said.
"What Joost did was wrong. All of us make mistakes and I feel sorry for him. I do still love him," she said, adding that she would "stand by her man" as she had "promised" him on their wedding day.
Vittone said she had not watched the video before he told her the truth.
"I never wanted to watch the video, but after he told me it was him, I looked at it. But I was already dead. I felt like I had died a million deaths when I saw it. I have stopped trusting people as a result of this. At the end of the day, you do not know what to believe any more."
About having been lied to by Van der Westhuizen and believing him, Vittone said: "It is difficult to shake off that anger and shock. I really believed him when he told me it was not him. Although he has apologised, there is still anger in me."
Vittone said she and her husband were doing their best to protect their children, Jordan, 5, and Kylie, 3, from the controversy.
"What do you tell your children when they ask you, 'Mommy, why are you crying?' How do you explain something like this to your kids?
"You get irritated with them... but it is not their fault."
Vittone could not say what the future held, but reaffirmed that she was going "to give 110 percent of myself to rebuild our relationship".
"I'm trying to learn from it. All Joost and I now need is time. This is our time and people should know this and respect this."
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