Joost & Amor, blow by blow

Imperfect celebrities beware: befriend a gossip columnist at your peril. A new book by entertainment journalist Gavin Prins reveals intimate details of the stormy marriage between former Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen and pop star Amor Vittone.

In Joost & Amor: Behind the Headlines, Prins writes that Joost once assaulted Afrikaans pop singer Kurt Darren, whom he suspected of trying to bed Amor. The memoir, to be released soon, includes anecdotes about Joost's wandering eye and Amor's penchant for farting loudly.

As a celebrity reporter for Rapport newspaper, Prins became a good friend of Amor and "Koeks" - her nickname for Joost - attending a string of private parties at their double-storey Tuscan-style Dainfern home .

Prins recalls Amor's lavatory humour when talking to her on the phone once. "'Hold on, hold on a minute, Gaaaav. I must just quickly flush the toilet. Can you hear the toilet? Hmm?'

"I was startled. 'You must be joking.' She gave a loud fart. 'Did you hear that? Did you hear it, Gav?' Amor said, and she laughed."

Prins broke the news of the sex-and-drugs video that disgraced the retired rugby star in February 2009. It showed Joost engaging in oral sex with former stripper Marilize van Emmenis and snorting the drug "cat" (methcathinone).

Joost had previously been married to Marlene van der Westhuizen. Relying on internet research, Prins says there was speculation about whether Joost had cheated on her with Amor. "Joost and Amor denied this. Marlene remained silent."

So worried about the book is Joost that his lawyers will attempt to block its publication in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.

In the introduction, Prins says Joost helped to confirm facts during the writing process and Amor gave her blessing to the project. But Joost's lawyers will argue in court that the book will endanger the life of their client, who suffers from motor neuron disease, by raising his stress levels. They will claim that the former Bok's right to life should take precedence over Prins's right to freedom of expression.

On this page are extracts from the book, which does little new damage to the reputations of Joost and Amor. Their dramas have been tabloid fodder for years.

The couple have said they have reconciled after a two-year separation, although they do not live together.

Prins is now deputy editor of Heat magazine. His tale is pacy and salacious, but it makes little attempt to get under the skin of the personalities involved. He has exceptional self-esteem and seems happiest in his own skin.

Although he writes sympathetically about them, his compassion does not outweigh his readiness to profit from their woes. The couple used him to stay in the news; now it is payback time.

His most telling revelation is unintentional: the symbiotic silliness of South Africa's limelight junkies and their fawning hangers-on.