SINGAPORE - Few celebrity breakups in recent memory have been as bitter, as public, or as protracted as the saga of Singaporean actor-singer Aliff Aziz and Malaysian singer-actress Bella Astillah, whose marriage collapsed amid allegations of serial infidelity that Bella claimed numbered 11 affairs.
The dramatic turn came in April 2024, when Bella held an emotional press conference accusing Aliff of cheating on her 11 times over the course of their marriage, including once with her own younger sister, Eriqa. Tearfully, she said she regretted disowning her sister instead of Aliff when the affair came to light. She claimed she had proof of the infidelities, including records from the GPS tracker in a car she had gifted him, which showed repeated visits to another woman's residence.
The immediate trigger for the final split was Aliff's arrest on March 9, 2024, when he and Malaysian actress Ruhainies were detained by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department at a condominium in Kuala Lumpur on suspicion of khalwat, or close proximity between an unmarried man and woman. The pair initially pleaded not guilty in July 2024, but later changed their pleas to guilty, with the proceedings concluding in early 2025.
Bella filed for divorce following the khalwat scandal, and the couple's second divorce was finalised on June 13, 2024. It was the second time the marriage had ended in divorce. They had first divorced in 2019 amid earlier cheating allegations, only to reconcile in 2020. Married since 2016, the couple share two young children.
At a court appearance in April 2024, Aliff said he did not agree to the divorce, stating that he still loved Bella and needed more time. Bella, however, said she was exhausted by years of trying to salvage the marriage and feared the cycle would never end. The Syariah court ordered the appointment of a conciliatory committee, but reconciliation proved impossible.
In a later interview, Aliff described himself as an honest sinner, acknowledging his wrongdoing while pushing back against the torrent of online hate. He spoke about losing judgment and doing silly things, and said he was working on self-improvement. The saga continued to generate headlines into 2025 and 2026, including a tense moment at an awards show where Bella was made to present an award to Sophia Albarakbah, another woman linked to Aliff's past, prompting accusations that the organisers lacked sensitivity.
In August 2026, Aliff returned to acting with the iQiyi drama Madu Atau Racun, in which he plays Adli, a cheating husband who brings home a second wife. The casting struck many viewers as painfully ironic, and Aliff admitted he had worried about how audiences would react, asking them to judge the character rather than the man playing him.
The Aliff Aziz saga remains one of the most talked-about celebrity scandals in the Singapore-Malaysia entertainment corridor, a cautionary tale of fame, temptation and the unforgiving glare of the public eye.