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• The man behind the dress that "broke the internet" has been charged with trying to kill his wife.
• The dress divided the internet in 2015, with some seeing it as white and gold, others as blue and black.
• Keir Johnston is alleged to have conducted an almost 11-year campaign of domestic violence.

The man behind the viral optical illusion dress that divided the internet has been charged with the alleged attempted murder of his wife, a report says.

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Keir Johnston, 38, rose to fame in 2015 after a photo of his mother-in-law's dress, which she wore to his wedding, went viral, with some people seeing it as white and gold and others as blue and black.

Now Johnston, from the Isle of Colonsay in Scotland, faces allegations that he conducted an almost 11-year campaign of domestic violence and coercive control which resulted in an attempt to kill his wife, The Times of London reported.

Johnston appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday and has been charged and faces allegations that he repeatedly assaulted his wife between April 2019 and March 2022, including shouting at her, strangling her, and brandishing a knife, per The Times.

In one instance, Johnston is accused of placing his wife in a headlock and dragging her from a pub after she refused to leave with him. In another, it is alleged he attempted to get into a vehicle she was in and struck her through an open window.

Further allegations accuse him of isolating his wife from her friends and monitoring her movements and finances.

Johnston carried out a series of violent attacks against his wife, which culminated in attempted murder, prosecutors allege. 

He denies all charges against him, and the case will have a further preliminary hearing ahead of a trial in 2024.

—Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) February 27, 2015

 

When the photo of the dress was posted online by wedding guest Caitlin McNeill, it quickly went viral and was said to have "broken the internet." Celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift weighed in on the debate.

Johnston and his wife even appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where they were gifted $10,000 and a trip to Grenada after they revealed that the dress was, in fact, black and blue.

The dress even appeared in an ad campaign raising awareness about domestic violence, asking: "Why is it so hard to see black and blue."

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