Los Angeles - Hollywood A-list couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced the end of their 10-year marriage on Tuesday, ending months of rumours. The confirmation of the split between the Oscar-winning actor-director and the actress came a day after their wedding anniversary on Monday.
The end of the marriage was mourned on Twitter, with typical responses such as this from People magazine: "Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are splitting up, true love does not exist."
Affleck, 42, and Garner, 43, started dating shortly after meeting on the set of the 2003 superhero movie Daredevil. They married two years later in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Their children are Violet, nine, Seraphina, six, and Samuel, three.
TMZ celebrity news website said the couple will file for divorce, though not immediately. Their split is described as "amicable" and they will get joint custody of their children.
Rumours of the separation were fuelled by tabloid reports that moving vans were spotted near the couple's Southern California home last month.
Unlike many Hollywood couples, Affleck and Garner did not have a prenuptial agreement, TMZ said. But the website, citing multiple sources, said discussions between lawyers were going "smoothly", adding that Affleck is not much richer than Garner, who it said made a "massive amount of money" out of Alias.
Affleck has been married and his former partners include actress Gwyneth Paltrow and singer Jennifer Lopez (she and Affleck were known as Bennifer).
Garner dated actor Michael Vartan after she divorced actor Scott Foley in 2003.
In an interview last year, she said her marriage to Affleck was in a "mindful" stage.
"You can't expect to be courted all the time and I don't want to court him right now - I don't have the energy," she told InStyle magazine. "But we're definitely in a very mindful place where we're making an effort to be together, do things at the same time and be loving."
On Tuesday, the two pleaded for privacy. "This will be our only comment on this private, family matter. Thank you for understanding," they said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
