Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have called it quits, less than a year after the couple finally married in December 2018. Rumors of a split started earlier Saturday, when Cyrus posted a photo of herself clearly not wearing a wedding ring.
“Liam and Miley have agreed to separate at this time,” a representative for Cyrus told Entertainment Tonight in a statement. “Ever-evolving, changing as partners and individuals, they have decided this is what’s best while they both focus on themselves and careers. They still remain dedicated parents to all of their animals they share while lovingly taking this time apart. Please respect their process and privacy.”
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Just hours before the statement was released, Cyrus shared a picture of herself sitting on an elaborate chair. She was not wearing her wedding ring. “Mute me if you don’t want to be SPAMMED,” she wrote in the caption.
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According to PEOPLE, the photo was taken when Cyrus went on vacation with Kaitlynn Carter in Italy. Carter, who also recently split from ex-boyfriend Brody Jenner, shared a photo on Friday showing Cyrus and her friends at Lake Como. She also shared a photo of her and Cyrus wearing skimpy swimsuits during the trip.
The couple married in December 2018 and have known each other since 2009, when they made the movie The Last Song together. They got engaged in 2012 before breaking up a year later. They got back together in 2015.
In July, Cyrus made headlines with her in-depth Elle Magazine interview, in which she said she refused to fit into the “stereotypical” wife role. The “Younger Now” singer said she prefers the term “partners” over “husband and wife” because the latter term “sounds like a cigarette commercial from the ’50s to me.”
“I think it’s very confusing to people that I’m married. But my relationship is unique,” she told the magazine. “And I don’t know that I would ever publicly allow people in there because it’s so complex, and modern, and new that I don’t think we’re in a place where people would get it.”
She later continued, “I’m in a hetero relationship, but I still am very sexually attracted to women. People become vegetarian for health reasons, but bacon is still fโ good, and I know that. I made a partner decision. This is the person I feel has my back the most.”
“I definitely don’t fit into a stereotypical wife role. I don’t even like that word,” Cyrus, 26, said.
Hemsworth, 29, said Cyrus did take her name legally, but he was fine with her still being known as “Miley Cyrus” professionally.
“She will still be obviously known as Miley Cyrus, but she took my name, which is great,” he said in February. “That was honestly one of the best things about it. I didn’t ask her to take my name, but she was like, ‘No, of course I’m taking your name.’”
Cyrus is now working on her new album, She Is Miley Cyrus, set to be released before the end of the year. Hemsworth was last seen in the romantic comedy Isn’t It Romantic.
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