The pair, who are parents to three-year-old daughter Scout and have been engaged since 2010, announced the news on Wednesday with an official statement.
“Jessica Marais and James Stewart have amicably separated. Their main focus at this time is the co-parenting of their daughter,” a rep explained.
Sources close to the pair tell Woman’s Day that there have been “cracks in the relationship for years”, but that in recent months things have become “increasingly toxic.”
The couple met in 2009 on the set of Channel Seven’s Packed to the Rafters and it was there the on-screen couple made their romance a reality. Three years later in May 2012 they became the proud parents to a daughter Scout.
After Scout’s birth the family of three relocated to LA so Jessica could try to crack Hollywood. She went on to land a role in the crime series Magic City while James took on full-time parenting duties.
“We both desperately wanted our daughter to have a parent around and not be a working couple that had nannies. We’ve got help but we both wanted to be hands on people and that’s one of the big reasons we’re both still really in love… We’re those kinds of people and it’s really bizarre to find that kind of person,” 39-year-old James told News.com.au.
Over the years 30-year-old Jessica, who suffers from bipolar, has credited James for being her rock: “My bipolar is actually very manageable. And having a child to pull me out of it has made all the difference in the world,” she once mused to the Australian Women’s Weekly.
Whispers of a break-up have been circling the duo for some time and reached fever pitch after Jess missed the Logies earlier this month. Further fueling speculation was the fact Jess and James held individual birthday parties for Scout.
Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult period.
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