It’s another shock spilt that Hollywood didn’t see coming; Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber have confirmed that they are separating after 11 years together.
“Over the past few months we’ve come to the conclusion that the best way forward for us as a family is to separate as a couple,” the actors said in a joint statement.
Watts and Schreiber have two children together, Alexander “Sasha”, 8, and Kai, 7 and in their statement they said they plan to co-parent.
They said: “It is with great love, respect, and friendship in our hearts that we look forward to raising our children together and exploring this new phase of our relationship.”
If there was trouble in paradise, nobody would have picked it up when Liev gushed about his talented partner in a recent interview with Vanity Fair just weeks ago.
While in Toronto premiering their new film The Bleeder, which both Watts and Schreiber star in, Liev told VF about how happy he was to be starring in yet another film opposite the mother of his kids.
“There’s a perception she’s sort of a demure English girl,” said Liev. “And I guess it’s partially true, but that day she walked out of the wardrobe trailer with the red wig, and the fake boobs and the leopard-print tights I just, I was so excited. I knew it was going to be great.”
He added: “Everyone knows how gutsy she is as an actress, that she takes big chances. But comedically, there’s a lot of fuel in that tank that I hope people get a chance to see.”
Watch: Liev Schreiber gushes about Naomi Watts in Vanity Fair interview
In The Bleeder Schreiber plays Chuck Wepner, Wepner, a journeyman underdog boxer who was 35 when he unbelievably pushed world champ Muhammad Ali to the limit in their 1975 title fight. Watts plays the boxer’s wife Linda in the biopic.