Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth Have Separated

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have decided that’s enough of that with their marriage. They’re going to stop right here.

In a statement from Cyrus’s rep published on People.com at 8:20 p.m. on a Saturday night, the couple confirmed that they have separated after just eight months of marriage.

“Liam and Miley have agreed to separate at this time,” the rep told the magazine. “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.”

Speculation about the state of the marriage began earlier in the day when Cyrus posted a photo on Instagram without her wedding ring. Incidentally, Cyrus is currently on vacation in northern Italy with Kaitlynn Carter, who recently split from Brody Jenner, the half-brother of Kylie and Kendall Jenner (Carter and Jenner held a ceremony in 2018, but were apparently not legally married).

The Tennessee-born Cyrus and the Australian-born Hemsworth began dating in 2009 while shooting the teen romance film The Last Song. The pair first became engaged in 2012 before splitting in 2013. By 2016, however, the idyllic couple was back together. The couple married on December 23rd, 2018, shortly after their shared California home was lost in the Woolsey Fire.

In recent years, Cyrus had also come to publicly identify as queer, though queer women in straight relationships is not particularly uncommon.

“We’re redefining, to be fucking frank, what it looks like for someone that’s a queer person like myself to be in a hetero relationship,” she told Vanity Fair. “A big part of my pride and my identity is being a queer person.”

Cyrus is gearing up to release her next full-length album She Is Miley Cyrus sometime later this year, and single “Mother’s Daughter” is currently charting on the Billboard 100. Hemsworth’s next movie Killerman is set for release later this month.