Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have decided to call it quits after nearly five years of marriage.
“We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate,#” Pitt and Aniston said in a joint statement given to People magazine.
The couple had been vacationing at a remote villa on the Caribbean island of Anguilla along with “Friends” co-star Courtney Cox and her husband David Arquette – in an attempt to shoot down rumors that they were on the verge of a bust-up.
Even though the pair was photographed this past week kissing and taking long strolls on the beach, Pitt and Aniston said yesterday they will “remain committed and caring friends.”
“This decision is a result of much thoughtful consideration,” the statement said. “We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another. We ask in advance for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months.”
Pitt’s rep Cindy Guagenti declined to comment.
Aniston’s spokesman Stephen Huvane also declined to comment.
Pitt, 41, met Aniston, 35, when they were set up on a date by their reps in 1998.
The couple kept their relationship under wraps for months until they eventually wed in a lavish, star-studded seaside ceremony in Malibu, Calif., in July 2000.
The wedding featured nearly 200 guests, 50,000 flowers and a fireworks show.
Pitt is current starring in the big-screen crime caper “Ocean’s Twelve” and Aniston, 35, who is working on a few movie projects, gained fame during her 10-year stint on the popular TV show “Friends.”
In 2002, Aniston said she and Pitt were looking forward to starting a family.
“Absolutely it will happen, but probably not for a while,” she said.
Last May, Pitt described his marriage to Aniston as “an extraordinary friendship.”
“I’m not sure it really is in our nature to be with someone for the rest of our lives just because you made this pact,” he said.
The couple moved into a $13.5 million mansion last year after spending two years renovating the palatial complex.
Aniston was photographed last month in Los Angeles not wearing her diamond-studded wedding band, fueling rumors that her marriage was on the rocks.
But the couple tried to dupe the paparazzi over the New Year’s weekend when the Golden Globe-winning actress was spotted wearing the rock.