There must be something in the water in Hollywood with Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber following in the footsteps of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in announcing their split.
The couple, who never married, have been together for 11 years and have two children, Alexander „Sasha”, nine, and Samuel, seven.
„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. 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,” the couple said in a joint statement.
„While we appreciate your curiosity and support, we ask the press to be mindful of our children and respect their right to privacy.”
Schreiber, 48, raised suspicions about his relationship with the British-born, Australian-raised actress, 47, last week when he took their eldest son as his plus one to the Emmys.
The Ray Donovan actor made a point to note his partner of over a decade was not by his side, sharing four pictures of Sasha from the night with his 126,000 followers.
Watts and Schreiber’s last red carpet appearance together was earlier this month when they were hand-in-hand at the Toronto Film Festival to promote their film, The Bleeder– a drama inspired by the life of American heavyweight boxer, Chuck Wepner.
Watts opted to play Wepner’s second wife, Linda, instead of his first wife, Phyllis, because she thought her actual relationship with Schreiber would be too distracting.
„I also felt that being a real-life couple and then playing a couple can be distracting sometimes. So I felt the role with less screen time was better for the story,” she told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month.
Just three weeks ago, they looked more in love than ever when Schreiber shared a picture of Watts in thigh-high, black leather boots with the caption, „ay Dios mio” (oh my God).
Putting the break-up to the back of her mind ahead of officially announcing their split to the world, Watts headed out on a girls’ night in New York on Sunday to celebrate a close friend’s birthday. She shared a number of pictures from the intimate occasion that Schreiber did not attend.
The high-profile pair met in 2005 at the Met Gala.
„We were both single and we were both very aware of each other in the room,” she told Marie Claire in 2010. „I don’t know about love at first sight, but there was a strong desire for one another.”
When she saw him leaving, she plucked up the courage to ask if he wanted her phone number.
„It was a lot more ballsy than I would ever normally be,” the King Kong star admitted to Allure magazine in 2013. „Normally I want a guy to make the first move, and he wasn’t.”
They had been engaged, but they did not feel like they ever needed a certificate to make their relationship official.
„We have a great family and it feels like we’re married. We just haven’t done that official blessing or walk down the aisle because it hasn’t been a big need for either of us,” she told Fairfax Media in 2014 when promoting St Vincent.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/naomi-watts-and-liev-schreiber-split-after-11-years-together-20160926-grp5i4.html
