Celebrity couple Nicholas Tse Ting-fung and Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi have officially announced they are divorcing following months of speculation their five-year marriage is on the rocks.



In a joint statement, Tse and Cheung said they will have joint custody of their two sons, four-year-old Lucas and one- year-old Quintus.



"We, Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi and Nicholas Tse Ting-fung, formally announce that we decided to divorce due to differences in personality. We have peacefully reached an agreement on the divorce matter," they said in the statement, dated Friday and released yesterday.



"We will have joint custody of our two children. Their happy growth will be our main consideration in all matters."



They said some media reports about their marriage break-up are inaccurate and they reserve the right to pursue all necessary steps. They appealed to the media not to speculate further on the separation.



The statement made no mention of how they will share their wealth.



They extended their "heartfelt gratitude" to those who expressed concern about them and their families.



Media organizations were also urged to particularly leave their children alone, so that the toddlers can grow up out of the spotlight.



They said they will not respond to further questions about the divorce.



News of their marriage difficulties first surfaced in May after actress-singer Cheung reportedly took photos with singer-actor Edison Chen Koon-hei on a Hong Kong-bound flight.



There were suggestions that Cheung's relationship with Tse had already turned sour before May, and that the Chen incident made it unsalvageable.



Explicit photos of Cheung taken by Chen were leaked to the public in a 2008 sex-photo scandal that also involved celebrities such as Gillian Chung Yan- tung, Bobo Chan Man-woon and Rachel Ngan Wong-sze.



Chen announced in February 2008 he was taking indefinite leave from the entertainment industry, but he resumed his work late last year.



Many people praised Cheung's bravery for breaking her silence about a year after the sex-photos scandal came to light, so her widely reported move to initiate a photo opportunity with Chen in May when they came across each other on the flight to Hong Kong struck many as a stark contradiction.

Source: The Standard, Mingpao (images)

Translator: aZnangel@AEU