South Carolina Representive Mark Sanford has called off his engagement to Argentine fiancée Maria Belen Chapur after realizing the extreme pressure that their relationship was going through due to unsettled issues with his ex-wife.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Friday, Sanford admitted that no relationship can stand the constant tension of having to choose between his children and the woman he loves.

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He was apparently alluding to how his relationship with Chapur may have been affected by his ex-wife Jenny's demands regarding visitation arrangements for their sons, and a recent requirement that he undergoes regular psychological evaluation if he is to be allowed around his children.

"Belen and I have decided to call off the engagement. Maybe there will be another chapter when waters calm with Jenny, but at this point the environment is not conducive to building anything," the Republican lawmaker said in his Facebook post.

He thanked Belen, whom he refered to as his soulmate, for all the love and encouragement she has given him, and for silently bearing "its tribulations with her ever warm and kind spirit."

Unrequited love... still

Sanford and Chapur met in Uruguay in 2001 and had remained friends until their relationship blossomed into romance sometime in 2008.

He was governor of South Carolina and married at the time, and she was living a relatively quiet life in Buenos Aires after a brief stint as news reporter for a local Argentine TV.

They sustained their long-distance romance mostly through email changes that sizzled with passion and unrequited longing.

A July 10, 2008 email from Sanford to Chapur, which was publicized a year later, said "...despite the best efforts of my head, my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul. I love you ... sleep tight. M"

Chapur replied to the email on the same day, saying "I don't know how we figure all this out and I am not interested in knowing. I prefer to think we'll see each other again somewhere sometime in this life and in next. Will be missing you till then..."

In June 2009, their secret affair hogged the limelight for the first time when Sanford infamously disappeared for five days, telling his staff that he was out hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but had instead booked a flight to Buenos Aires to see Chapur.

He faced the media upon his return, apologizing to his constituents while tearfully admitting that he had cheated on his wife, Jenny Sullivan Sanford, an investment banker and wealthy heiress who had funded his early political career. They divorced the following year, with Jenny winning full custody of their four sons.

Sanford and Chapur continued their romance, this time publicly, and got engaged in August 2012. The Argentine lady was at Sanford's side when he celebrated his successful bid for congress as South Carolina's first district representive in a 2013 special election.

A woman scorned?

Rep. Sanford's 2,300-word Facebook post revealed more than he may have intended, narrating how his ex-wife's lawyers had filed "yet another lawsuit" that required him to appear in court on Monday.

Earlier this month, Jenny asked a family court to limit Sanford's visitation schedule with their youngest child, Blake, to which the lawmaker replied that there was nothing to limit because Jenny had already informed him at the start of the year that he would not be given any visitation privileges for this year.

Sanford also resented being required to undergo psychological, alcohol and drug evaluations, saying he's never had a record as a heavy drinker or drug user.

All these demands and court filings, he said, strike him as pure theatrics that are played out for media.

The lawmaker said he had tried his best to avoid going to court with everything that happened between him and his wife so as not to subject their children to more embarassment, but that Jenny would invariably challenge him to a court showdown whenever he didn't agree to her demands.

TagsMark Sanford, Maria Belen Chapur, Jenny Sanford