James McAvoy and wife, Anne-Marie Duff, are pulling the plug on their nine-year marriage, the couple announced on Friday.

"It is with tremendous sadness that we have come to the decision to divorce. ‎We enter this next phase with continued friendship, love and respect for one another and the shared focus of caring for our son," they said in a joint statement. "We ask that you respect our and, most importantly, our child's privacy during this time."

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McAvoy, 37, and Duff, 45, met while working together on the 2004 BBC series Shameless, in which they played each other's love interests. The pair the knot in a private ceremony in October 2006 and have a five-year-old son, Brendan, whom they welcomed in 2010.

The couple also co-starred in the 2009 romance drama The Last Station and have both lent vocals for the upcoming Netflix-BBC animated series Watership Down.

While McAvoy will be seen as Professor X in Bryan Singer's upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, the English actress' last appeared Sufragette last fall.

McAvoy has previously explained why he and his soon-to-be ex-wife have kept their relationship out of the spotlight. "We don't talk about each other much and we don't turn up together at lots of events. We both really rejoice in having a normal life," he told the Washington Post in 2007.

Duff also opened up about their marriage during a talk show last year. "We're very lucky we are aware of our blessings. That helps to remind us to be good people," she said during a chat show interview last year.

TagsJames McAvoy, Anne Marie Duff, James McAvoy divorce, James McAvoy Anne Marrie Duff, James McAvoy wife, Anne Marie Duff