Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have announced they will be separating after eight months of marriage.

Cyrus and Hemsworth, who were married on the 23 December last year, are splitting to focus on “themselves and [their] careers,” a representative for the singer told PEOPLE. 

“Liam and Miley have agreed to separate at this time,” the representative explained. “Ever-evolving, changing as partners and individuals, they have decided this is what’s best while they both focus on themselves and their careers.

“They still remain dedicated parents to all of their animals they share while lovingly taking this time apart,” the statement added. “Please respect their process and privacy.”

The couple’s relationship has been significantly unconventional from the start, with Cyrus redefining what it means to be queer in a heterosexual marriage.

Just this month, Cyrus spoke to Elle about the unconventionality of her relationship for the August 2019 cover story, explaining how the unique dynamics of her marriage meant she preferred to keep it private.

“I think it’s very confusing to people that I’m married. But my relationship is unique,” she explained.

“I don’t know that I would ever publicly allow people in there because it’s so complex, and modern, and new that I don’t think we’re in a place where people would get it,” she continued. “I mean, do people really think that I’m at home in a f**king apron cooking dinner? I’m in a hetero relationship, but I still am very sexually attracted to women.”

And this wasn’t the first time Cyrus spoke openly about how her pansexuality and identity as a queer person has shaped her marriage to Hemsworth.

Earlier this year, Cyrus spoke to Vanity Fair about her personal approach to the marriage, explaining why she preferred to keep the relationship private.

“The reason that people get married sometimes can be old-fashioned, but I think the reason we got married isn’t old-fashioned, I actually think it’s kind of New Age,” she explained. “We’re redefining, to be f**king frank, what it looks like for someone that’s a queer person like myself to be in a hetero relationship.”

Cyrus and Hemsworth met on the set of their movie The Last Song in 2009, and dated for a year before breaking up in 2013. During that time, Cyrus dated both men and women including Patrick Schwarzenegger and Stella Maxwell, the supermodel ex-girlfriend of Kristen Stewart. Hemsworth also dated other women during the break, before the couple reconciled in 2015. The pair later revealed their marriage to each other with a low-key announcement in late 2018.

The pair share a wide array of animals between them, including seven dogs and four cats. Hemsworth made headlines late last year for rescuing the animals from the California wildfires which destroyed the couple’s home, with Cyrus branding him “incredible”.

“I call him my survival partner now,” she told Howard Stern during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “He thinks it’s not romantic but I learned that it is. That is why you pair up with someone, for survival, and he was so incredible.”

Images: Getty