Hollywood couple announce split

One of Hollywood’s longest surviving couples have decided to split up.

American film director Tim Burton and British actress Helena Bonham Carter have separated after 13 years together.

A spokesperson for Carter said the couple, who never married, parted earlier this year but have remained friends and co-parents to their children, Billy, 11 and Nell, 7.

“We would ask that you respect their privacy and that of their children during this time.”

Burton, 56, met Carter, 48, when he directed her in the 2001 film Planet of the Apes. Since then the pair have worked on several movies together,such as 2003’s Big Fish, 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2007’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and 2012’s Dark Shadows.

In October 2013, the duo found themselves at the centre of infidelity reports after a very grainy photo appeared in the New York Post that reportedly showed the director kissing a mystery blonde.

Carter rubbished the claims as “nonsense”.

The pair were dubbed ‘liveapart-ners’ — they type of couple that maintains separate nests because they believe it keeps their relationship special. They have lived in Belsize Park, London, in neighbouring houses with a connecting doorway.

Although they frequently worked together, Burton previously admitted they often had a turbulent relationship on set, especially during the making of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2007.

He said, “We’ve survived [as a couple], but it hasn’t always been easy. Sweeney Todd was the worst; definitely the worst. But then I found out she was pregnant with Nell and it kind of all made sense.”