Maia Dunphy and Johnny Vegas have announced their split

Maia Dunphy and comedian Johnny Vegas have announced their split after seven years of marriage.

The Irish journalist and Dancing With The Stars contestant said today that she and Vegas had been separated since last year. Dunphy said that they had decided to share the news "because speculation is unhelpful at best, and dangerous at worst." Speaking on Twitter, she wrote:

"It is with a heavy heart that we want to let you know that we separated some time ago last year. We are telling people now because speculation is unhelpful at best, and dangerous at worst.

"As we think is obvious, we continue to fully support each other: there is no acrimony, no story and no one else involved. "We have never played our relationship publicly, so we don’t feel it’s too much to ask for privacy now. We also ask people to be mindful that there are two children involved, and their welfare is our main concern now. Thank you. X"

https://twitter.com/MaiaDunphy/status/996021112696967169 She captioned the tweet 'A note from me and @JohnnyVegasReal.' The message was also shared by Vegas. Dunphy and Vegas married in April 2011 in Spain. They have a three-year-old son together, Tom, and Johnny has a teenager son, Michael, from a previous relationship. Dunphy appeared on this year's series of RTE's Dancing With The Stars. She was the third celebrity to be voted off the programme.