James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff announce divorce

James McAvoy and his wife, English actress Anne-Marie Duff, are splitting, the couple announced 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. We ask that you respect our and, most importantly, our child’s privacy during this time," reads their joint statement, sent by reps Donna Mills and Meredith O'Sullivan.

The couple met on the 2004 series Shameless and co-starred in 2009's The Last Station. McAvoy, 37, and Duff, 45, married in 2006 and have one child together, Brendan, who was born in 2010.

Both were notoriously private when out of the spotlight. "We've played it very cautiously," McAvoy told USA TODAY in 2011. "We don't take free (stuff). It's who we are individually and it's also a strategy. We respect the media and we use it respectfully to sell movies and sell theater," he says. "We don't like going to parties or premieres if we're not involved. If my career isn't going that well, I'd rather it flounder than desperately trying to show up on red carpets: 'I'm for hire! Remember me!'"

The couple last attended an event together in November. On May 19, McAvoy resumes his role as Professor X in X-Men: Apocalypse.  Duff last starred in last fall's Suffragette.