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Marion Cotillard and partner Guillaume Canet break up after 18 years
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Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and her partner Guillaume Canet revealed on Friday that they had ended their longtime relationship.
The actress, 49, and the 52-year-old, had been in a relationship going back to 2007, but they announced in a terse statement that they were going their separate ways.
Although Cotillard has starred in numerous acclaimed French films, she has established herself as one of the country's biggest international stars thanks to major roles in high-profile English-language movies, including Christopher Nolan 's Inception and The Dark Knight Rises.
She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the 2007 biopic La Vie en Rose, in which she portrayed the legendary French singer Édith Piaf.
Cotillard — who walked the red carpet alone at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year — and Canet represented a star couple in France, where he is also an acclaimed actor, writer, and director.
They announced that they had ended their relationship in a statement to the Agence France-Presse news agency in which they said they were publicly revealing their breakup 'to avoid all speculation, rumors and risky interpretations.'
The former couple didn't share why they were separating, but they said it was by 'common accord' and was with 'mutual goodwill.'
The two had known each other for a decade before then, and they had appeared on screen together in the French-language film Love Me If You Dare from 2003.
Despite having apparently never tied the knot, Cotillard and Canet were forced to deny that they were married multiple times over the years.
Adding to the confusion was the actress's habit of wearing a diamond ring on her left ring finger, which her partner had given her as a present.
However, they clarified that it didn't signify that they were engaged.
In 2011, they welcomed their first child, a son named Marcel, and they later welcomed a daughter named Louise in 2017.
In addition to a long-running romantic relationship, Cotillard and Canet continued a years-long professional collaboration.
He directed her in his movies Little White Lies (2010), Blood Ties (2013), its 2019 sequel, Rock'n Roll (2017), and 2023's Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, with Canet appearing on screen with Cotillard in the latter two.
The couple also took the lead roles in the 2009 drama The Last Flight, which was directed by Karim Dridi.
Cotillard and Canet collaborated again earlier this year when he directed her in the upcoming film Karma, which reportedly finished shooting in May.
