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Kaya Scodelario and Benjamin Walker have called it quits on their marriage. The Skins alum, 31, and the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power actor, 41, are headed for a divorce after separating in 2023. They were married for nearly eight years.
“Some time ago, Kaya and Ben made the joint decision to end their marriage but continue to co-parent lovingly whilst remaining the best of friends,” a rep for Kaya and Benjamin told PEOPLE on Thursday, February 8. “They ask that their privacy as well as that of their children remain respected as they continue to move forward as a family.”
Kaya and Benjamin share a 7-year-old son and a 2-year-old child. The duo kept their family life away from the public eye, but the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales actress occasionally posted photos of her and the Tony Award nominee via Instagram. The last image of them together was shared in late 2022.
The pair met in 2014 on the set of The King’s Daughter, which was not released until 2022. Kaya played Marie-Joséphe D’Alembert while Benjamin played Yves De La Croix. Initially, they developed a strong friendship on set and quickly fell in love. At the end of 2014, Kaya and Benjamin got engaged, and they tied the knot the following year after a year-long engagement.
At the time, Kaya took to Instagram to share a photo from their wedding of their bride and groom cake topper.
During her 2019 interview with Elle UK, the Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile actress described the early days of her and Benjamin’s relationship. She also gave insight into his proposal.
“I never had any family heirlooms … Nothing that was ever passed down to me and so, when I met my husband and we were falling in love, he actually bought me a Cartier Love bracelet, for our first Christmas together,” Kaya explained. “He says that it was then that he realized that he actually wanted to buy me an engagement ring, so he sort of weirdly proposed with a love bangle.”
Previously, Kaya opened up about her and Benjamin’s romance during a 2015 interview with InStyle, per Daily Mail. In it, the Spinning Out alum revealed, “We were originally friends, then after two months of shooting [The King’s Daughter], we both said, ‘Ok, I really like you.’”
Due to their busy schedules as actors, Kaya acknowledged that they would “spend so much time apart” from each other, so it was “great to get a stretch of time together” whenever they could.