FOLLOWING months of media speculation about their rocky marriage, actors Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung have announced their divorce and said they will share custody of their children.

In a joint statement written in Mandarin and released yesterday, Tse, 30, and Cheung, 31, cited "differences in personality" for the spilt and said they have reached an "amicable agreement".

They plan to raise their two sons - one-year-old Quintus and four-year-old Lucas - together and will strive to give them a "happy upbringing".

Tse and Cheung sent a warning to the media whom they said had cooked up stories about their marriage situation, many of which were untrue.

"We reserve the right to pursue legal action, and we ask everyone not to make wild allegations anymore."

They asked for "quiet living space" for them and their children and concluded by saying they would not discuss the divorce any further.

Tse and Cheung's relationship had never been a bed of roses, with trouble brewing even before they were married. In 2002, singer Faye Wong and the couple were involved in a love triangle, The Straits Times (ST) said.

In 2006, the couple wed in the Philippines but two years later, Cheung was embroiled in the Edison Chen sex scandal, which saw explicit photos of her and Chen leaked onto the Internet.

In May this year, tabloids alleged that Chen and Cheung had met on a flight and took photos together, a charge which Cheung firmly denied.

During an interview with Oriental Daily News in June, Cheung lashed out at her husband Tse, saying he had staged a media campaign to portray himself as a good father, and she, as a greedy wife.

In response, Tse said during a press conference that he still loved Cheung but did not know how to carry on with the relationship, ST reported.

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