SINGAPORE - Singapore businessman Ooi Hoe Seong has confirmed that he and Chinese movie star Gong Li have been divorced for three years.

He told West China City Daily in a phone interview that the split was amicable and the two remain friends, The Straits Times reported.

The couple wed in 1996 and Gong became a Singapore citizen in 2008. The couple split up a year later, said Mr Ooi.

In the interview, Mr Ooi said they were apart more often than they were together, and there was "more friendship than romance". He also added that they never quarrelled in their relationship and there were no disputes over assets.

Regarding reports that Gong has been living with a French cameraman 13 years her junior since 2006, Mr Ooi said they were not true, maintaining that they only separated in 2009.

Recent pictures circulating online of Gong sporting a rounded tummy and heftier frame have ignited pregnancy rumours.

Gong allegedly met the cameraman, identified in reports as Chang, on the set of Cannibal Rising in 2006.

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