The ex-boyfriend of Joanne Peh has blamed communication failure for his split with the MediaCorp actress.

In a six-paragraph statement on his Facebook page on Tuesday, and his first public comments on the split, Italian-American DJ-actor Bobby Tonelli said Peh was "the first Asian girl I ever dated", but they hit it off despite the cultural gap.

His comments followed news last week that Peh, 29, is dating fellow star Qi Yuwu, 36, who was born in China.

"I didn't know much about her culture and although we were from two different worlds, we somehow connected," Singapore-based Tonelli, 37, wrote about first meeting Peh.

"The beauty of her soul and her sense of wonder at the possibilities we could achieve together were qualities I was always searching for in a life partner," he added.

"We had many firsts in our relationship and those moments I will always cherish.

"As the years passed, we started to lose the communication that is the foundation for every strong partnership. On hindsight, we could have worked a little harder at developing our understanding for each other."

He professed to being "saddened" by the split and that there had been "trying times". But he said "the past four years were some of the best years of my life".

The couple met on the set of the 2008 MediaCorp Channel 8 drama, The Little Nyonya.

Peh announced the split last month in an interview with 8 Days magazine. Three weeks later, the magazine reported that she is dating Qi.

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