It's official - popular Chinese TV host, Quan Yi Fong, 34, has separated from her husband of 10 years, ex-actor Peter Yu, 40.

She released a statement on Wednesday through her good friend, celebrity hairstylist Addy Lee, to announce that her divorce will be finalised on Jan 3, 2009. They will share custody of their nine-year-old daughter.

 She said of their oft-reported tumultuous relationship and eventual dissolution: "Women shouldn't be too smart, and try not to pick at details in a marriage."    

 Speaking to Shin Min Wan Bao from Taiwan, her tone was even and calm when talking about the divorce.

 But Quan said there was no reason for the cause of their break-up. She said: "A divorce doesn't happen in a day or two. Now that I have settled things, I can stop the media speculation. At a point in time, there were plenty of rumours flying around regarding my marriage, but it is not as if the decision were only up to me. We were just starting our divorce proceedings then and I couldn't say anything.

"We have already settled into a phase where we are both no longer angry, but calm."

 She clarified that the break-up is not due a third-party. She says the two of them just had no more love left for each other, and slowly drifted apart.
"Jacky Wu once said of marriage, to 'close one eye' is not enough, you have to close both",Quan said, referring to a comment from the famous Taiwanese compere known for his philandering ways. Breaking into a laugh, Quan continued, "Women should know, once fate has passed, there's no need to hold on anymore."

 She is now more relaxed

 Quan's grand-aunt, ex-Taiwanese actress-turned-top insurance agent Mary Chen Ming Li, 47, also said that Quan became more relaxed after the divorce was decided upon.

Chen had introduced Quan to the entertainment industry here. She said to Lian He Wan Bao: "It is as though a burden had been lifted from her shoulders and her heart".

When asked if the 'burden' which Quan had to shoulder included debts incurred by her husband, Chen says she does not know much of their family problems.

But she revealed that Quan would always send money to her parents in Taiwan every month regardless of her financial circumstance. Her parents are divorced and have each remarried, with their own families.

Chen believes Quan's parents have already been informed of her divorce. She hopes that Quan will not be misunderstood by the media in future.

 Daughter suffered from rocky marriage

 But it is usually the children who suffer the most when a couple's relationship hit a rough patch.

Chen divulged that the couple's  nine-year-old daughter, Eleanor, had once turned up at her house in tears. The girl told Chen of her parents' frequent quarrels, and that "if only they would stop fighting, I will do whatever they want."

Chen commented that "one can only imagine how bad the situation was, for a young girl like her to say such a thing. " Her heart ached for the girl, and but she is thankful that despite everything, Eleanor is still a "sensible" child.