Actress Anne Watanabe, the daughter of Hollywood star Ken Watanabe, has divorced her actor husband Masahiro Higashide after he was found to be having an affair.
One of the most famous celebrity couples in Japan, Watanabe, 34, and Higashide, 32, had been married for five years and have three children.
They announced their split last Saturday and promised to work together to take care of their children.
Watanabe, who is also a model, separated from Higashide after news about his affair with actress Erika Karata broke in January.
Both Higashide and Karata, 22, have made separate apologies for it.
The two reportedly began their affair in 2017 while shooting the movie Asako I & II (2018). Karata, best known for her role in South Korean drama Arthdal Chronicles (2019), was 19 then.
Watanabe was pregnant at the time with the couple’s son, who was born in November 2017. The couple have a pair of twin daughters born in 2016.
The scandal was a major blow to Higashide and Karata’s careers, with the actor losing his endorsement deals and Karata being dropped from her acting roles.
Higashide declined to clarify if he wanted a divorce from Wanatabe, but when reporters asked him if he liked Karata or his wife more, he said he could not answer as it would “hurt his wife”.
Clips of his response were widely shared online, causing swelling public anger towards him.
Higashide made his acting debut in The Kirishima Thing (2012), a movie about high school students, and went on to star in movies such as Death Note: Light Up The New World (2016).
He and Watanabe became romantically involved after playing a couple in drama series Gochisosan (2013-2014). They married in 2015.
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