'This is a tough time.' Carrie Bickmore announces her separation from partner Chris Walker.

Former The Project presenter Carrie Bickmore has announced she and her partner, Chris Walker, have decided to separate.

The couple confirmed the news in a statement on their Instagram Stories on Wednesday morning. 

"Hi there, it’s with immense sadness that Chris and I have decided to separate," Bickmore wrote.

"While this is a tough time, our focus is on parenting, loving and supporting our three children, Ollie, Evie and Addie with everything we’ve got. They are doing great."

The 42-year-old added that the pair "won’t be making any further comment at this stage."

Image: Instagram@bickmorecarrie

Walker and Bickmore met on the set of The Project back in 2012, two years after Bickmore lost her first husband, Greg Lange, to brain cancer. 

Speaking about how they first bonded, Bickmore told TV Week, "He, like many people, understands loss and suffered his own loss in life and I think he just has a huge amount of compassion and he will always be incredibly supportive of me and for our family." 

Walker and Bickmore share two daughters together, Evie and Adelaide. Walker is also a stepfather to Bickmore and Lange's son, Oliver. 

Bickmore recently spoke about her family during her last show on The Project in November, where she mentioned meeting Walker as a producer. 

"This show has given us so much," she said at the time. 

"We wouldn't have our beautiful little poppets if it wasn't for The Project – Evie, Addy Bear and Ollie – you guys are my world. I hope you're proud of everything I've done over the years."

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Before announcing her departure from the show, Bickmore and her family enjoyed a three-month holiday in the UK and Europe. 

"Chris and I and the kids are heading off on a family adventure together. We figure it's never going to be the perfect time to go, and it's something we really want to do before my son starts his final years at school, so we're doing term two in the UK. So I will be off for a couple of months," she announced on The Project at the time. 

"[My family and I] had some big conversations after living through the world's longest lockdown. One of the things that my son Ollie said was how much he was going to miss the family time when we were coming out of lockdown, which kind of surprised us because we had a lot of family time!"

Elaborating on Instagram, Bickmore said, "One of the unexpected silver linings to come out of living through Melbourne's lockdowns was the extended family time and we feel like this is our last chance to do something like this together before Ollie hits the pointy end of his schooling and no longer wants to hang out with us."

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A post shared by Carrie Bickmore (@bickmorecarrie)

After the holiday, Bickmore said that while the time away with her three kids wasn't perfect, it was certainly worthwhile.

"And so comes to an end the most incredible few months. Was it perfect? NO. Was it always easy? NO. Was it worth it? YES YES YES. Nothing worthwhile comes easily," she wrote on Instagram in July.

"I am just so glad we had a crack. Memories made that we’ll talk about forever."

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Feature Image: Getty.