Less than a year after they privately wed in a close-knit ceremony held at their Tennessee home just before Christmas, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have announced their split.

Cyrus confirmed the news this weekend through a statement made by her representative.

“Liam and Miley have agreed to separate at this time,” the statement made toPeopleread.

“Ever-evolving, changing as partners and individuals, they have decided this is what’s best while they both focus on themselves and their careers,” the statement continued.

“They still remain dedicated parents to all of their animals they share while lovingly taking this time apart. Please respect their process and privacy.”

Neither Cyrus, 26, nor Hemsworth, 29, have made mention of the split on social media, however, on Saturday, Miley shared a photo on Instagram sans-wedding ring, which prompted speculation of a split.

The photo was taken in Italy, where Cyrus is currently on holiday with Brody Jenner’s ex-wife Kaitlynn Carter, who she’s been photographed kissing, according toPeople.

It’s not the first time the couple – who met on the set ofThe Last Songin 2009 – have split.

We were reminded recently that the couple split in 2013, when the internet unearthed a tweet from Cyrus, 26, about then-ex Hemsworth, 28, in which she talked about wanting to seeThe Hunger Games, but not wanting to watch Hemsworth in it “for two f**king hours.”

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The couple become engaged when Cyrus was only 19. At the time, Cyrus, the daughter of singer Billy Ray Cyrus, was an established Disney star wanting to update her ‘child’ persona, while Hemsworth was just beginning his Hollywood career. They were at two very different points in their lives.

You may recall Cyrus’s infamous onstage twerking with Robin Thicke, at the MTV Music Awards in 2013 – an incident which it now seems led to the beginning of the end of the pair’s first engagement; because, only a month later, Cyrus announced the engagement was no longer.

The couple were apart for three years, until they reconciled in 2016. At that time, they both discussed what went wrong in 2013.

Speaking to radio personality Howard Stern, Cyrus admitted she needed time and space to grow up.

“I had to. I don’t like when relationships are two halves trying to make a whole,’ she said.

“You get time to be yourself. You get time to grow up. I think if you’re growing up attached to another person, you never really get solid as your own being.”

In that same year, Hemsworth offered his own explanation of the split to GQ Australia.

“Of course it was hard, man. But at the time we were going in different directions and it’s just what needed to happen,” he said.

“We were both super young and it was a good decision at the time – we both needed that.”

At the time of the interview, the couple had recently become engaged; and now, it seems, they’ve well and truly decided to go their separate ways.

The news comes less than a month after Cyrus spoke about feeling like she didn’t “fit into a stereotypical wife role” in a cover interview for USElle.

“I think it’s very confusing to people that I’m married. But my relationship is unique. I don’t know that I would ever publicly allow people in there because it’s so complex, and modern, and new that I don’t think we’re in a place where people would get it,” she said of her relationship with Hemsworth.

“I mean, do people really think that I’m at home in a f—ing apron cooking dinner? I’m in a hetero relationship, but I still am very sexually attracted to women,” she added.

“People become vegetarian for health reasons, but bacon is still f–ing good, and I know that. I made a partner decision. This is the person I feel has my back the most. I definitely don’t fit into a stereotypical wife role. I don’t even like that word.”

While Cyrus and Hemsworth have been linked since they were 16 and 19 respectively, they have dated other people. Here’s a glimpse into their romantic histories.

Miley Cyrus

Dylan Sprouse

Dylan Sprouse, Miley Cyrus and Cole Sprouse. Image: Getty.

Well. This "relationship" lasted only a day. Cole Sprouse's twin brother told Jimmy Kimmel he had a brief pre-teen fling with Cyrus when they were 11 or 12. "We met on her set, I believe, and we dated,"The Suite Life of Zack and Codystar explained. "And then Nick Jonas walked by and it was over!"

Nick Jonas

Miley Cyrus and Nick Jonas. Image: Getty.

This brings us to an iconic couple of our youth. During their two-year relationship from 2004 until 2006, Jonas and Cyrus were one of the biggest Disney Channel pairs, but it didn't last – with Jonas now married to Priyanka Chopra.

There were rumours that they reconciled in 2009 when they were spotted together in Georgia, but this was the year Cyrus began dating Hemsworth.

Justin Gaston

Miley Cyrus and Justin Gaston. Image: Getty.

When Cyrus was 15, she struck up a relationship with Justin, who was 20 at the time. He had competed on her dad Billy Ray Cyrus's reality showNashville Star, which is how they met. They called it quits nine months later in 2009.

Patrick Schwarzenegger

Patrick Schwarzenegger and Miley Cyrus. Image: Getty.

Cyrus and Arnold Schwarzenegger's son were linked for five months during her brief split from Hemsworth, but broke up in April 2015 after Schwarzenegger was spotted with his ex in Mexico.

Stella Maxwell

Stella Maxwell. Image: Getty.

The singer, who identifies as pansexual, had a low-key romance with the Victoria's Secret Angel in August 2015.

Kaitlynn Carter