 Diaz and Timberlake met at an awards ceremony |
Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake have confirmed they have split up after more than three years together. Timberlake, 25, and Diaz, 34, started dating after meeting at the Kids Choice Awards in 2003.
In a joint statement the couple said their relationship had ended "mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another".
They also said that "recent speculation" and "inaccuracies" had prompted them to issue the statement.
Rumours of the couple's separation have been circulating for many weeks but both had declined to be drawn on it until now.
Privacy
The pair had fiercely tried to protect their private lives during their relationship, pursuing newspapers that printed false stories about them.
Timberlake accepted libel damages from the News of the World over a fabricated story that he had an affair with a British model.
Diaz also accepted "substantial" libel damages over a story in The Sun, which falsely claimed she was dating a married man behind Timberlake's back.
The pair co-star together in the upcoming animated sequel, Shrek the Third, which is released in the UK in June.