MasterChef leading lady Melissa Leong has announced her separation from husband Joe Jones after three years of marriage.
The 40-year-old shared the devastating news via Instagram on Sunday, writing that the “time had come” for the pair to part ways.
WATCH: Melissa Leong on the set of WHO’s Sexiest People shoot 2020
“It has brought us such happiness to walk together, but the time has come for Joe and I to part ways and walk on, apart,” she captioned a beautiful black-and-white snap of the pair on their wedding day.
“We ask for your kindness and consideration for our privacy, we will not be making any further comment as our private lives have, and will always remain exactly that. We wish you peace at the end of such a challenging year for all.”
Their shock split comes just months after the reality TV star waxed lyrical about her bar owner beau in an interview with TV Week.
“When you know you know,” she said at the time. “I first met him briefly at his bar in Melbourne Romeo Lane,” she recalls.
“Then we met again properly about 18 months later at a function. We started talking there and we’ve just not ever ceased since really. It’s pretty cool.”
Melissa told the publication that they mutually decided to get engaged just three months into their relationship and tied the knot just two months later.
“I planned our elopement in between takes while filming another TV show [SBS’s The Chef’s Line],” she explained.
“When that wrapped, we went to Joshua Tree in California and eloped. It was all very fun.”
To celebrate their third anniversary, Melissa penned a moving tribute to her husband on Instagram, writing: “It was probably a sign that [Joe] and my wedding photos look cinematic, because life since then has been a non-stop blockbuster of action, drama, comedy… and of course romance. 3 years married to you feels like a lifetime, and a split second at the same time.”
The couple has an adorable cat named Ghost, with Melissa previously telling TV Week they were very “happy” as a family of three.
“Everything’s so good as it is,” she said. “I’m really happy.”
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