Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello have announced their divorce seven years after they tied the knot. As per a new report, the duo issued a statement and called it a 'difficult decision'. The actors also urged people to give them privacy as they 'navigate this new phase' of their lives.

As per Page Six, the couple said in a statement, "We have made the difficult decision to divorce. As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives."

Quoting a source, Page Six reported, "Sofia and Joe have been growing apart for a while now and are taking some distance from each other to contemplate their future." As per the report, the couple was last seen together in June in Hoboken, when Sofia visited Joe on the set of his new project Nonnas with Vince

Sofia Vergara, who last week clocked her 51st birthday, is currently in Italy travelling and enjoying with her friends. She shared a string of posts on Instagram but none of them featured Joe. On July 11, a day after Sofia's birthday Joe wished her on Instagram. Sharing their photo, he simply wrote, "Happy Birthday Sofia!!!"

Sofia and Joe tied the knot in Palm Beach, Florida in November 2015. Last year, when they celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary, she shared a series of throwback photos on her social media platforms. She had captioned the post, "Love You (red heart emojis)".

Joe, in August 2020, told PEOPLE that he felt that he made the right call by marrying Sofia. "I knew pretty quickly that I could trust her, and she knew pretty quickly that she could trust me. And we're both the kind of people who are capable of putting the other person ahead of ourselves. I was capable of putting her wishes ahead of mine, whatever they were, and she was capable of doing the same. Once you have that, you don't let go of it. My instincts about her were right."