There will be no happy ending for Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe. Just an ending.
The couple, who announced they were separating last January, are headed to divorce court after more than eight-and-a-half years of marriage, Swank's camp confirmed Friday.
"Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe have jointly decided to divorce," a statement from their attorney said, per People magazine, which broke the news. "They continue to be friends and have the utmost respect for one another."
Swank is doing the filing, People said.
Unlike some celebrity splits, divorce did not seem a fait accompli when Swank and Lowe separated.
In a statement from the time, the pair said they were "hopeful they'll be able to get through this tough time." On the red carpet at the Jan. 16 Golden Globes, two-time Oscar-winner Swank stayed on message, telling E! Entertainment Television that she didn't consider herself single: "We're trying to work our marriage out." To Access Hollywood, she said, "We've been together for over 13 years, and there's a lot of love there."
Swank, 31, and Lowe, 38, wed Sept. 28, 1997. It was the first marriage for both. They had no children.
As star couples go, Swank and Lowe were not high wattage enough to warrant their own nickname, a la Bennifer, TomKat or Brangelina. The most press they got as a duo was when Swank forgot to thank Lowe as she accepted her first Best Actress Academy Award for 1999's Boys Don't Cry. The omission became more glaring every second that the TV camera lingered on the tear-streaked Lowe's face. Swank made up for her gaffe in 2005, when she made sure to note Lowe in her acceptance speech for her second Best Actress Oscar for Million Dollar Baby. Lowe didn't get a chance to zing Swank from the podium himself--he last won a major TV or film award in 1993, an Emmy for Life Goes On.
As Swank and Lowe move on, their careers aren't standing still, either. Swank will next be seen in the James Ellroy-based thriller The Black Dahlia, due out this fall; Lowe, per IMDb.com, is directing a movie, Beautiful Ohio with William Hurt and Michelle Trachtenberg.