This wasn't how Chelsea Handler and Jo Koy expected to celebrate their one-year anniversary.
Posting a video they had recorded ahead of the major milestone to Instagram July 18, the former Chelsea Lately host revealed they have "decided together that it is best for us to take a break from our relationship right now."
Handler thanked her fans for the love and support she and Koy received during their time together. "I know many of you were invested in our love, and I wanted to express to you how much that meant to both of us," she wrote. "How much it still means. And how much I now believe in love for each one of us."
And she had nothing but wonderful things to say about her ex. "This man blew my heart open with love and because of him, my life experience has changed forever," the comedian continued. "To be loved and adored by @jokoy has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. He renewed my faith in men, in love, in being 100% who I am, and I've never been more optimistic for the future. Jo- you blew my creativity open, my lust for working hard again, being on the road again, and you reminded me who I was and always have been, and my feet have never been more firmly planted in the ground."
Handler also noted Koy will always have a special place in her heart and that she wishes him nothing but the best.
"This is not an ending. It's another beginning, and it's a comfort to know that I am still loved and love this man the way the sun loves the moon and the moon loves the sun," she added. "YOUR PERSON IS COMING. So, please continue to root for both of us, because you never know what life will bring and let's first start by all going to the theater on August 5th to buy tickets to Jo's new movie EASTER SUNDAY and Filipino PRIDE! Let's go!"
Handler, 47, and Koy, 51, go way back. Koy frequently appeared on Chelsea Lately, which ran from 2007 to 2014. While they hit it off, the two kept their relationship platonic. And being single was perfectly fine with Handler. As she told E! News for her cover story earlier this year, she was happy being "an emblem of a single woman with no children, to show other women that they don't have to have children or a husband to have it all."
"I thought, 'Oh, I'm just not getting that,'" she said. "'That's okay. I have my family, I have my friends, I'm set. I don't have to worry about finding love.'"
Fast-forward to the pandemic and Handler and Koy reconnected. They hung out and after a while things turned romantic. "When he was leaving, I was like, 'That's a bummer,'" Handler told E! News. "Or if I didn't hear from him for a couple of days, I was like, 'Where's Jo Koy? He's usually up my ass.' And then I started to realize, 'Oh, he's not annoying me.'"
Handler and Koy made their relationship Instagram official in September 2021 and made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2021 People's Choice Awards that December.
And while they're no longer together, Koy reiterated they remain on good terms. "Just want everyone to know that Chelsea and I will always remain great friends and will always have love for one another," the comic wrote in his own Instagram post. "I'm her biggest fan and I can't wait for you all to see what she has in store for the future. Keep killing it Chelsea! Mahal kita!"