Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog have shocked Muppets fans by announcing the end of their long-running and often tortured love affair.
Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. Photo: AFP
On their respective social media accounts they said "after thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling, we have made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship".
The pair will still be working together but said their personal lives would be distinct and separate and they were free to see other people, pigs and frogs.
Here is the official statement on @KermitTheFrog and moi's relationship termination: pic.twitter.com/0OAdorFV6S
— Miss Piggy (@RealMissPiggy) August 4, 2015
Variety executive editor and TV expert Steven Gaydos spoke to Jesse Mulligan on Radio New Zealand Afternoons about the break-up.
"[Sometimes] a story makes you sit right up in your chair, and you're gobsmacked. What can you say? Hollywood is a place where relationships are always fraught with difficulty.
"There's so many pressures between the glamour and the seductiveness of the business - but the one place where the relationships really, really have the hardest time is the inter-species relationships. I'm talking about directors and actors together - and pigs and frogs."
He said he could not confirm rumours of another pig but suggested that, at the end of the day, Miss Piggy had simply had enough.
"He's just - you know, any port in a storm for this guy.
"There is a story that we're sitting on right now, about Malibu, and a couple of those rehab places that treat sex addiction, and - there it is, I've said it. It's the love that dare not speak its name, but that's Kermit.
"I don't want to make him the bad guy here, he has a problem. It is a medical issue, I understand."
He said it seemed unlikely that the couple would reconcile, citing Chris Martin as a possible substitute for Miss Piggy's affections.
News of the break-up coincided with a promotional event in Los Angeles for the upcoming ABC programme, The Muppets.
- AFP/RNZ
