Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert divorce after 4 years

In this Nov. 5, 2014, file photo, Blake Shelton, left, and Miranda Lambert arrive at the 48th annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. Shelton and Lambert announced their divorce after four years of marriage. Shelton’s spokesman provided a statement from the couple on Monday, July 20, 2015. PHOTO BY EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—After years of tabloid gossip, country music’s top couple Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert announced their divorce after four years of marriage.

The news was confirmed in a statement by the couple to The Associated Press, issued by their representatives Monday.

“This is not the future we envisioned,” the former couple said in the statement.

“And it is with heavy hearts that we move forward separately. We are real people, with real lives, with real families, friends and colleagues. Therefore, we kindly ask for privacy and compassion concerning this very personal matter.”

Grammy-winning native Texan Lambert is one of country’s music most lauded female singers who regularly dominated the Academy of Country Music’s and Country Music Association’s awards shows. Shelton became a ubiquitous star as he juggled his musical and television career, as a judge on “The Voice” and a co-host of the ACMs.

They married in 2011 in Texas and were seen together as recently as April at the ACMs in Texas.

“We’re a really normal couple,” Lambert told The Associated Press in 2010. “We like to back road and hunt and fish. When we’re home, we’re not in that mode. We’re not in work mode, but it’s so great to have success together. Our careers have both taken a really good step in a good direction at the same time. I just think we have a really good relationship. It’s really strong. We’re best friends, and I can’t see myself with anybody else.”

But tabloids hounded the couple, in particularly focusing on their lives and Lambert’s weight.

“There are people who literally, their only job is to make other people miserable, and that’s a terrible way to live your life,” Lambert told The Associated Press in 2014.–Kristin M. Hall