Actress Gillian Anderson and scriptwriter Peter Morgan have split after dating since 2016.
The couple had been together for four years, but their relationship has now reportedly run its course, although the two stars remain good friends.
Anderson has most recently appeared as former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the hit Netflix series, The Crown, for which Morgan wrote the script.
In past interviews, Anderson hinted that she had one foot in the romance and the other out in her own home and space.
52-year old Anderson said last month that the pair had clear boundaries while working on the show together.
She has never lived with Morgan, 57, a decision which the pair have said served them well. Both had heavy work commitments, and Anderson believed being under the same roof would be the end of their romance.
She told The Times she liked that “there is nothing locking us in” and added: “If we did, that would be the end of us. It works so well as it is; it feels so special when we do come together. And when I am with my kids, I can be completely there for them. It’s exciting. We choose when to be together. There is nothing locking us in, nothing that brings up that fear of ”Oh gosh, I can’t leave because what will happen to the house, how will we separate?”
The actress continued: “I start to miss the person I want to be with, which is a lovely feeling. And it is so huge for me to be able to see a pair of trousers left lying on the floor at my partner’s house and to step over them and not feel it is my job to do something about it!”
The couple began dating back in 2016, and the news broke when people overheard Anderson telling friends at a New York party that she and Morgan had started to see each other romantically.
Until 2014, Morgan was married to Lila Schwarzenberg, who is the mother of his five children.
Gillian has three children — 26-year-old daughter Piper, who she shares with ex-husband Clyde Klotz, and 14-year-old Oscar and 12-year-old Felix, who were both fathered by Mark Griffiths, who dated Anderson from 2006 until 2012.
With eight children between them, competing family commitments were among the challenges faced by Anderson and Morgan.
Peter Morgan has a history of success with productions and films about the royal family, including The Crown.
He was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 after writing the script for The Queen, starring Helen Mirren.
Meanwhile, Gillian Anderson has gained global fame playing the roles of many different TV characters, including Dana Scully in the X-files series, Stella Gibson in The Fall, and most recently, Margaret Thatcher in Series 4 of The Crown.
