Comedian Johnny Vegas and wife Maia Dunphy have split after seven years together

Comedian Johnny Vegas, 46, used social media to confirm the news that he split from wife Maia Dunphy last year.

The couple, who were married for seven years after tying the knot in Spain in April 2011, took to their Twitter accounts to share and release a statement confirming the news.

The 41-year-old Dancing With The Stars contestant confirmed the split, which the comedian then retweeted, saying there was no one else involved and they ‘continue to fully support each other’.

The full statement read: ‘It is with a heavy heart that we want to let you know that we separated some time ago last year.

‘We are telling people now because speculation is unhelpful at best, and dangerous at worst.

'As we think is obvious, we continue to fully support each other; there is no acrimony, no story and no one else involved.

‘We have never played out our relationship publicly, so we don’t feel it’s too much to ask for privacy now.

‘We also ask people to be mindful that there are two children involved, and their welfare is our main concern now. Thank you. X [sic]’

They have a three-year-old son together called Tom and Johnny also has a teenage son, Michael, from a previous relationship.

The couple lived apart during some of their marriage, with Johnny maintaining his base in the UK and Maia living in Dublin.

Maia has previously said: ‘The longest time we spent together before three years ago was our honeymoon of two weeks. That was the longest stretch of time together.’

She went on to tell the Irish Independent: ‘That was really weird, and probably not very healthy.’

In 2015, Johnny admitted he lies to Maia about his eating habits on a special episode of Celebrity Juice. He admitted: ‘I keep a bag of pork scratchings in the car and don't tell my wife about them.

‘And I have actually, on one occasion, took a wet wipe over my tongue so she didn't know. She says it's bad for me and keeps insisting that I get life insurance.’