Early this month, rumours of a split between Malaysian actor and comedian, Harith Iskander, and his wife of 14 years, Dr Jezamine Lim, began circulating online.
The 57-year-old, initially chose to keep silent regarding the reports. However, over the weekend, Harith and Jezamine finally agreed to an interview with Malaysian press The Rakyat Post, where they confirmed their split.
In the interview, Harith expressed his wish to put an end to speculation and took responsibility for the failure of his marriage.
He said: “I screwed up.”
“In case people think this is an act, we didn’t get to this point immediately. There has been a long period where we couldn’t be like this,” he added.
The pair, who have three children together, emphasised that their decision “did not come through violent arguments or any form of abuse”.
They also shut down rumours of financial problems or the involvement of a third party, but did not reveal the reason for their divorce.
Harith then said: “I’m a guy. I’m an idiot. I acted in ways I should not have… I’m not going to say ‘Oh, I did this, didn’t do that’. I’m not gonna come up with any excuses. I have done stupid things that many men do and you would think I know better at my age.”
[Ed: Harith’s quote reminds us of Jackie Chan’s “I made a mistake many men in the world make” when he admitted to his affair with beauty queen Elaine Ng in 1999.)
They chose to deal with their divorce privately as they knew their children would likely come across the interview in the future.