Tim Burton and Monica Bellucci have announced the end of their relationship, saying they part “with much respect and deep care for each other.”
The Hollywood director, 67, and the Italian actress and model, 60, revealed the news in a joint statement on Friday.
The statement read: “It is with much respect and deep care for each other that Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton have decided to part ways.”
Burton and Bellucci were last photographed together in June at the 71st Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, where he was seen affectionately kissing her cheek.
The pair first crossed paths in 2006 but are understood to have reconnected at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon in October 2022.
Bellucci confirmed they were dating the following June, telling Elle France: “What I can say... I'm glad I met the man, first of all.
“It's one of those encounters that rarely happens in life... I know the man, I love him, and now I'm going to meet the director, another adventure begins.
“I love Tim. And I have great respect for Tim Burton.”
Their first on-screen collaboration came with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton’s long-awaited sequel to his 1988 cult hit.
Bellucci, who was not in the original film, played Delores, the ex-wife of Michael Keaton’s mischievous ghost.
“I’m so honoured to be part of this film and to come into Tim’s world,” she said before the premiere.
Adding: “Tim is an artist and he knows how to make situations that are fantastic and horrific and comic and emotional all at the same time.
“He helped me so much to create this monster, more than a monster, she is a creature. She is mean but also charming. She is a metaphor of life. Tim told me about the character and said he thought of me, and he showed me what he thought.
“Tim loves Italy and he loves Italian films and he has showed me so many many films. I have discovered Mario Bava (director of the 1957 horror classic I Vampiri) thanks to him.”
Prior to her romance with Burton, the actress dated Nicolas Lefebvre, whom she split from in 2019.
Bellucci was previously married to French actor Vincent Cassel from 1997 to 2013, with whom she shares two daughters, Deva and Leonie, after meeting on the set of Gilles Mimouni’s film l’Appartement.
Burton famously spent 13 years with actress Helena Bonham Carter before their 2014 split; the former couple share two children, Billy and Nell.
