Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya, on October 2, announced South that they are parting ways. The star couple from the South were married for almost four years. In a statement, shared on their respective social media handles, the two stars said they have decided to “part ways as husband and wife to pursue our own paths”.

“After much deliberation and thought, Chay and I have decided to part ways as husband and wife to pursue our own paths. We are fortunate to have a friendship of over a decade that was the very core of our relationship which we believe will always hold a special bond between us,” Samantha said in the statement.

A day after announcing the divorce, Samantha changed her username on social media. She went back to her maiden name – Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

The ‘Makkhi’ actor had added ‘Akkineni’ to her name after getting married to Naga Chaitanya Akkineni in 2017. She had changed it to Samantha Akkineni on her social media profiles, as well.

A couple of weeks backs, she dropped ‘Akkineni’ from her social media username and updated it to ‘S’. This had sparked separation rumours. However, both the actors had turned down the rumours.

Samantha, in her statement, had said, “I don’t react to this kind of noise and I don’t intend on doing so as well”, she told Film Companion on dropping Akkineni from her name and divorce rumours.

Yesterday, after the star couple announced the news, superstar Nagarjuna issued a statement online: “With a heavy heart let me say this! Whatever happened between Sam and Chay is very unfortunate. What happens between a wife and a husband is very personal. Sam and Chay both are very dear to me, my family will always cherish the moments spent with Sam and she will always be dear to us. May God bless them both with strength”.