LOS ANGELES – Demi Moore is ending her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, she told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Moore, 49, and Kutcher, 33, were wed in September 2005.

The couple’s relationship became tabloid fodder in recent months as rumors swirled about Kutcher’s alleged infidelity.

“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life. This is a trying time for me and my family, and so I would ask for the same compassion and privacy that you would give to anyone going through a similar situation,” she said in her statement to the AP.

The pair frequently used Twitter to communicate with each other as millions of fans followed along.

“I will forever cherish the time I spent with Demi,” Kutcher tweeted Thursday. “Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail.”

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Moore said in 2007 that her May-December relationship with the star of “That ’70s Show” and “Punk’d” — who is 15 years younger than Moore — “caught us both by surprise.”

“If somebody would have said, ‘OK, here is the prediction: You’re going to meet a man 25 years old and he’s going to see being with you and having your three kids as a bonus,’ I would have said, ‘Keep dreaming,'” Moore said in a 2007 interview with Vanity Fair. “I think it caught us both by surprise, and particularly him.”

Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore’s three daughters from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly. Moore and Kutcher were photographed socializing with Willis, and the couple attended Willis’ wedding to model-actress Emma Heming in 2009.

Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations’ efforts to fight human trafficking.

Police reopen inquiry into Wood’s death

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday that it was reopening its investigation of the 1981 death of actress Natalie Wood, which has been one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries.

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Officials then ruled that her drowning death while boating off Catalina Island was an accident. But there has been much speculation about what happened in the boat.

“Recently sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning. Due to the additional information, Sheriff’s homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case,” the department said in a written statement.

Wood and Robert Wagner first married in 1957 and divorced five years later. Both went on to marry other people — and have children — only to remarry in 1972.

In 1981, Wagner and Wood had invited Christopher Walken to be their guest that Thanksgiving weekend on Catalina aboard their boat the Splendour. On the evening of Nov. 29, they had dinner and drinks at Doug’s Harbor Reef. They returned to the boat and continued to drink until a heated argument erupted between the two men.

Wagner said in 2008 that the argument was about how much of one’s personal life should be sacrificed in pursuit of a career. He was upset that Walken was advocating that Wood give all to her art, even at the expense of her husband and children.

Wood left to go to the master cabin’s bathroom. Wagner says he and Walken eventually calmed down and said good night. When he went to bed, he says, Wood wasn’t there. It was believed that the dinghy had gotten loose and Wood came up on deck to tie it up.

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“I have gone over it so many millions of times with people,” Wagner said. “Nobody heard anything.”

Filmmaker defends casting Kardashian

ATLANTA – Filmmaker Tyler Perry is defending his controversial decision to cast reality television star Kim Kardashian in an upcoming film about marriage.

Perry announced that Kardashian will have a role in “The Marriage Counselor” shortly before she ended her 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries, creating a buzz on social media sites.

Perry says he wanted a younger cast, which Kardashian rounds out, to help attract younger viewers. Perry says he thinks “it would be a very responsible of her to be a part of this film” and good for young people who see her as a role model to “see her in a film that is about what happens in life when you make the wrong choices.”

Perry asked for his fans’ understanding.


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