Kermit the frog and Miss Piggy have been an item ever since their first hit TV show, "The Muppet Show," first aired in 1976. And they have appeared together in numerous movies since then, including "The Great Muppet Caper" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan."
The celebrity puppet couple broke the news at an ABC panel for TV critics Tuesday: They are going their separate ways after 40 years.
“People change. So do frogs and pigs. … We were together for long, long time and it’s personal,” Kermit said.
Together, but not necessarily married. Although the Muppets have been married many times on screen, those weddings are all believed to have been fictional.
However, the pair will still be working together in a Muppets television series to premiere on the ABC network in September. The show, called "The Muppets," is a mockumentary, in which Kermit and the other Muppets will produce a talk show for Miss Piggy called “Up Late With Miss Piggy.”
“I have no problem working with my ex, OK? It’s fine! Dating Moi is like flying close to the sun. It was inevitable that Kermit would drop to the ground while I stayed in the heavens,” said Miss Piggy, who arrived late to the press conference, in keeping with her famously diva-ish character.
Fans were lamenting the “shocking split” on social media Tuesday. They were also speculating. Is it for real? Is it for keeps, or will the famous pair get back together again with one of Miss Piggy’s familiar “Kermeee!” squeals?
The famous pig described their first meeting, in happier times, on "The Muppet Show": “The first time I saw Kermit, Moi's future flashed before me in a pink, rosy glow. The first time Kermit saw Moi, he was lost for words.”
Sadly for fans, Kermit has already moved on. He says he’s dating someone who works in the ABC promotion department: "Her name is Denise. She's a pig. I have a thing for pigs."
The split caps a summer of breakups between famous humans in the U.S. Within the last two months, country music celebrities Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, movie stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, and musicians Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani all announced they were ending their marriages.
The Kermit/Miss Piggy official release concludes with a statement that closes the door on the matter: “This is our only comment on this private matter …”
But then it opens the door a crack: “… unless we get the right offer.”
