'Ao Haru Ride' and 'Death Note' live action lead actor Masahiro Higashide announces divorce with actress Anne Watanabe

Written by:

Jei Beltrano

August 1, 2020 at 5:29 PM PHT (GMT +8:00)

Published on:

The statement includes the official announcement and future plans after their decision. Higashide states, "To everyone involved and our supporters, I'm very sorry for this private matter, but I will report here that our relationship has come to divorce.", “From now on, I would like to grow up as parents of my children and build a relationship of mutual cooperation with her” he added.

At the end, he said, "I am sorry for the inconvenience caused by this to many people, but I would appreciate it if you could accept it warmly."

It was remembered that Higashide and Watanabe started dating when they co-starred in NHK's serial TV novel "Gochiso-san Bon Appetit!" that run September 2013 to March 2014, and got married on January 2015. They had 3 children where their twin daughters were born in May 2016 and a son was born in November 2017.

In January 2020, Shūkan Bunshun revealed that Higashide had been having an extramarital affair with actress Erika Karata since 2017, when Watanabe was pregnant with their third child. The report was later confirmed by his agency. The incident has caused Higashide to lose several endorsement deals.

Higashide played several roles in movies and drama including Ao Haru Ride (2014) as Kou Mabuchi, Death Note: Light Up the New World (2016) as Detective Tsukuru Mishima and other NHK drama series. Due to his supreme talent in acting, he won 5 several Best Actor awards in different award-giving bodies in Japan last 2018 and 2019 for his Asako I & II, and Best Supporting Actor awards last 2016 and 2017 for the film Satoshi: A Move for Tomorrow.

Watanabe also played several roles in drama and films but focuses more on her singing and modelling career.

Reference: