Ric Flair has announced he and wife Wendy are separating after six years of marriage in an emotional statement on Instagram.
The wrestling legend, 75, revealed he and Wendy, 64, who tied the knot back in 2018, have called time on their relationship due to their conflicting work schedules.
However, he added that they are doing so ‘respectfully’ and with no bad blood between them after more than a decade together.
‘Wendy and I enjoyed 13 great years,’ Flair wrote in the statement. ‘As with every couple, we have experienced our ups and downs. [But] I think it’s important for everyone to know right now that we have decided to part ways respectfully.
‘I’ll never be able to thank her enough for standing by my side through my terrible health crisis in 2018. She never left my side! And for that I will always be grateful!
‘We both are working on different projects at the current time and it becomes difficult with my schedule and her schedule to make this work.
‘I wish her the best of luck with her projects and I know that she supports mine.’
Ric, one of the most iconic wrestlers of all time, and Wendy, a retired All-American-ranked professional tennis player, split once before in 2022, only to reconcile a few months later.
This time, though, it appears they have parted company once and for all.
Wendy was Flair’s fifth wife after his previous marriages to Leslie Goodman, Elizabeth Harrell, Tiffany VanDemark and Jaqueline Beems.
They first met close to 40 years ago when they both worked at World Championship Wrestling. Wendy even appeared alongside Ric in wrestling shows as the character Fifi – a French maid who worked as his personal valet.
After Flair’s divorce from Beems in 2014 the pair then began dating, before they wed four years later.
Ric has four children, two coming from his relationship with Goodman and as many from his time with Harrell.
He is considered by many as the greatest professional wrestler in history after a career spanning six decades, in which he became a 16-time world champion.
The Tennessee-born man used the moniker ‘Nature Boy’, with his character best known for his rulebreaking, strutting and iconic catchphrase ‘Woooo!’
