Behind Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher's Breakup

Nov. 18, 2011— -- They tried to bounce back, but Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher couldn't get past the reports of his infidelity.

Moore, who turned 49 a week ago, announced Thursday that she planned to end her six-year marriage to Kutcher, 33.

"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton," Moore said in statement from her publicist to ABCNews.com today. "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."

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Kutcher posted his response on Twitter minutes after Moore's announcement, writing, "I will forever cherish the time I spent with Demi."

Kutcher also unfollowed Moore on Twitter. For now, her Twitter handle remains @mrskutcher.

Moore jokingly adopted the name in recogniton of her then husband's intense involvement with Twitter Kutcher. The "Two and a Half Men" star famously became the first person to reach 1 million Twitter followers in April 2009. Now he has over 8 million and she has more than 4 million and a handle that is a sad reminder of happier times.

The couple had been dogged by reports about Kutcher's alleged infidelities for months. Following 22-year-old Sara Leal's claim that she and the "Two and a Half Men" star slept together in September, Moore and Kutcher were seen attending multiple Kabbalah sessions, seemingly trying to mend their marriage.

As rumors about their marital discord spread, the Twitter- happy couple once again turned to social media.

"When you ASSUME to know that which you know nothing of you make an A[**] out of U and ME," Kutcher tweeted in September, as photos of him with an unidentified blonde made the rounds online. Earlier that day Kutcher tweeted a link, without comment, to his Spotify account, where he was playing the Public Enemy song "Don't Believe the Hype"

Moore's cryptic tweets, meanwhile, pointed to lingering problems in their marriage. In early September, she tweeted a photo of her naked back with the message, "remember ... you've got your own back."

She seemed more direct on Sept. 23, when she tweeted a quote from Greek philosopher Epictetus, writing, "When we are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself & study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger." Later she wrote "I see through you...." and linked to a photo of herself lying down with her eyes closed, her mouth drawn in a line.

Beyond the tweets, there was evidence to suggest unrest: The couple spent their sixth wedding anniversary, Sept. 24, apart. While Moore promoted the short film she directed for Lifetime's "Five" anthology in New York, Kutcher partied with his former "That '70s Show" co-star Danny Masterson in San Diego, according to People magazine.

The two had also been spending a lot of time on separate coasts. Moore has been back and forth to New York working on her movie "Magic Mike," while Kutcher's been busy filming "Two and a Half Men" in Los Angeles.

Ever since they began dating in 2003, after meeting at a play in New York City, the couple has attracted attention, in part because of their 16-year age difference. She was previously married for 13 years to actor Bruce Willis, with whom she has three daughters.

Willis gave his blessing to the new couple, attending their Kabbalah wedding ceremony in 2005. They repaid the blessing four years later when Willis married Emma Hemming.

Then, just before their fifth anniversary, Kutcher and Moore fended off the first reports that he had cheated on her. Soon after, the couple embarked on a spiritual trip to Israel. At the time, Kutcher tweeted, "Asking 4 the energy 2 forge bonds with our similarities & find compromise in our differences."

Not so this time.

On Thursday Kutcher tweeted, "Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail. Love and Light, AK."