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Oscar-winning actress Jessica Lange and her longtime partner, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and actor Sam Shepard, have been separated for almost two years after a nearly three decade relationship, it was revealed Monday.

The news that the couple, who have been together since 1982, are no longer an item was exclusively reported by People magazine. Lange and Shepard have had two children, Hannah, 26, and Samuel, 24.

"They both are pursuing independent lives," a source told People, while Lange's representative confirmed the couple had split, but had no further comment.

The reason for their split, and why they did not go public about it until now is unknown.

Lange, 62, has had career resurgence this year with her role in the hit FX series "American Horror Story." She was recently nominated for a Golden Globe and SAG award for her performance as kleptomaniac neighbor Constance Langdon. Lange rose to fame in Hollywood classics like "All That Jazz" and "Tootsie," for which she won her first Academy Award; she later took home a Best Actress gong for her role in 1994's "Blue Sky."

Shepard, 68, began his prolific career in New York's off-off-Broadway theater scene and was soon cast as a leading man in films like Terrence Malick's 1978 epic "Days of Heaven ." That same year he wrote the play "Buried Child," which earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He went on portray Chuck Yeager in the film " The Right Stuff," which earned him an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. He has continued to work in theater and film since.