Bethenny Frankel, Jason Hoppy Separating After Two Years of Marriage

USMagazine, Sunday, December 23, 2012, 11:05am (PST)

Looks like Bethenny's Ever After won't have a happy ending.

Bravo reality star Bethenny Frankel and husband Jason Hoppy are separating after two years of marriage, she announced on Sunday, Dec. 23.

"This was an extremely difficult decision that as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family," Frankel tells Us Weekly, adding that the situation brings her "great sadness."

Continued Frankel, "We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority. This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us."

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"They care about each other. They're both devastated," a Frankel pal tells Us of the split. "Bethenny fought really hard for her family."

The split comes just days after sources told Us Weekly that the spouses have been increasingly butting heads.

"Things have gotten even more strained in recent months," a pal revealed. "They're fighting a lot."

One point of contention between the two? Different career ambitions -- or, in Hoppy's case, a lack thereof. "She's very focused, but he's just not driven," an insider said of the talk-show host, 42, and her businessman hubby, 41, who share daughter Bryn, 2.

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Still, a source told Us the former Real Housewives star really wanted to "make it work" with the father of her child.

Frankel, who was previously married to Peter Sussman, met her soon-to-be ex-husband in late 2008. He proposed after 11 months with a 6.5-carat diamond sparkler, and they tied the knot less than a year later, on March 28, 2010. The wedding -- held at New York's iconic Four Seasons hotel -- was featured on the first season of her Bravo reality show, then called Bethenny Getting Married.

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"[Jason and I] have had strains. We've had major fights," the author admitted to Self. "When I signed on to do [my] show, I committed to myself and my fans to be totally honest. You cannot show people only the petals and not the thorns. It's not fair to them."

Later, however, she slammed reports that both she and Hoppy had secretly seen divorce lawyers. "I'm in a good marriage," she said on her talk show. "We have issues. We are not perfect. We work on it every day. We're committed."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Bethenny Frankel, Jason Hoppy Separating After Two Years of Marriage