Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher have announced they have finalised their divorce after quietly separating in 2023.
Fisher, 49, best known for her role in the 2005 comedy Wedding Crashers, and Borat star Cohen, 53, shared matching Instagram posts on Friday evening (13 June), telling fans that they had reached a settlement, and that they continue to have “great respect” for each other.
“Our divorce has now been finalised. We are proud of all we’ve achieved together and, continuing our great respect for each other, we remain friends and committed to co-parenting our wonderful children,” they said. “We ask for the media to continue to respect our children’s privacy.”
The pair first met at a party in Sydney, Australia, in 2001, before marrying in 2010. They welcomed two daughters and one son, and were believed to have one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood. However, in April 2024, they announced they had separated the previous year.
Sharing a picture of themselves wearing tennis whites on Instagram, they captioned the post: “After a long tennis match lasting over 20 years, we are finally putting our racquets down. In 2023, we jointly filed to end our marriage.”
“We have always prioritised our privacy, and have been quietly working through this change. We forever share in our devotion and love for our children. We sincerely appreciate your respecting our family’s wish for privacy.”
The timing of the announcement raised eyebrows as it came weeks after Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson alleged in her memoir that Cohen had behaved inappropriately during filming of the 2016 film The Brothers Grimsby, where they played a married couple. Cohen has denied the claims.
Earlier this year, Fisher called the divorce the most difficult thing she’s been through, saying: “I’ve learnt so much about myself in the process.”
She also praised “the women in my life” for helping her through it.
“Those women have been there for me,” she told The Times. “I’m actually going to get emotional. I’m sitting here today because of them. I’ve learnt so much about the power of female friendship and I’ve just learnt that I do have resilience, who I am outside of a partnership, and what my values are. It has been this expansive learning curve.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Fisher reflected on their relationship lasting more than two decades, which is a rarity in show business.
“I think by Hollywood standards it’s probably 200 years!” she joked. “I feel like it’s a Golden Jubilee or something. Everyone was congratulating me.”
She added: “It is a fun ride. I feel so lucky to have Sacha in my life. Now we have this beautiful family and we survived lockdown together, which you know, it is not easy for any couple.”
Baron Cohen first rose to fame in the 1990s with his Ali G character, a spoof wannabe gangster from Staines, in films such as Ali G Indahouse. He also played Borat, a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan, and the role of the Austrian fashionista Bruno.
Fisher appeared as Shannon Reed in long-running Australian soap Home and Away before moving to the big screen for roles in Wedding Crashers and 2009’s romcom Confessions of a Shopaholic.
