The Arbaaz-Malaika love affair

Yet another star couple have gone their separate ways.

In a joint statement, Malaika Arora Khan and Arbaaz Khan have stated that they have separated.

The couple, who have a teenager son, would have completed 18 years of marriage in December.

We look at the timeline of their relationship.

IMAGE: Malaika and Arbaaz in the MR Coffee ad.

Malaika and Arbaaz first met during an ad shoot for MR Coffee in 1994. The couple fell in love instantly and courted for five years.

Malaika, who is two years older than Arbaaz, was 21 years old at the time.

Also Read: Urmila followed their footsteps.

IMAGE: Malaika, Arbaaz, Seema and Sohail Khan in the good old days! Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

Arbaaz and Malaika finally got married in December 1998.

They had a church wedding, followed by a nikaah. The reception was held at China Garden restaurant in Bandra, in the western suburb of Mumbai.

Sajid Khan, later to turn director, was the best man at the wedding.

IMAGE: Arbaaz with his son Arhaan. Photograph: Arbaaz Khan/Instagram

The couple have a son, Arhaan, born on November 9, 2002.

Malaika took a four-month maternity break.

IMAGE: Arbaaz with Malaika during a 2008 ad campaign. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

The first rumour of a 'split' started in 2008.

This, however, was a 'fake', and a part of an ad campaign for a beauty product.

The couple received a backlash because of this, and Arbaaz had to apologise eventually, saying: 'All we did was to go along with the multinational's campaign. Is compliance a crime? Then we're guilty. And I apologise.'

IMAGE: Arbaaz and Malaika at a Dabangg special screening. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

The couple turned producers in 2010 with the Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg. The film was a blockbuster, and won many awards, including a National Award.

IMAGE: Malaika, Arhaan and Arbaaz at the Zee Cine Awards in 2013. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

Arbaaz's directorial venture Dabangg 2 was nominated for seven awards at the Zee Cine Awards in 2013, including for the Most Promising Director.

IMAGE: Arbaaz and Malaika with son Arhaan. Photograph: Malaika Arora Khan/Instagram

The family has vacationed in some of the finest places in the world, including Italy (pictured above) in June 2015.

IMAGE: Arbaaz with Malaika. Photograph: Arbaaz Khan/Instagram

The couple recently featured together in a reality show called Power Couples, which started airing in December 2015.

Though they were supposed to host it together, Malaika was missing for most of the show, thus triggering the break-up rumours.

Photograph: Malaika Arora Khan/Instagram

In February, Arbaaz vented out on Twitter: 'Stop frickin reading too much into mine and malaika's Instagram pictures and speculating about our marriage and writing shit everyday.'

Malaika disliked the media attention as well, and posted the message pictured above.

IMAGE: Arbaaz and Malaika.

After months of speculation, Malaika and Arbaaz released an official joint statement in DNA newspaper on Monday confirming that they have indeed separated.