Author Rachel Hollis announces she and her husband are ending their marriage

Author Rachel Hollis says she and her husband, Dave Hollis, have decided to separate.

The lifestyle blogger and author of self-help books “Girl, Wash Your Face” and “Girl, Stop Apologizing” announced the news in an Instagram post to her nearly 2 million followers.

“Guys, I have some hard news to share and the honest truth is, I have no idea how someone announces something like this, so I’m just going to say it. Dave and I have made the incredibly difficult decision to end our marriage,” she wrote.

She continued, “We started out as best friends 18 years ago and the truth is, that core friendship and the parts of us that work so well, have become a band-aid for the parts of us that don’t. We have worked endlessly over the last three years to make this work and have come to the conclusion that it is healthier and more respectful for us to choose this as the end of our journey as a married couple.”

Rachel and Dave Hollis have been married since 2004, and they share four children: Jackson, Sawyer, Ford and Noah.

In her post announcing the split, Hollis talked about her and her husband's commitment to co-parenting as well as their decision to remain business partners and continue running The Hollis Company — the couple's lifestyle and media empire.

“We remain dear friends as we raise our family as co-parents and run our company as partners. We are choosing joy—even though, I’ll be honest, the last month has been one of the most awful of our lives,” she wrote. “I want to be strong and bold and optimistic for you now, but every ounce of my energy is reserved in being those things for my children.”

Dave Hollis also opened up about the couple's decision to separate in his own Instagram post.

“Our marriage has been a triumph in so many ways... and it has run its course,” he wrote. “Despite still loving and deeply respecting each other as friends, co-parents and business partners, Rae and I decided that the best way to allow each of those to thrive in the future is to end our marriage while the option for a beautiful, unconventional new family, friendship and partnership still exists as a real and hope-filled option.

“This is a decision we have wrestled for years and made with so much counsel, thought and prayer... keeping love for each other and our kids as the ultimate and only goal.”

Rachel Hollis went viral in 2015 when she shared a bikini photo that proudly revealed stretch marks from her pregnancies.

In recent years, she has faced backlash for sharing quotes from famous figures without attribution. Earlier this year, people on social media called her out after she appeared to present a Maya Angelou quote as her own. She later issued an apology.

In her most recent Instagram post, she asks for privacy as she and her husband navigate their separation.

“Having been such an open book to this beloved community, we hope that as real people, with real lives and a family, you can understand our need to process these changes to our life away from social media, out of the public eye,” she wrote. “We graciously ask that you respect our privacy as we navigate these challenging waters from where we are to where we’re going.”