Dan Aykroyd and wife Donna Dixon separate after nearly 40 years of marriage

Dan Aykroyd and his wife, Donna Dixon, are separating after nearly 40 years of marriage. The couple announced their split in a joint statement to PEOPLE on Friday, noting that they continue to be legally married.

"After 39 years as a couple we are now on separate life paths. We remain legally married, co-parents, co-workers, and business partners," they said. "This is our choice in loving friendship."

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon are separating after nearly 40 years of marriage.

Aykroyd and Dixon met on the set of 1983's Doctor Detroit and married shortly after the film's release. They have three daughters together, including singer-songwriter Vera Sola (born Danielle Aykroyd).

"You gotta find the right person — look them in the eye, have them look back, and know their soul," Aykroyd told the Tampa Bay Times while describing their marriage in 2014. "She's a Southern woman who is understanding and doesn't mind dealing with the boys from time to time. I call her the White Goddess. And I'm the Green Demon."

The couple appeared together in 1985's Spies Like Us and 1988's The Couch Trip, and both had roles in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie and 1994's Exit to Eden.

Before his marriage to Dixon, Aykroyd was briefly engaged to Carrie Fisher, after proposing to her on the set of The Blues Brothers in 1979.

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