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Jenson Button splits from wife Jessica Michibata after one year of marriage
McLaren F1 driver and Japanese model pay the price of jet-set lifestyle, three months after Button commits to McLaren
Formula 1 star Jenson Button has split from his wife Jessica Michibata after less than a year of marriage it has been confirmed.
The 2009 F1 champion tied the knot with his Japanese model girlfriend in Hawaii on 30 December last year, but The Sun revealed that they have now separated.
A spokesman for Button confirmed the story. "Jenson and Jessica have decided to go their separate ways and it is very amicable. There is no one else involved," they said.
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The paper claims that couple, who had been together for five years before they tied the knot, had never actually set up home together and that their jet-set lifestyles kept them apart.
After getting married, "model Jessica returned to her busy professional life, based in Tokyo, and Jenson continued to travel the world with the gruelling F1 circus," it explains. "Now the pair have split up and — with no pre-nup agreement — there are 'discussions' over Jenson's estimated £35m income."
According to the the Sun the pair first talked about the possibility of calling time on their relationship at the American Grand Prix in Texas in October.
A month earlier Button had confirmed that he would continue with F1 in 2016, despite strong rumours that he would quit the sport and reports that he was being lined up to become a presenter on the BBC's revamped Top Gear show.
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The news that the 35-year-old would continue driving was met with surprise in most quarters considering the problems faced by his McLaren team in 2015.
Button and Michibata, 31, also found themselves in the headlines in August when their villa in St Tropez was burgled and thieves escaped with £300,000-worth of jewellery, including her engagement ring.
Thieves were alleged to have used an anaesthetic gas, pumped through the air conditioning, to knock out the couple and their guests before rifling through their belongings.
