Daniel Johns and Natalie Imbruglia reveal the real reason why they split

Daniel Johns and his ex-wife Natalie Imbruglia have finally lifted the lid on their shock divorce.

The former couple, who split in 2008 after five years of marriage, reunited to discuss their marriage this week in a new episode of Who is Daniel Johns? podcast.

Speaking to interviewer Kaitlin Sawrey, Imbruglia, 46, described her relationship with the former Silverchair frontman, 42, as ‘difficult’, and insisted that she tried hard to make things work before their split.

‘Sometimes there isn’t a way through it and that’s where we found ourselves’: Daniel Johns, 42, and his ex-wife Natalie Imbruglia, 46, finally lifted the lid on their shock divorce in a new episode of Who is Daniel Johns? podcast this week. Pictured during their marriage

‘It was really, really hard, it’s a difficult time to talk about and to be honest, I just remember trying… just trying to get things back on track. And sometimes there isn’t a way through it and that’s where we found ourselves, I’m afraid,’ the Torn songstress admitted.

Despite the bitter nature of their divorce, Imbruglia now considers her ill-fated marriage to Johns a gift.

‘He was the love of my life and I think in time you realise that’s a really special thing and you look back on it fondly, and it doesn’t come around that often that you can both feel that way about each other,’ she said.

Friendly exes:Despite the bitter nature of their divorce, Imbruglia now considers her ill-fated marriage to Johns a gift.Pictured together in London in June 2003

‘It’s not something that is necessarily repeatable in that way. It’s a beautiful thing.’

Johns had similarly positive words to say about his former wife, insisting that their relationship simply didn’t work out because they had different goals in life.

‘She wanted to settle down and have babies and she wanted to do normal stuff and I just wanted to get weirder, so we just kind of disappeared from each other,’ he explained.

‘She taught me how to be a man’: Johns had similarly positive words to say about his former wife, insisting that their relationship simply didn’t work out because they had different goals in life

‘She taught me how to be a man, you know? I met her when I was 19, at risk of sounding sentimental.’

Johns recently spoke about his high profile split with Imbruglia during an episode with The Project to promote his new podcast last month.

‘We’re friends now. But to be honest, we didn’t talk for about 10 years,’ he told the panel.

‘When we were married, I was in my 20s. I was incapable of learning how to be responsible. I didn’t know how to use a phone. I was touring all the time.

‘And then, I don’t know, I took it of my own volition and said, ‘Why are we not talking?’ I didn’t really understand and she was like, ‘I don’t know why we’re not talking either!”

Imbruglia met the rocker at an awards show in 1999 and they married four years later, on New Year’s Eve, in a beachside ceremony in Queensland.

As time elapsed, they became the subject of increasing break-up rumours, partly due to the length of time they spent apart.

Imbruglia wrote her 2005 hit Counting Down the Days about their long-distance relationship and often told how she missed Johns.

Speculation increased after Johns neglected to thank his then wife when collecting Silverchair’s five gongs at the ARIA Awards in October 2007.

Baby love: Imbruglia, best known for her 1997 hit Torn, welcomed her first child, son Max, two, in October 2019, at the age of 44

A joint statement released through their publicists in January 2008 read: ‘While we are very sad that our marriage has ended, we want to make it clear that our parting is amicable and we remain friends.

‘This mutual decision has not been taken lightly or quickly.’

It added: ‘However, our career demands and our lives in different parts of the world have brought us to the point where unfortunately this difficult decision was necessary for both of us.’

New addition: Max was born via IVF with the help of a sperm donor

After they split, Natalie was linked to British funnyman David Walliams, actor David Schwimmer, One Direction’s Harry Styles, and even Prince Harry, among others.

The singer, best known for her 1997 hit Torn, welcomed her first child, son Max, two, via IVF with a sperm donor, in October 2019, at the age of 44.

Daniel was last linked to model Michelle Leslie, with the pair sparking engagement rumours in 2019.

Moving on: Daniel was last linked to model Michelle Leslie (left), with the pair sparking engagement rumours in 2019