KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — The ex-husband of actress Betty Banafe has come forward to appeal to the media to respect his family’s privacy as the couple go through the process of divorce.

Bruce Dargus said that the divorce was a difficult period for the couple, extended family, and especially the children.

“Mutual friends often have to choose sides and the divorce is not only the separation of two people from one another, but the painful tearing of what was one world into two.

“For reasons I will not detail now, this process has been excruciating for me and I would consider it one of the most turbulent and torturous periods in my life,” he said in a statement to Malay Mail.

On Wednesday, a Malay-medium entertainment media reported that Betty confirmed that she had parted ways with her husband of seven years.

Betty Ibtisam Abu Bakar Banafe, 40, was reported by mStar as saying that her divorce from Dargus was finalised at the Johor Baru Syariah Court.

Dargus said his only goal now was to ensure the safety and well-being of their children as their father and guardian.

“(I) will give the court my full cooperation so that it can decide what is best for the future.”

On his divorce, Dargus said he uttered the talaq twice — first on July 4 and then on July 5, not July 10 as incorrectly stated in some articles.

“After being married to her for approximately seven years, I divorced my former wife, Ibtisam Sekh Abu Bakar also known as Betty Banafe, on July 4 by the utterance of one talaq before two male Malaysian Muslim witnesses at Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque in Shah Alam, Selangor.

“I divorced her again by the utterance of a second Talaq the next day on July 5, before a different pair of witnesses at my parents’ home in Ampang, Selangor.”

Dargus also clarified that a decision on the couple’s children has yet to be finalised.

“I am the plaintiff in a Hadhanah case filed at Selangor Syariah High Court for custody of our two children.

“The case is still in the very early stages and trial has not yet begun, so I was very surprised to see some news outlets reporting that Ibtisam had been awarded custody of my children by the court, which at this stage is actually impossible,” he added.