Maris Racal and Rico Blanco have called it quits after a five-year relationship.

The actress tearfully confirmed their breakup at a press conference on Friday, July 12. “I’m really scared. Ang dami kasing tanong about him and I’m tired of smiling and nodding. I’m so scared because if I announce it, then it’s real. Rico and I are over,” she said, crying.

“It’s fresh. It’s been a few weeks. Loneliest, emptiest weeks I’ve ever experienced in my life,” she continued.

Maris said her and Rico’s universe “was so beautiful” as it “was so full of love, laughter, music, spontaneity, everything.”

“Sa five years namin together, we were always on the same page. Always on the same page,” she mused.

Without getting into detail about their split, Maris simply put that she’s “going through changes” in her life at the moment.

“I don’t know what happened to me. Maybe I turned to the next page and saw a new perspective sa life. I had visions of who I want to become, how I want to evolve. I’m so curious about the world and the truth is I am going through changes,” she opened up. “Alam naman natin ‘yun—change is either good or bad. But what I hate about change is that it’s inevitable, hindi mo siya matatakasan, and wala ka nang ibang gaagwin. You have to face it and confront it.”

She said she told Rico about her “problems and issues” in life, and “he took it like a man.”

“It was a very difficult talk because I loved him so much. I love him and he loves me but I have so many questions about life. How will I go on sa buhay with him when I have so many questions about me, my sense of self? It was so difficult,” she shared.

Maris said they had a “very polite separation.” She added, “Up to the very end of our relationship, it was still full of love, full of understanding. Rico is one of a kind.”

Maris and Rico, who had an age gap of 25 years, went public with their relationship in May 2021.

The two collaborated on Maris’ 2019 single Abot Langit and sparked romance speculations two years later, when the actress greeted him a happy birthday on her own Instagram page with a black-and-white photo. He thanked Maris in the comment section and accompanied it with a telling “love you.”

In a previous interview with celebrity doctor Vicki Belo, Maris said she had already been manifesting that she’d meet a “younger version” of Rico. “Actually, gusto ko ng younger version ni Rico. I kept posting on my private Facebook na ‘Lord, bigyan mo naman ako ng younger version ni Rico Blanco.’ Super crush ko talaga siya. Hindi ko naman in-expect na siya ‘yong ibibigay ni Lord.”