Married at First Sight twelfth-season couple Ryan Oubre and Clara Berghaus have announced they've broken up and decided to get a divorce.
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Clara and Ryan, who remained together after filming Season 12 of Married at First Sight but opted out of appearing on Married at First Sight: Couples Cam this year, both took to their respective Instagram Stories and posted a joint statement on Monday.
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"After taking some time away from cameras, we have reached that point in our marriage where we know it's better to go our separate ways," the former couple wrote.
"It's not an easy decision to make it, nor we do we take these next steps lightly."
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Clara, 27, and Ryan, 29, went on to thank their loved ones for their support.
"Grateful to all who stood by us and continue to stand by us as we make this very difficult decision," the pair continued in their statement. "It goes without saying, we remain friends and hope for nothing but the best for each other."
Clara subsequently uploaded a message to her followers, suggesting she needs some private time to heal from the breakup.
"For obvious reasons, I will be taking a break from social media for a bit to focus on myself," Clara wrote on her Instagram Story.
"Thank you to my family and friends who have been so so supportive, and please forgive me if it takes a while to return messages for a while."
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Clara and Ryan have erased any memory of each other on Instagram by deleting photos with one another.
Ryan, for example, had gushed about Clara in a May post that has since been erased.
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"No one will ever know our love story, because it's ours, it's a moment in time that we'll hold on to that no one else can have. No camera, no TV, no one else -- just us, the only way we would want it," Ryan shared at the time.
"This picture reminds me of when I knew we were going to go for it. Thanks for loving me on the days it wasn't like this picture and on the days it was."
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On Married at First Sight, Clara and Ryan chose to stay together on "Decision Day," which filmed in Fall 2020 and aired in May 2021.
Clara gushed on the show's twelfth season that her relationship with Ryan was "meant to be" and the best one she had ever been in. Clara said Ryan was everything she had been looking for in a husband and partner.
Ryan also seemed smitten with Clara during the season, but he refused to have sex with his wife and said on multiple occasions their goals and motivations in life didn't align. It also seemed to bother Ryan that Clara didn't want to raise their future children in the church.
On Married at First Sight's reunion special for Season 12, Clara wouldn't confirm whether she and Ryan finally consummated their marriage given she had been "sexually frustrated" with her husband's decision to wait for months.
However, Ryan finally said "I love you" to his wife, who had also been waiting patiently to hear those three words.
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In June, Lifetime aired a Married at First Sight: Where are They Now? special that feature2d footage filmed anywhere from four to six months after the Season 12 couples had taped their "Decision Day" episode.
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The Where are They Now? special showed Ryan and Clara still together and apparently very happy in their marriage.
Clara shared at the time that she and Ryan were planning their vow renewal -- "or more like a big party" -- for about 150 guests on New Year's Eve 2022. Clara said she and Ryan had become very good at compromising and listening to each other's perspective.
Although Clara and Ryan chose not to star on Married at First Sight: Couples Cam with the season's other successful couples -- Briana Myles and Vincent Morales as well as Virginia Coombs and Erik Lake -- the pair assured E! News in May that there was no trouble in paradise.
"Married life has been great," Clara and Ryan said.
"We've enjoyed the quiet time to ourselves since the cameras have left. You take so many little things for granted like your first TV show binge (Game of Thrones), your first dinner date (without cameras), your first vacation (we don't talk about Vegas)."
They added at the time, "We can confidently say that we prefer to spend our nights with each other without half a dozen onlookers."
Clara and Ryan insisted, however, they were very grateful for the Married at First Sight process and being matched by show experts Pastor Calvin Roberson, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, and Dr. Viviana Coles.
"This experience created a bond that I don't think you could ever replicate," Clara and Ryan previously shared. "No matter how difficult of an experience, we ultimately are incredibly thankful to have found each other."
Clara and Ryan's divorce announcement comes only a couple of weeks after Soap Dirt reported Erik and Virginia -- who separated on April 29, 2021 -- had drawn up divorce papers on June 11 and officially filed the paperwork on June 29.
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Erik and Virginia have been accused of misleading Married at First Sight fans in recent months by allowing them to think they're still together for the sake of their stint on Couples Cam.
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