Second Oasis marriage split

LONDON -- Oasis star Noel Gallagher has announced that he is splitting from his wife, Meg Mathews, after three years of marriage.

A spokeswoman for the guitarist said on Tuesday that the couple had "simply drifted apart over the last year or so." She said the pair had no immediate plans to divorce.

"Their relationship started when Oasis were still in their infancy, and the couple have lived through ... the whole meteoric rise of the band and the turbulent years that followed," the spokesman said in a statement.

"Many things have changed in that time, including themselves it seems."

The couple have an eight-month old daughter, Anais.

The break -up comes as a dramatic turnaround from Noel's feelings in March, when he said had left behind the days of cocaine-fuelled parties and wanted to stay married forever.

"I love her to bits and I've been faithful to her since I met her. I had seven years of groupies before that, which was great. But once you meet that special person, everything else becomes blurred," he told Radio Times magazine six months ago.

"If she left me, I would be destroyed."

Their separation follows the announcement in July that his younger brother and band mate Liam had split up from his wife, actress Patsy Kensit.

The Gallagher brothers, once the bad boys of British pop, appeared to mellow after becoming fathers -- but their monumental sibling battles have shown no signs of cooling off.

After gaining fame with the albums Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory the group has struggled with several poorly received singles and line-up changes.

Noel quit the band's tour in mid-May after a scrap with Liam that reportedly came to blows, refusing to play dates outside Britain and Ireland.

Oasis has also been in the headlines this summer after leaving the stage twice in two weeks, complaining they were pelted with objects by crowds in Switzerland and Portugal.

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Official Oasis web site

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