After fighting allegations about their relationship last year which almost ended in a lawsuit, Thailand’s biggest YouTube stars Suraboth “Pleum” Leekpai and his wife Mallika “Tubtim” Leekpai have announced their separation.
Pleum, the 28-year-old son of the former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, shocked his fans with a Instagram post yesterday in which he confirmed rumors that he and Tubtim, 27, have been separated for quite some time.
“I’ve talked to Tubtim, and I volunteered to be the one to make the announcement. I’d like to say yes, we have broken up for quite some time, but not because we argued or resented each other,” Pleum wrote.
“We both know how much we love each other, but we’ve just realized we just love each other as friends, maybe because we started as friends. We cared about each other, took care of each other, bonded and understood each other, so we thought it was romance.”
Pleum and Tubtim married in October 2012 after dating for two years. Around 3,000 people, including politicians and entertainment industry VIPs attended the biggest celebrity wedding of the year.
Screenshots from “VRZO Pleum and Tubtim wedding (Special marriage episode)”
The couple were the main hosts of “VRZO,” the biggest Thai YouTube entertainment channel which attracts a mainly young audience.
Impressionable youngsters had put Tubtim and Pleum on a pedestal as the cool couple who settled down young and found success.
But last year cheating rumors and allegations about their YouTube show became a hot topic on social media, and Pleum and Tubtim quickly lawyered up with the intention of filing a lawsuit against the Facebook user who spread rumors.
They backed down after the user, a teen girl, agreed to apologize on camera.
The couple has not made an announcement regarding the divorce, but Pleum said Tubtim will always be his friend.
“After we started spending our lives together, we just realized it was not a romantic love at all; it was friendly. Tubtim is my good friend. We’ve been good to each other, and we will still be. Apologies to everyone who follows us. Please understand us and respect our decision.”
