Bachelorette NZ star Lily McManus has announced she and Richie Boyens have "gone their separate ways".
The pair found love on the 2020 season of The Bachelorette NZ and went on to move to Wanaka together but, in a statement shared to her Instagram story, McManus said the pressure of the past two years had taken its toll on the relationship.
"Myself and Rich have gone our separate ways. There's no bad blood. If anything there's still a lot of love but if you have found yourself in this particular spot before you'd know that love doesn't always equal a well functioning and progressive relationship," she wrote.
"These last two years have been rough on everybody and for better or worse it's forced us to stop and smell our own shit. I have shit Rich has shit. We both need some time to heal our own shit so we don't project it onto each other."
McManus said the pair would continue as friends at some point in the future "when we both deem it healthy to do so", but warned her followers not to "project any negative emotions" about the split on to her.
"Please punch some dry wall or something. I am very fragile right now and cry over everything and it's dehydrating me," she said.
"Love and appreciate all of you even though we're all just strangers that bond over my shit content, I really do appreciate the support. Look after yourselves."
Boyens didn't release a statement of his own, but did share McManus' note on his Instagram story.