After forty years of marriage, Al and Tipper Gore have chosen to separate and will likely end their marriage.  The AP obtained a copy of an email sent out by the Gores, which read “it was a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration.”  The Gores’ rep confirmed the statement, but declined to give further details.

Though their marriage had always been strong, it was also often tested by Al’s governmental roles and also the death of their six year-old son.  The pair had met and fell in love the night of his high school graduation dance.  Tipper later wrote in a memoir that “it was like everyone else melted away.”  Al later proposed marriage to tipper along the banks of the Charles River during her junior year at Boston University.

The pair married and exchanged wedding rings in 1970 at the Washington National Cathedral.   Over the years the pair have often commented on their marriage, encouraging married couples to stay together.  “One of the lessons I’ve learned from [Tipper] is a way to enrich my own experience of life by opening up to the heart as well as the head…she’s been a great teacher for me.”  Al Gore once said.