Eva Longoria and Tony Parker to divorce

It looks as though the end is in sight for the marriage of Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria and the French basketball player Tony Parker.

After several weeks of speculation, the celebrity news website, TMZ.com revealed that the couple are to split.

Yes the collapse of surely the most romantic story in recent Franco-American relations is now official.

Happier days - 07/07/07 (snapshot from YouTube video)

Longoria has filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences" as the grounds for the break-up.

As appears to be so often the case nowadays, TMZ also has "proof" in the shape of a copy of the papers which the 35-year-old filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court.

In fact, so all-intrusive is the reporting about the end of the relationship that visitors to TMZ's site can even "drag" a copy of those papers to post on Facebook and Twitter, should the urge suddenly come upon them.

Ah the wonders of the Net and Social Networks.

And Longoria, in her obvious "devastation" as People magazine quotes a "pal" of the actress Mario Lopez as saying after she had found text messages from another woman on Parker's 'phone, is clearly playing the celebrity game in full.

In a manner which seems clearly to be par for the course for someone living their private life in the public eye, Longoria has used both Facebook and Twitter to announce that, "It is with great sadness that after 7 years together, Tony and I have decided to divorce. We love each other deeply and pray for each other’s happiness."

Ah seven years - nothing to do with that "itch" of course when people apparently "tend to re-evaluate their relationship".

And it's surely pure coincidence that the same number figured so prominently in their choice of date to tie the knot in the first place.

Remember they were married in a fairy tale wedding at the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois church in Paris on July 7, 2007 (07/07/07) and followed that up with a star-studded reception at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte just outside of the French capital.