Seal and Heidi Klum arrive at the 19th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party on Feb. 27, 2011, in West Hollywood, Calif.
(Credit: Getty)
Singer-songwriter Seal is still wearing his wedding ring on today's Ellen DeGeneres Show as he makes his first television appearance since the announcement of the separation from wife Heidi Klum.
When Ellen tells Seal the news was a shock, he replies, "I think we were shocked. You go into these things with the greatest intentions when you say 'I do' and you say 'till death do us part.' Those vows hold value. They are not just words."
He continued, "These things happen."
And he reiterated what they said in their statement, "you just grow apart after awhile. You try and you work through it and the thing that you quickly realize when you are married and you become a parent you do the best that you can. It makes you actually appreciate your parents a lot more.
"The thing that I'm most proud about this great woman who married (and I really do mean that from the bottom of my heart), is that together she has given me four incredible gifts ... four beautiful children. She is still, in my opinion, the most wonderful woman in the world. I think our priority was to remain civil and do this thing with dignity. We still very much love each other."
He goes on to say, "It's not a question of we were never to follow suit of some break-up or separations that you hear about, especially in our industry. It's a shame. To say that neither of us were grieving would be an out-and-out lie (and I don't mind telling you that). I think the operative here is that we are civil to each other and we both have a tremendous amount of respect and love and we try and do this with as much dignity as we possibly can. And, of course, when you have four children, you hope and pray that the rest of the world will respect that we have four children and that their little hearts are at stake too."
When Ellen asks about him still wearing his wedding ring, he says, "Yes, I am still wearing my ring. I think it's just pretty much a token of how I feel about this woman. We have eight years. Eight wonderful years together."
And he plans to keep it on!
"Just because we have decided to separate doesn't necessarily mean you take off your ring and you're no longer connected to that person. We will be connected in many ways till the rest of our lives. ... Will we wear the ring for the rest of our lives? Who knows? But right now it feels really comfortable on my hand so I have no intentions of taking it off anytime soon."
Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY