Robin Thicke and Paula Patton
Robin Thicke and Paula PattonReuters

Robin Thicke and his childhood sweetheart wife, Paula Patton, have split after nine years of marriage.

"We will always love each other and be best friends, however, we have mutually decided to separate at this time," Paula, 38, and Robin, 36, said in a mutual statement to People.

The couple has been dating ever since Thicke was 14, and they married in 2005. Their son, Julian Fuego, was born five years later in 2010.

While Thicke and Patton did not reveal why they decided to end their relationship, it is widely speculated that Thicke's alleged affairs might be the cause.

Thicke, who rose to fame with 2013's summer anthem "Blurred Lines," has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since the song's debut.

While Thicke's racy "Blurred Lines" performance with Miley Cyrus at the MTV VMA's was the talk of the town due to its provocative nature, what landed him in trouble with Patton was when Thicke allegedly grabbed a fan during the event's afterparty.

Lara Scolaro, a 20-year-old socialite, posted a picture of the incident on her social networking site soon after the party, which landed Thicke in yet another controversy.

In subsequent interviews following the groping incident, Scolaro claimed that the interaction between them went much further than what the picture suggested.

Reportedly, Thicke made out with her and wanted her in bed, but they kept getting interrupted. They allegedly went their separate ways after exchanging numbers and promising to meet later.

All through this controversy, Patton stood by her husband and a representative of hers issued a statement saying that Scolaro was just someone looking for attention.

Thicke, too, commented on the incident telling Star Magazine that he is happily married. "My only comment about the so-called scandalous photo would be that my wife and I are perfectly in love and very happily married. So, no complaints there," Thicke was quoted as saying by the media.

The couple was soon seeing holidaying in Miami, dispelling rumors of trouble in paradise.

But, Thicke found himself in the middle of yet another controversy last month when photographs emerged of him getting cozy with a female companion while partying in Paris.

In some photographs, he was seen leaning for a lip lock with his companion, and this might have been the last straw for Patton, who decided to quit with her husband after a month later.

And now that Thicke is single, girls are sure to make a beeline for the singer, and among the frontrunners is Scolaro, who is eager to date Thicke.

"I'd love to grab a drink with him if he asked," Scolaro told TMZ, after she heard about Patton and Thicke's separation.

Scolaro said she is not in the least surprised that the couple split, as she is sure Thicke has not been entirely faithful to his wife.

"Robin acting like that with me makes me think there were many more. It's a shame because when you have a kid, it's upsetting," she added.