Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are separating after 40 years of marriage.

According to an e-mail circulated among the couple's friends and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, the Gores said it was "a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration."

Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed the statement came from the Gores, but declined to comment further.

Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W. Bush. He has since campaigned worldwide to draw attention to climate change, which in 2007 led to a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

The Gores crafted an image as a happily married couple during his eight-year stint as vice president in the 1990s and a presidential candidate in 2000. The couple famously exchanged a long kiss during the 2000 Democratic presidential convention.

The image of their warm relationship stood in sharp contrast to the Clinton marriage rocked by Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that hung over Gore's own presidential campaign.

Al Gore at the time said his wife was "someone I've loved with my whole heart since the night of my high school senior prom."

Tipper Gore was a co-founder in 1985 of the Parents Music Resource Center, which pushed for parental warning labels on music with violent or sexually explicit lyrics. The group drew the ire of musicians ranging from Dee Snider of Twisted Sister to Frank Zappa, who said warning labels were unnecessary and a danger to freedom.

Tipper Gore later became friends with the late Zappa's wife, Gail, and played drums and sang backup on daughter Diva Zappa's album in 1999.

The Gore's have four adult children, Karenna, Kristin, Sarah and Albert III.

www.foxnews.com

She's finally getting smart and getting out of dodge. To bad the title An Inconvienent Truth is taken, it could have been a title to a book about their marriage!

Guess his 'carbon footprint' just got too big for her ... or could it have been vice-versa ... ?

Even better....

There was a Global Warming Hack article a while ago that stated how much " damage " divorce ( not the case of Al and Tipper just yet, but on the way ) does to the environment.

Poor ole Hypocrite Al is now causing even more damage to the environment on top of all the energy that big old house of his sucks down.

Al Gore always had the answer to everything. THANK GOD HE NEVER GOT TO BE PRESIDENT! That fool has enough hot air in him to lift a blimp! Too bad we can't harness his BS for electricity!

Now his wife is leaving him? I wonder what his answer to that one is?

So did they do it in the name of Financial Efficiency? (Because she was not buying any more of his BS?)

Perspiring minds want to know!

frankly all I can say is HA HA!

Couldn't be any worse than the fools that have maintained office over the last century??? So he got a Nobel Peace prize off unsubstantiated information. If I could, in order to try propel my career, I would too. Oh yeah, I am a female and do not want a career, am holding my breath while searching for prince charming, I forgot, LOL. Hey did, you see Shrek?? Yes that's the kind of Prince Charming I would get, over egotistical, demanding, petulant child,only a mother could love. Case management is my dream come true (NOT) but it pays the bills almost.....

I just got my SECOND Nobel Prize ... it was in the box of Cheerios all the way at the bottom ... I'm gonna collect the whole set now - and I don't have to clean the 'sticky' off of this one like I did the one I got from the box of Cracker Jack ...

For the longest time, I only thought you loved me. Now, I'm certain of it!

When we gonna' hitch up?

Nah, would only break your heart, too, LMAO!!

I always thought his wife was kinda hott(for a Democrat)

Ah, the smell of Conservative Schadenfreude in the morning.

Although I can't understand what all the excitement's about-- Limbaugh's three marital breakups sure trump Gore's...

-Kerry O.

Not considering the fact that Al and Tipper were together for 40 years and Al once said that the novel Love Story was based on he and Tipper.

So does Clinton's 30+ affairs...........

Which surprised the author and of course the author denied. More and more honesty from good old Al.

this is ironic coming from a Jim Gibbons fan,,,,

and from any american really, are there any sane adults who dont realize that marriages break up and people are unfaithful ,and neither is that UNCOMMON an occurrence as to be newsworthy

Oh come on. EVERYTHING is " newsworthy " these days. lol

smh,,, unfortunately

Well..I think most rational people would have known that he was being somewhat facetious.

But then again, he DID say that he invented the internet.

* shrugs *

relationships are complex creatures, they change

a couple that is 'ideal' and 'close' one year,, may totally fall apart in the next two or three,,,,

it doesnt make their good times any less real or sincere

What's ironic about it? There was no cheating involved. Jim didn't pay out to the whole world that his marriage was perfect like the Gores did.

You do not want to have this discussion with me. I have known Jim and Dawn personally for many years and all's you know what the media FALSLY reported.