Melbourne, June 2 (ANI): Olympic champion Kieren Perkins has broken his silence about separation from his wife of 15 years Symantha, and described the break-up as awful.

The swimmer, whose split comes just weeks after former team mate Grant Hackett's marriage to Candice Alley ended, said that the couple's first priority was their three children.

It's an awful thing but you have got to take yourself out of it and recognise that our three children are all that matters and make them as comfortable as possible and make sure we get through this as quickly as we can, the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.

Sam and I, right from the start, were always very committed to making sure the kids came first, he said.

While Symantha, 38, is yet to make a statement about the split, sources confirmed that she has been living with the children Georgia, 14, Harry, 13, and Charlie, 7, at the family's home in the Brisbane suburb of Kenmore Hills while Perkins, also 38, has taken an apartment in the nearby CBD. (ANI)