Orlando Bloom breaks up w/Kate Bosworth

The dashing star of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl has broken up with the Beyond the Sea babe Kate Bosworth after nearly three years of cuddledom.

The couple's rep, Robin Baum, confirmed the split to E! Tuesday.

"They did decide to take some time apart due to their upcoming work schedule, and they remain very close," Baum said in a statement. "It was a mutual decision."

Bloom, 28, and Bosworth, 22, began dating in the spring of 2002 after shooting a Gap ad together. The camera-ready couple had been a fixture on the red carpet and the party circuit up until December, when rumors first started surfacing that their relationship was on the rocks. They were last spotted together at a Golden Globes after-party at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont.

Bloom, voted one of People magazine's 50 Sexiest last year, shot to stardom as the Elf prince Legolas in Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings movies, which he followed up with a turn as Johnny Depp (news)'s compadre in Disney's 2003 swashbuckling blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean.

He's becoming a go-to guy for big-budget epics, having already starred with Brad Pitt in Troy and getting on board to headline Ridley Scott's Crusades saga Kingdom of Heaven, as well as Disney's Pirates sequel.

Bosworth, who, in happier times last summer, had flown to Morocco to visit her beau on the Kingdom set, accompanied by a pair of puppies, hasn't exactly been a slouch. After gaining notoriety playing a hardcore surfer chick in 2002's Blue Crush, she starred with Topher Grace (news) in the 2004 comedy Win a Date with Tad Hamilton before the landing the part of Sandra Dee (news) opposite Kevin Spacey in the Bobby Darrin biopic Beyond the Sea.

Bosworth will next be seen in the thriller Awake with Helen Mirren and Jared Leto before segueing into director Bryan Singer's new Superman film in which she'll play intrepid reporter Lois Lane opposite newcomer Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel and Spacey as criminal mastermind Lex Luthor.

Her other credits include 2002's The Rules of Attraction and 2003's Wonderland.