On October 29, Iron Chef star Cat Cora filed for a divorce from her partner of 17 years, Jennifer Cora in Santa Barbara, California while Jennifer filed for it the previous day. Both listed the other one as the petitioner.
Cat tells PEOPLE exclusively, "It is with great sadness, that after 17 years, a tremendous amount work, careful consideration and heavy hearts, my wife and I have mutually decided to no longer remain married. In love, there is a season, a reason and a lifetime."
The couple who were in a long-term partnership before marrying in 2013 and they share four sons together.
Cat is best known for being the first female Iron Chef.
The 48-year-old chef and her wife Jennifer, 44 -year-old, are moms to four boys, Zoran, 11-year-old, Caje, 8-year-old, Nash, 6-year-old and Thatcher, 6-year-old. All four were received via in vitro fertilization.
"Although this is not what we ever imagined, we will always have four incredible reasons to celebrate our years together: our sons," says Cat. "We are forever parents to our boys and are jointly committed to raising them in a peaceful, nurturing and healthy environment."
In a 2010 interview with Working Mother, Cat talked about the couple's unique and complicated process of having their children, they are currently residing in Santa Barbara.
The doctor implanted Cora and Jennifer with each other's eggs, using only one sperm donor for all their pregnancies.
Jennifer gave birth to Caje, who's the biological son of Cat while Cat carried Nash, Jennifer's biological child. Cat also explained that the mothers had to legally adopt their own children.
"As a same-sex couple, we had to go back and legally adopt them. Even though Nash was her biological son, Jennifer had to adopt him. Same with me and Caje."
Cora currently runs four restaurants and was recently a guest judge on Cutthroat Kitchen, a reality cooking television show hosted by Alton Brown that premiered on August 11, 2013 on Food Network. It features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination cooking competition.
