Kate Bosworth and Husband Michael Polish Separating After Nearly 8 Years of Marriage

Frazer Harrison/Getty Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish

Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish are going their separate ways.

On Thursday, the 38-year-old actress announced that she and her filmmaker beau, 50, have split after nearly eight years of marriage.

Sharing an affectionate black-and-white shot of the pair laughing and kissing one another at the same time, Bosworth began the caption of her post with a poignant message.

"The beginning is often the best part of love. Fireworks, magnets, rebellion — the attraction. The onset signals a wide open expanse of possibility," she wrote. "Split a burger with someone when you are falling in love, and you can die happily knowing this is your last meal. Buy a bottle of whiskey and share shots, pour me a waterfall. Play that perfect song on the jukebox and dance with someone you have known your whole life, though you met minutes ago."

For more on Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish's separation and other top stories, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"Inherently we fear an ending. To lose what you have because you got what you wanted. To be attached to the expectation of the outcome. The great Unknown," Bosworth added. "What if we chose not to fear but instead, to love. If that most delicate and vulnerable last flicker to the flame became another type of furnace entirely."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

RELATED GALLERY: All the Celebrity Couples Who've Called It Quits in 2021

Continuing her candid post, the Blue Crush star said, "Perhaps this will sound strange to some, romantic to others. To us: this is truth."

Writing that the pair's "hearts are full, as we have never been so enamored and deeply grateful for one another as we do in this decision to separate," Bosworth said that she and Polish "have chosen love, every time" throughout the past decade they have been a couple.

"We hold hands as tightly today as we entangled fingers on our wedding day. Our eyes look more deeply into one another, with more courage now. In the process of letting go, we have come to acknowledge that our love will never end," she continued. "The connection does not simply disappear. The love deepens, the heart expands."

"We know the 4 am calls are coming. Songs will be exchanged to communicate only what songs can do. We laugh as we plan for our next movie together and are excited to share our latest collaboration," Bosworth added. "We believe the most epic love stories are those which transcend expectation."

"Our greatest honor has been to experience love like this, and to continue to marvel at the beauty of love's evolution," she noted. "What happens when we reach the end of something and realize … we are just at the beginning."

RELATED VIDEO: Actress Kate Bosworth Reveals How Her Husband's Haircut Made Her Laugh So Hard She Cried!

Closing out her lengthy message, Bosworth concluded, "This is love. And we will drink that down," before signing the caption with the couple's first names.

The Superman Returns star met and fell in love with Polish when he directed her in the drama Big Sur in 2011. The sparks flew and it was love at first sight.

The pair went on to say "I do" during an outdoor ceremony at The Ranch at Rock Creek in Philipsburg, Montana, in August 2013.

"I never even dated my husband-to-be," Bosworth told InStyle UK at the time. "He said to me after just a few weeks, before we were even together, 'I'm going to marry you.' He just knew."

In 2017, the actress told PEOPLE, "Honestly, the laughter and creativity in my marriage is what is most important. My husband is a filmmaker and we work together quite a bit. It's a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week creative love-fest."