Cory Wharton and Taylor Selfridge have announced their breakup after nine years together.
Wharton, 35, and Selfridge, 32, both posted statements on Instagram Thursday confirming the split that follows Wharton’s flirty on-screen behavior with “Challenge” cast mate Izzy Fairthorne, 27, during Season 42 of the MTV competition series. The former couple share daughters Mila, 6, and Maya, 4.
Selfridge made clear she initiated the separation in a blunt message shared to her Instagram Story. “Yes, I left,” she wrote. “I was sick of not getting basic respect from the person I was with for nine years and the father of my two children. I’m sure everyone could tell the last few years. I deserve more than that, and I’ll get it. End of story.”
Wharton took a different tone in his feed post, which featured a photo of himself with his three daughters — Mila, Maya, and Ryder, 9, his daughter with ex Cheyenne Floyd. “A new chapter. Just me and my girls. ❤️,” he began.
“Taylor and I have decided to go our separate ways. As hard as that is to say publicly, I think it’s important to be honest about where my life is at this moment,” Wharton continued. “We shared a lot of years, memories, love and most importantly, we have two beautiful daughters ❤️.”
He directed an apology straight at Selfridge in the statement. “I’m sorry, Taylor, that things didn’t work out the way we both hoped they would. I know there were times I could’ve been better, and I’m sorry for the ways I let you down.”
Wharton framed his immediate future around fatherhood and self-improvement. His three daughters are his “entire world,” he wrote, and this “new chapter” has strengthened his resolve to “show up for them even more.”
He added that the chapter also means “doing the work” on himself, “learning from my mistakes, growing, healing, and becoming the best version of myself I can be.”
The split follows weeks of scrutiny over Wharton’s conduct with Fairthorne during the current season of “The Challenge.” Fairthorne addressed the situation in an interview last month, revealing that fellow competitor Nelson Thomas had confronted her about Wharton’s relationship status back home.
“At the time, I was told what his situation was at home, and maybe it wasn’t the full truth. I don’t think it was,” Fairthorne told the outlet.
She recalled being rattled by Thomas’s approach. “And that’s why when Nelson came to me, I was obviously very shocked and taken aback [by] how rude he was,” she said. “But then ultimately, that also made me realize there’s something else going on here and there’s a reason he’s doing it.”
Fairthorne expressed regret after seeing the footage air. “It’s a horrible situation. Like, watching it back, I look at it and I’m like, ‘Now I know the full situation. That’s not me. That’s not my character,'” she shared.
Wharton previously addressed the controversy in a statement posted to X. He claimed he had already apologized to Selfridge, “the person who needed to hear it the most.”
“I’m going to continue to handle things behind closed doors,” he added. “It’s been a very long time since I haven’t been proud of who I see on camera, and this is one of those times.”
In his Thursday post, Wharton acknowledged the demands ahead raising three daughters alone but said he “wouldn’t have it any other way.” He expressed gratitude for being a girl dad, calling it what he was “put on this earth to do,” while admitting he is “excited” but also “scared and nervous as hell” about what comes next.
He thanked his support system for standing by him “through everything,” noting he will “need my village more now than ever before.”
“New Chapter. Same Dad. ❤️,” he concluded.
The on-screen tension between Wharton and Fairthorne unfolded during Season 42 of “The Challenge,” where cast members compete in physically demanding eliminations while navigating shifting alliances and romantic entanglements under constant camera surveillance. Fairthorne joined the season as a relative newcomer while Wharton returned as a veteran of multiple seasons across the franchise.
Wharton and Selfridge’s relationship began in 2016 after meeting on “Ex on the Beach,” and they appeared together on “Teen Mom OG” before welcoming Mila in 2019 and Maya in 2020. Their family life became part of their public personas across MTV programming and social media over nearly a decade together.
The current season of “The Challenge” continues airing on MTV.