Lloyd Webber Says Marriage Is Over

LONDON —  Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is ending his six-year marriage to singer Sarah Brightman.

Lloyd Webber, the 42-year-old composer of such hits as “Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats,” issued a statement Monday saying he had become “close friends” with another woman, Madeleine Gurdon.

“It is clear to me that, with the greatest sadness, I have to face the fact that my marriage to Sarah Brightman is at an end,” he said.

The statement did not say whether the couple would divorce.

Lloyd Webber met Brightman nine years ago and cast her in “Cats.” They had no children. He has two children by a previous marriage.

“I am deeply saddened that our marriage should end like this,” said Brightman, 30. “It is not something I . . . wish for or have sought.”

Gurdon, a 27-year-old businesswoman, would not comment on the announcement.