Sean Hannity, Jill Rhodes confirm they are divorced

Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity and his wife Jill Rhodes on Wednesday confirmed they have been separated for more than four years and divorced for over a year.

"Sean and Jill are committed to working together for the best interests of their children," the couple said in a joint statement to Newsday via Fox News Channel. "Amicable agreements were entered into over four years ago between Sean and Jill. They maintain a close relationship as parents to their children. Neither will have any further comments and ask for the sake of their children that their privacy be respected."

The couple have two children: son Patrick, 21, and daughter Merri Kelly, born mid-2001. Sean Hannity, 58, and Rhodes, 57, a homemaker and former political columnist for Alabama's The Huntsville Times, married in 1993. They moved to the village of Centre Island, in the town of Oyster Bay, in 2008.

Hannity was born in New York City but raised in Franklin Square, the youngest of four siblings and the only son. Father Hugh was an officer in the city's family court system, while mother Lillian was a court stenographer and a correction officer at a county jail. Both sets of Sean Hannity's grandparents immigrated from Ireland. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary in Hempstead followed by Uniondale's Saint Pius X Preparatory Seminary, which closed in 1984. Hannity went on to New York University and Adelphi University in Garden City, but did not complete a college degree.

He helped launch Fox News Channel in 1996 with the public-affairs debate show "Hannity & Colmes," co-hosted by Lynbrook-raised Alan Colmes. It ran through 2008. The solo show "Hannity" debuted the following year.