Michael Sheen blames politics for split with Sarah Silverman

Sarah Silverman said she and Sheen had "consciously uncoupled" in February

Welsh actor Michael Sheen has told how Brexit and Donald Trump sparked the end of his relationship with comedian Sarah Silverman.

The couple had been together for about four years, living in Los Angeles.

But Sheen, 49, told The Daily Telegraph: "After the Brexit vote, and the election where Trump became president, we both felt in different ways we wanted to get more involved."

Sheen previously said he wanted to focus more on political activism.

US star Silverman announced the couple's break-up in February on Twitter.

Sheen told the newspaper the reason behind their split was because he wanted "to address the issues that I thought led some people to vote the way they did about Brexit".

'Important to each other'

And he said Silverman was also prompted to do her show I Love You America after Mr Trump came to power in the US.

Sheen added: "I felt a responsibility to do something, but it [meant] coming back [to Britain] - which was difficult for us, because we were very important to each other.

"But we both acknowledge that each of us had to do what we needed to do."

Silverman announced they had "consciously uncoupled", borrowing the phrase Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin famously used to describe their split.

She said: "We just live in different countries and it got hard. Felt we should just tell y'all so u stop askin, 'How's Michael/How's Sarah?"'

Sheen was previously in a relationship with actress Kate Beckinsale and they have a daughter.