Seal has admitted he was as "shocked" about his marriage breakdown as everyone else.

The British singer and his German supermodel wife Heidi Klum confirmed they are going their separate ways yesterday. They have been married for almost seven years and regularly gushed about each other in public, so the split has surprised many.

Seal taped an interview with Ellen DeGeneres yesterday in which he discusses how he is coping.

"I think we were shocked. You go into these things with the greatest intentions when you say, 'I do,' and you say, ''til death do us part.' Those vows hold value. They are not just words," he said.

"These things happen. We pretty much said how we feel and made it clear in the release statement. But, for intensive purposes of this show, you just grow apart after a while.

"You try and you work through it and the thing that you quickly realise when you are married and you become a parent you do the best that you can. It makes you actually appreciate your parents a lot more."

The star went on to heap praise on his wife. They are determined to remain close as they raise four children together, something he is thankful for.

Seal also suggested both he and Heidi are struggling to come to terms with their breakup.

"She still, in my opinion, the most wonderful woman in the world. I think our priority was to remain civil and do this thing with dignity. We still very much love each other," he said.

"It's not a question of we were never to follow suit of some break-up or separations that you hear about, especially in our industry. It's a shame. To say that neither of us were grieving would be an out and out lie (and I don't mind telling you that)."

Seal called Heidi a "great woman", before adding he hopes people will understand things are incredibly hard for their kids Leni, seven, Henry, six, five-year-old Johan and Lou, two.

"Their little hearts are at stake too," he said.

The 48-year-old star has been spotted out and about wearing his wedding ring over the last day. He told Ellen that at the moment he has no intention of removing it.

"I think it's just pretty much a token of how I feel about this woman. We have eight years. Eight wonderful years together," he explained.

"Will we wear the ring for the rest of our lives? Who knows? But right now it feels really comfortable on my hand so I have intentions of taking it off anytime soon."

In a separate interview with Travis Smiley, Seal explained the split won't be messy. Although things aren't easy, he and Heidi, 38, respect each other too much to be rude.

"We're just not those kind of people - we never really have been," he said. "We've never been attracted to that."

It's thought the former couple may have made the decision to split some time ago, as according to New York Post Seal has been looking for a new place to live for weeks.