AceShowbiz -

Katie Couric is back on the single market as she has split with long-time lover Brooks Perlin who is seventeen years her junior. Their five-year relationship has ended, a representative of the CBS Evening News anchor confirmed but did not give away the reason of the split.

Perlin, who is 37 years old, is moving out of her Upper East Side townhouse in New York City. "They have decided to move on. Brooks is a great person and a real gentleman. He and Katie enjoyed their time together," a source told NY Post. She reportedly initiated the breakup because they had different priorities and perspectives.

Couric met Pelin in 2006 at a cancer research fundraising event at the Louis Licari Hair Salon. She said, "I thought he was really cute. He asked me if I wanted to have dinner sometime and I liked that it was so direct and natural. When he called, he asked me if I wanted to be in a sailing competition with him. I don't sail. Then he asked me if I wanted to go surfing, and I'd never surfed. I said, 'Listen Mr Outward Bound, how about something normal?' "

But she hinted a trouble in the relationship back in May. "I am in the process of figuring out the future, and so is he. I am really happy in my personal life ...but it is complicated," she said. However, they allegedly patched things up together at that time and she canceled the plan of finding a new place to live.

Despite no longer together, Couric's pal said that they remain amicable.