Dakota and Elle Fanning’s parents divorcing

Dakota and Elle Fanning’s parents are divorcing.

Steven and Heather Fanning are dissolving their marriage after 27 years, with TMZ reporting that the Dakota and Elle’s father has filed divorce papers citing "irreconcilable differences".

As Dakota and Elle are 22 and 18 respectively, child support will not be a factor in divorce negotiations and Steven has not asked for any spousal support from his wife.

Both actresses are close to their parents, who Dakota recently praised for keeping her grounded.

She said: "My parents, even before I started doing this, were the kind of parents who expected a certain behavior and focus in life. Manners were important and so was respect for adults: that was taught to me from birth. And that became a sense of professionalism, as I started to understand the decorum of movie sets: have respect for the people who are trying to help you. When you’re a kid, you are so impressionable. And you’re soaking up the focus of the set."

And she revealed how her mother comforted her when she got turned down for jobs because she was "different looking".

She said: "I was always able to decipher what mattered from what didn’t. I would go on so many commercial auditions and I would hardly ever get them, because they would always pick the girl with the really long hair. I had short hair and was different looking. And I would say, ‘You know, they probably just really wanted someone with brown hair, or longer hair.’ And my mum would say, ‘You’re probably right.’"