Thomas Beatie, the world's first legal man to give birth, has split from his wife of nine years.

Beatie who gave birth to three children after having a sex swap announced his split during the taping of the US show "The Doctors" on CBS, according to People magazine.

"Like all marriages, we have our ups and downs, and we're going through a rough patch right now," the 38-year-old said. "At the moment, we're separated."

"Nancy hasn't seen the new me yet," Beatie added.

He also told the show that he had undergone his final female-to-male gender reassignment surgery. This meant that Beatie will not be able to get pregnant again.

Apparently Beatie has not disclosed any further details on the breakup.

Beatie was born in Hawaii as Tracy Lagondino in 1974. He always wanted to be a man and in 2002 he had a sex-reaasignment surgery and had his breasts removed surgically. He also had testosterone injections, giving him facial hair. But he retained his female reproductive organs, the Daily Mail reported.

He married Nancy in 2003 in Hawaii. Nancy had two children from her previous marriage. She was not able to get pregnant after her uterus was surgically removed. Hence, Beatie gave birth to his first child, Susan, in July 2008 through artificial insemination by getting a sperm from a donor.

Prior to the delivery of the couple's first child Susan, Beatie became popular by posing pregnant in 2007, thereby igniting a media frenzy all over the world.

According to the Daily Mail, Beatie has given birth to two sons, Austin and Jensen in quick succession as he had only eight months of menstrual cycle instead of the usual 12. Moreover, only four months of these menstrual cycles were useful for conception as he had a fallopian tube removed earlier due to the ectopic pregnancy.

"I am only able to get pregnant four days out of the year... We had our babies in a short space of time because we don't have the luxury of waiting years between each child," the Daily Mail quoted Beatie saying at that time.