Antonio Banderas finally breaks his silence months after his divorce with ex-wife Melanie Griffith.

In an interview on the Spanish TV show "El Hormiguero" while promoting his new sci-fi film "Autómata" (which he co-stars with Griffith), the 54-year-old actor opened up for the first time about his separation with his ex-wife.

"It's been an intense year. I had a lot of work and my private life was also so hard, but life goes on," Banderas said, as quoted by E! Online.

He added, "I admire and respect Melanie first and foremost as a great actress. I have always said that. That's why she is in the movie. And she's also the person that I loved, that I love, and will always love."

According to a report from PEOPLE, the ex-couple first met in 1995 during the filming of their movie "Too Much."

"It's curious because Melanie and I met as actors, and then for the 20 years of our relationship we didn't shoot together. Then, at the end of our relationship, we're back together again on the screen," Banderas told PEOPLE.

"There is a very curious thing in the movie which I realized when I first saw it," he said, referring to one scene on "Autómata," as quoted by PEOPLE. "At the end, there's a moment where she tells me 'Goodbye, Jacq Vaucan,' and I say 'Goodbye Cleo,' and that somehow is the close of our relationship."

Banderas and Griffith announced their separation back in June after 18 years of marriage. In the statement issued by the pair, they said that they "thoughtfully" and "consensually" ended their marriage in a "loving and friendly manner honoring and respecting each other, our family and friends and the beautiful time we have spent together," Fox News Latino reported.

Banderas also explained that even though his romantic ties with Griffith are now severed, it doesn't mean that they would totally stop seeing each other.

"We're going to keep seeing each other. We will continue. The family isn't dead, not at all," the actor said in an interview with Spanish-language weekly magazine Hola!, as reported by PEOPLE.

According to Fox News Latino, the Spanish actor is now dating Dutch investment consultant Nicole Kimpel. Banderas said that he is taking things slow with the 20-years younger Kimpel and that they are "getting to know each other."

"She is shy and doesn't have anything to do with my work, which is no bad thing," the actor told The Olive Press.