On January 1, 2011, Hamasaki announced her engagement to Austrian actor and model Manuel Schwarz, whom Hamasaki met in August 2010 on the set of her music video for "Virgin Road". On January 2, her office announced that she and Schwarz had married in the United States the day before. However, on January 16, 2012, Hamasaki announced on her website that she would divorce Schwarz. The reason for the divorce was that, initially, Hamasaki wanted to move in with Schwarz in the United States but due to the earthquake and tsunami that hit her home country in March, 2011, she strongly desired not to leave Japan.