Girl, six, initially disobeying journalist, separated (7)

I believe the answer is:

divided

'separated' is the definition.
('divide' can be a synonym of 'separate')

'girl six initially disobeying journalist' is the wordplay.
'girl' becomes 'Di' (short for Diane or Diana).
'six' becomes 'VI' (Roman numerals).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
The initial letter of 'disobeying' is 'd'.
'di'+'vi'+'d'+'ed'='DIVIDED'

(Another definition for divided that I've seen is " riven by dissent".)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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