Curious

We find it extremely curious that BOTH Reese Witherspoon's (Nanci Ryder) and Jake Gyllenhaal's (Carrie Byalick) reps issued official comments that the couple are "still together."

Why do we find it so fascinating? Because these are the very same reps who repeatedly, with alarming frequency squelch (or attempt to suppress) "celebrity" stories by responding to any questions with their oft-quoted mantra, "We don't comment on our client's personal lives."

So why are they officially "assuring" the "interested" public that the couple are NOT broken up, despite the fact that a "source" told People that Witherspoon told friends over Thanksgiving that they'd broken up.

This relationship, begun in 2006, and deemed both "on" and "off," has been plagued with speculation, and while we're all for minding our own business (the bottom line? We really don't care. Live long and prosper, but I don't want the details.), Witherspoon went so far as to discuss (albeit circuitously) their relationship in "Vanity Fair."

A blind item in Gawker, I think, (and we're paraphrasing here) noted that a prominent celebrity couple were actually a rather concocted relationship; they're very good friends, but not in "that way." One member of the duet was "helping the other out" since they are closeted. Comments from readers flew that it must be Taylor (Switft) and Taylor (Lautner) or Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson, but the Witherspoon/Gyllenhaal has often been snarkily cited as an example of exactly that. Purely gossip, of course, nothing verified or offiically stated. They're not Cherry Jones and Sarah Paulson (who broke up after six-year relationship; Jones publicly said that they are still good friends), after all.

Now there are "leaks" from the proverbial "sources close to the couple" that Jake wanted to get married, but that Reese was getting cold feet. Hmmm...in that little provocative tidbit you could easily construe that the younger Gyllenhaal was very serious about the older, divorced-and-married-with-children Witherspoon. And absolutely he is oh-so-very straight. One could also easily assume that Witherspoon, still smarting from her acknowledged public humiliation by her ex-husband (actor Ryan Philippe allegedly had an affair with his then-co-star, now-current girlfriend, actress Abby Cornish) didn't want to "take the leap."

Alls we're saying (to quote you young people) is that in our many years of "officially" covering celebrity relationships (and we are SO happy to be distanced from that, let us tell ya), publicists will never, ever give you a quote.

The media has gotten BOTH of the reps to comment on the record. Why? Why would these publicists be invested in this particular relationship to actually, well, make a comment on their (very private) client's "personal lives"? It's just very out-of-the-ordinary.

If you read BeansTalk with any regularity, you know that it is an extreme situation for us to post anything celeb gossipy. We're just still shaking our heads.