I’m so confused about Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal. It really seemed to me like their relationship was completely manufactured by the tabloids. All the evidence we’ve had up until now that they were an item consisted of hearsay, a blurry picture of them in a car together, and the fact that they once exited an office building within 45 minutes of each other. The office building exit was hyped by the tabloids and mentioned in several stories, one of which turned it into a medical office and potential pregnancy for Reese.

Now, just as the movie they’re starring in is tanking dismally at the box office, the two were spotted holding hands and canoodling in Rome, and holding hands getting off a plane at LAX.

Yesterday there was news that said pictures existed, which JayBird and many of you were skeptical about, and today the photos are in British paper The Daily Mail. The pictures are quite clear and close up, as if they’re not afraid to go public with the romance they supposedly spent months going to great lengths to hide. OK! Magazine had the holding hands at the airport picture, but has since removed it, probably because they want to make it a big exclusive for next week’s issue. You can still see that picture though at WWTDD.

Reese and Jake are said to have started dating in March and to have broken up by June. Maybe they rekindled their romance while doing press for their thriller that is currently 9th at the box office after last week’s release and could coincidentally really benefit from a high-profile love affair between its costars.

This is just a hypothetical question, but if you stood to gain millions of dollars in increased future earnings from faking a romance with a co-worker, would you do it? I know I would. If this movie tanks it’s bad for both Reese and Jake’s careers, but if they “go public” with their long-secret romance they could generate some interest in the film by getting their faces plastered all over the supermarket checkout aisles next week.