I wrote the other day about a story out of Australia, where Andrew Garfield is shooting a Mel Gibson movie, and how he supposedly told a random who was yelling at him on the street that he and Emma Stone are no longer together. Click here for a refresher.

Yesterday, three major, reliable gossip outlets reported that Andrew and Emma are indeed over. I want you to note the specific wording from each outlet’s “source”.

According to E! News’s source: 

"There is definitely still love for each other there. They remain close and are on good terms."

According to US Weekly’s source, it’s been a couple months and:

“They still have a lot of love for one another and they are on good terms with each another and remain close. It just wasn't working."

According to PEOPLE’s source, it’s been a few months and:

"There was no drama, they've been apart while working. They still care about each other. They still have love for one another. They are on good terms with each other and remain close."

Did the repeat wording jump out at you?

“Good terms”

“Still love for each other”

“They remain close”

And all 3 outlets basically published their stories at the same time. Go look at the time stamps on those articles. You know what that probably means, right? It means it was the same source. And, given the phrasing, in particular the expression “they remain close” – only publicists talk like that.

This is our lesson or reminder today about how Hollywood works. Who sources can be. And when and why sources go on record sometimes and not on record at other times. Because this is basically an official confirmation…without a name attached to it. What’s interesting to me here then is that whoever this is – and in my opinion it’s obviously the publicist – doesn’t want to take responsibility for the statement. Perhaps because Emma and Andrew have claimed before that they don’t talk about their personal lives publicly so they wouldn’t want to set the precedent. Fine. But if that’s the case, at least do it in a more sophisticated way? This was way too easy. And also, when it’s official but unofficial, you give people hope. And hope always turns fans crazy, we’ve seen this all too often.