UPDATED: Demi and Ashton done?

When Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman made the shock announcement they were separating in 2001 I nearly choked on the ham, cheese and tomato sandwich I was eating at my desk. And I actually felt flat for the rest of the day. (Stop rolling your eyes).  It’s ridiculous, I know.  Of course, I know. And what’s more ridiculous is that I wasn’t  even a big fan of either of them (three words, people: Far and Away).

And now  a couple that I do have a bit of a soft spot for look like they’re headed for splitsville.

Speculation is mounting that within the next 48 hours, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore will confirm the intense and sudden speculation:  they’ve split. SUPPOSEDLY, after months of living apart (Ashton in LA filming Two and a Half Men and Demi in New York filming Magic Mike), fresh allegations of Ashton cheating last Friday night, an uncharacteristic refusal to deny the impending split rumours (they have used Twitter to do so in the past) and a string of curious, highly loaded tweets …blah blah blah, Hollywood is preparing itself for a $269 million dollar divorce between the 48-year-old actress and her 33-year-old old husband of six years.

Then there was this in the Huffington Post:

“Though they haven’t publicly commented on the report, there are some potential clues. On September 23rd, Moore tweeted a quote from Greek philosopher Epictetus, writing, “When we are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself & study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.””

But the biggest clue came from that super sleuth Lisa Wilkinson who trawled through the couple’s twitter stream while bored and waiting to pick up one of her kids (I knew I liked that woman) and discovered that Demi hadn’t sent Ashton a ‘good luck’ tweet on the night of his Two and a Half Men debut. And nothing for their anniversary. Neither of them. And for a couple who live their lives over Twitter, dude that’s sayin’ something.

Yesterday in the office, we were discussing this. Some of us (me, Mia and Lucy) were really interested in the story. Others of us (Rick) rolled his eyes and couldn’t understand why we cared.

And when we tried to explain it to him, we discovered we kind of….. couldn’t. What business is it of ours which celebrity hooks up with or breaks up with whom? What POSSIBLE impact can it have on our lives? The answer of course is none. And yet we do care. When Brad and Jennifer broke up? We cared. When Natalie Imbruglia and Daniel Johns broke up, Mia cared so much she wrote an entire column about it. And I’ve already told you how I felt about Tom and Nicole.

And as for Charles and Diana….well…..

Other celebrity break-ups seem to have less of a pop cultural impact. When J-Lo and Marc Anthony split recently, nobody seemed to care. Ditto Courtney Cox and David Arquette.

And still, I’m not quite sure why.

You?

Hmmmmmm.

UPDATE: Ashton Kutcher has since weighed in on the rumours. He recently tweeted:

And earlier in the day, he also posted a link to the song he was playing – Public Enemy’s Don’t Believe the Hype. Hmmmm….

So while we wait for confirmation, this whole thing got me thinking. Which celebrity couple would you most hate to see split up? For me, that would have to be Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness. I LOVE THEM.  LOOOOOVE THEM. How about you?

Here are some of our other fave couples, in case you need some thinking music: