After two and a half years of marriage, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux announced today that they have separated.

The couple shared the news with fans in a joint statement released by her longtime publicist Stephen Huvane.

Says the statement:

“Normally we would do this privately, but given that the gossip industry cannot resist an opportunity to speculate and invent, we wanted to convey the truth directly.”

“Whatever else is printed about us that is not directly from us, is someone else’s fictional narrative.”

“Above all, we are determined to maintain the deep respect and love that we have for one another.”

With echoes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s “conscious uncoupling,” Jennifer and Justin added that their split was “mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year.”

Rumors of Aniston and Theroux separating have been circulating for quite some time due to the couple spending large chunks of time in different parts of the country.

They announced their split just days after Jennifer’s 49th birthday, which she and Justin spent apart.

Aniston marked the occasion with friends in Malibu, while Justin was in New York City, where he appears to have taken up residence.

As for that speculating and inventing that Jen and Justin’s statement alluded to, well, gossip is in our name, after all.

So we would be remiss if we didn’t at least fill you in on some of what folks are saying around the interwebz.

In the days to come, you’re bound to hear a whole lot of talk about Jennifer Aniston getting back together with Brad Pitt.

To be clear: there’s no real reason to believe that’s going to happen.

That being said, how awesome would it be?!

People have been predicting that Aniston and Theroux would get divorced because of Pitt ever since he separated from Angelina Jolie.

As far as we can tell, the main reason this celebrity gossip rumor has been so persistent is that people really want it to happen.

Nothing against Justin and Angie.

They can totally hook up and wear black and goth out together, or something.

Just as long as we get the Brad and Jen reconciliation we’ve been waiting for since 2005.

Make it happen, you two!

Source: celebweddings