Today's news that Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon's seven-year long marriage has just now "officially" ended invites all kinds of speculation on just why it took nearly two years for the divorce proceedings to finalise. Citing "irreconcilable differences" all the way back in 2006, the blonde duo split amid speculation that Ryan's bad boy behaviour ranged from publicly making out with current girlfriend Abbie Cornish on the Texas set of Stop Loss to an increasing level of resentment regarding his wife's fast-rising star status. And while celebrity divorces do typically take longer than usual, considering how many more properties, cars, adultery allegations and cash they tend to have, we find the timing of this particular pair's final John Hancocks a little suspicious given the past month's unusually abundant Reese-and-Ryan gossip flood. Is today's news just a coincidence, or did each party's very public pictorial statements recently have anything to do with it?

As we had the pleasure of witnessing last month, Jake and Reese made one of their most public and skin-revealing appearances on the beach, with Reese all smiles in her itty bitty blue bikini, and Jake's impressive upper body on sunny display. And in a possible revenge ploy, Ryan agreed to accompany Abbie to an Australian awards ceremony, marking their first red carpet appearance as an official couple. Of course, it's basically public knowledge by now that Ryan took the divorce far harder than Reese, judging by his many weepy quotes about suicide and "vomiting" over the years, and Reese put Ryan in check mate first with those lovey dovey beach photos. No matter how many meetings, lawyers and arguments over child custody have taken place over the years, these pictures were apparently worth a thousand words.

• REESE WITHERSPOON AND RYAN PHILLIPPE FINALISE THEIR DIVORCE [Us]

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