The romance between Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal first began back in April as fun, casual dating. The two actors were said to share "a mutual interest" but were "taking it slow." Fans hoped the couple would succeed, given that they share a modest, family-centered lifestyle, love kids, and prefer to keep a low-profile.

But by the end of June, the pair had announced a split, and the rumor was that Reese had ended it out of concern for preserving her family's unity and not getting too serious too soon after her October divorce from Ryan Phillippe.

Jake and Reese remained friends post-split, and have had only nice things to say about each other...but it seems that they have had a tough time keeping their "friendship" platonic!

Just a month after their "break-up" Reese and Jake were spotted in a car together driving around the Hollywood Hills, raising suspicion that their romance had picked back up. Then they were said to have shared a secret rendezvous in August. A few months later, though, they were seen together in Toronto looking stiff and uncomfortable, instigating reports that their relationship was finally kaput.

But any doubts that Jake and Reese are over each other has gone out the window since the couple were spotted together in Rome this weekend - allowing their displays of affection to be caught on film for the first time and looking totally in love as they strolled the historic city hand in hand.

So why all the months of on-again-off-again romance, when these two are so obviously in love?

While sources have simply called them a "rocky couple," ex-hubby Ryan Phillippe may be playing a bigger role than most people realized.

It is a given that Ryan would want to preserve his sense of family and not feel displaced by a new father figure. In consideration of this, Reese reportedly "[forbade Jake from spending] the night when the kids are around" and made an effort to continue spending time with her whole family, Ryan included. But despite her efforts to respect his boundaries, Ryan appeared to be threatened by Jake, who he called "that guy", "didn't want around his kids," and crudely made fun of for his Brokeback Mountain role.

Perhaps Reese Witherspoon got fed up with indulging Ryan's hypocrisy. She may have gotten wind of the recent rumors that Ryan had picked back up with Abbie Cornish - the woman who may have been Ryan's mistress and the partial cause of his divorce - and thought: why should I be making sacrifices in her love life to make Ryan feel better, if he is off getting romance of his own?

Still, Reese's rocky relationship with Jake may also have been the result of a power struggle, according to The Daily Mail:

"Reese has made it clear she likes to be the one in control of a relationship. She told Elle magazine last month: '[My dad and uncle] taught me that in every relationship, the person least interested in maintaining it is going to dominate it, because they'll never compromise. So you have to always maintain that position of least interest, and you'll always control the relationship.'"

If Reese is sticking to her rules, we know who's wearing the pants in this relationship, don't we?!

Well regardless of who's "on top", both Jake and Reese look thrilled to be together - and their public coming-out seems to only be a sign of more romance to come!

First things first: John Mayer and Cameron Diaz. Now this is a match-up that kind of make sense! In terms of fame level, age, classiness and shared social awareness, it works. But the two most important parts of the John+Cameron rumor are: Cameron is not Jessica Simpson, and John is not Justin Timberlake. This means that John Mayer may actually be pursuing a woman he considers an intellectual equal, rather than a puppet whose identity he can morph into his own. And it is an opportunity for Cameron to finally show Justin that she is over him - and reciprocate a dose of the jealousy that Justin has likely been rousing in her with his multiple rebounds immediately following their January split. After raising the red flag by dining together on August 14, Cameron and John have supposedly been seen "all over each other" around New York the last couple weeks and insiders have asserted that the rumors "are definitely true." Wonder how Miss Simpson is feeling right about now...

Next most interesting couple: Adrian Grenier and Paris Hilton. Now wtf is the deal there? The Entourage star and hotel heiress turned heads when they attended a special screening of Leo DiCaprio's environmental documentary "The 11^th Hour" in early August. Since then they have been seen surfing and frolicking in the ocean outside Paris's Malibu beach house and going out to the movies in a very "date-like" manner. Paris laughs off romance rumors, while Adrian has chalked up their uber-togetherness to be "research" for his supposed documentary about the relationship between celebrities and the media. Adrian tells E!Online he's "not ready to talk about" his documentary, but that Paris "has a light...that everyone focuses on." Wow, what an articulate guy!

No doubt Paris is a great place to start his research, but has Paris's "light" captivated Adrian in more ways than just as a business partner or research piece? Let's take a look at their body language - bodies turned inward in that V-like manner of intimacy, eyes locked, giddy smiles on their faces?! Yup, they are definitely digging each other. I'd almost call it cute - they are like two bashful teenagers falling into puppy love and self-conscious about all the eyes on them. Or is it just Paris's usual gaiety and Adrian's awe at all that paparazzi attention? Not even Adrian's buddy Kevin Connolly knows the truth at this point, but I'm putting my money on them screwing some time real soon.

If things don't work out between Paris and Adrian, Britney Spears would be the perfect research substitute. Ain't nobody got a "light" the paparazzi likes to follow like Britney. And as 50 cent recently pointed out, getting inside her life isn't always a challenge. Her latest leech is Mindfreak star Criss Angel, who quickly earned himself celebrity-wannabe status after dating Cameron Diaz and Lindsay Lohan within the same month. Although the angelic illusionist has been seen leaving Britney's home and hotel room as late as 4 in the morning since their initial mid-August dinner date, Criss has declared that there is no romance. "We're not together. Her manager is my manager, and I'm helping with her appearance on MTV," he tells People Magazine, adding "It's amazing how you can't do anything now without people making up stuff." Cry us a river, why dontcha Mr. Angel. People are already pretty much over the Criss+Britney rumors anyways, since a lot more shiznit has gone down since then...like Britney fleeing the country and being spotted throughout Europe...and today's release of some of her new (and very dark) music. What do YOU think of the new single?

In other news, Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon are definitely back on. Both actors were spotted in Martha's Vineyard with their families and have more recently been rendezvousing on dinner dates and sleepovers around Los Angeles. Glad to hear Reese is keeping her distance from ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, who has been busy sparking romance rumors of his own with Abbie Cornish, the co-star who he supposedly had an affair with back in his married days. I will say one thing for Ryan - he seems to be a pretty responsible dad - but other than that, he really is kind of a douchebag!

Men all over America can be devastated by the news that Jessica Alba has reunited with her recent ex, Cash Warren. Or perhaps they never even broke up. Either way, they shared a nauseatingly romantic walk on the beach in L.A.'s Pacific Palisades near yesterday. Sorry boys!

Jessica Biel and JT are still getting steamy all over the world during Justin's summer concert tour. The twosome have been spotted jogging in Copenhagen, dining in Sweden, and clubbing back in Hollywood. This month there have been reports that Justin is getting so serious about Jessica that he asked her to move in with him and gave her a "promise ring." Then again, there have also been reports that Justin is very not serious and that his womanizing ways haven't changed a bit. Neither report is convincing. While Justin does tend to be the relationship type, he is still rebounding from his 4-year relationship with Cameron and has only been dating Jessica since February. Not to mention that he is on top of the world right now - with the notoriety and success he's enjoying, he could probably have any woman he wants. No wonder people have been calling him "arrogant" and "conceited" lately...

Zac Efron confused people by kissing Hairspray co-star Nikki Blonsky during a live cast interview in July, which then started rumors that he had dumped girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens for the more voluptuous co-star. This is of course not the case, as the kiss was only in jest. Kinda cute that Zac and Nikki can play around like that...hopefully Vanessa is as cool with it as they are!

That's all for the Hollywood romance rumors. There are of course a crapload of other break-ups and make-ups happening in Hollywood, but who really wants to hear about Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker?

Stay Tuned, kids!