Entertainment

So last night I was telling my husband about the Kristen Stewart/Rupert Sanders Drama (because this is my version of talking about my work day, all right? Look, we can't all be heroic Newsroom journalists) and after he totally did me the favor of pretending to be interested, he said, "You know, I'd bet big money this whole thing is a giant PR stunt."

As it turns out, my spouse is hardly the only person convinced that Stewart's very public apology for her affair with Sanders is a classic case of wag the dog. Check out the various theories on why the Twilight cheating scandal may be just as fictional as sparkly vampires:

Kristen and Rob were never a couple in the first place OMGZ!

ROBERT PATTINSON AND KRISTEN STEWART ARE NOT A REAL COUPLE – THEY NEVER WERE – THEIRS IS A FAKE SHOWMANCE PUT TOGETHER BY SUMMIT TO PROMOTE THE TWILIGHT FRANCHISE.  Rob and Kristen were told to be act if they were in love, as if they were a real couple, to promote the multi-billion dollar Twilight franchise – and they did an amazing job for 3 years, raking in tens of millions for themselves as a consequence, and billions for the franchise. Now that Kristen has messed up and the story is public, Rob is free!  He no longer needs to pretend to adore the obnoxious Kristen and waste his time pretending to be her boyfriend. (…) Don’t you dare think that Kristen is apologizing to Rob – she is not – she is apologizing to the Twihards in the hope that they will be able to crawl back into their delusional world and spend more money on the Twilight franchise. -- Celeb Dirty Laundry

Stewart engineered it to make herself more likable.

It could make her actually more alluring. It's not like Sally Field did this, so it could actually enhance her appeal and make her even bigger. -- A senior editor at Us Weekly

It was all a way for Kristen to break it off with Rob, who is gay.

I'm sure it adds fuel to the fire for those who assumed that Kristen was Rob's beard for the past several years. If she's been acting as his beard, this is an easy way to break them up around the time that the franchise ends. People have said that from the beginning. -- A "PR insider"

No wait, it's Kristen who's gay.

She has been seen in increasingly girly outfits, holding hands with Robert, getting photographed on dates etc. Could this alleged affair be nothing more than another attempt to solidify her as a straight female in Hollywood and dispel pervading rumors that she’s gay? -- CollegeCandy

Kristen's apology was intended to save Breaking Dawn 2's ticket sales.

A cynic would point out that Stewart has tremendous financial incentive to make this scandal go away as soon as possible. The last installment in the Twilight saga is scheduled to come out in November, and as Meg Ryan knows, a movie with an adulterous actress has a good chance of bombing. Perhaps in acknowledging and apologizing for the affair now, Stewart's hoping that her teenybopper audience will have the opportunity to mourn, rage, and then forget about the whole thing by the fall. -- The Atlantic

Actually, the cheating was intended to boost Breaking Dawn 2's ticket sales.

By the looks of it, the cheating scandal just came in time months before the final film is set to hit theaters. While others, especially dedicated "Robsten" fans, have been calling it foul, others seem to agree that the scandal just came in time and is simply a publicity stunt. -- International Business Times

Hooboy. Well, personally, I don't think it's a publicity stunt. If I had to guess, I'd say that her lightning-fast, desperate-sounding apology was a Hail Mary to save her relationship with Pattinson. For a starlet who's been so close-mouthed about her romantic life to burst out with the public statement of "I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry" seems authentic and unpolished -- like those are her words, not a publicist's. But who knows! Maybe that's exactly what she wants me to think.

Do you think it's possible this whole Kristen Stewart mess is a PR stunt of some kind?

Image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr