Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp Split 
 
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 Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp have ended their relationship as quietly as they began it The actress, 52, and the rocker, 62, split recently after dating for more than three years , PEOPLE has confirmed."It was the distance," a source tells PEOPLE. "She lives in New York and he resides in Indiana. It was the long distance that ultimately was the cause."The pair – who were last spotted together in May – became an item in late 2010, shortly after Mellencamp's split from wife Elaine after 18 years of marriage.They kept a low profile during the past three years, stepping out together for the occasional industry event and being spotted now and again on the streets of New York. But Indiana native Mellencamp had expressed his unhappiness at calling New York City home."I'm too sensitive to live there," he told Rolling Stone in December. "I can't see poor people. I can't see the suffering. I can't see the trash on the streets." When it comes to paparazzi attention, he added, "I don't like it for [Ryan]. "I'm not leaving Indiana. I'm going to die here."Both stars have big projects coming up: Mellencamp, a father of five, is poised to release his 22nd album, Plain Spoken, in November. Meanwhile, Ryan, who has son Jack, 22, with ex-husband Dennis Quaid, and daughter Daisy, 9, has been busy working on her directorial debut, Ithaca, a WWII coming-of-age drama that's being executive-produced by Ryan's Sleepless in Seattle costar Tom Hanks.The film marks a major return to Hollywood for the very private actress, who has deliberately avoided the spotlight since making her last major film, 2008's The Women. The onetime soap star had been poised to make her small-screen return this fall with a new pilot and the role of the narrator in the planned How I Met Your Mother spin-off, but neither show was picked up.Reps for the pair have not yet commented. Closer Weekly first broke news of the split. ||||| Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email 
 
 Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have put their ­divorce plans on ice – just three months after declaring they were ­“consciously uncoupling”. 
 
 Friends believe announcing the split to the world took the heat off their 10-year marriage – and made the superstar pair realise what they were risking, the Sunday People reports. 
 
 And as our photo from last weekend shows, Oscar-winner Gwynnie and Cold-play idol Chris are now acting like flirty teens intent on ­consciously recoupling. 
 
 One friend said: “It’s true they had problems but in the weirdest way this ‘conscious uncoupling’ situation has relieved the pressure on them. 
 
 "Gwyneth had ground rules about not ­immediately dating, respecting each other, keeping things happy for their two children and communicating throughout but it seems to have acted as a wake-up call. 
 
 “Chris still lives with her, they are amazingly lovey-dovey together and she still wears her wedding ring. 
 
 “They may have consciously ­uncoupled a few months ago – but they seem to be recoupling now. No one will be surprised if they get back together.” 
 
 One friend even compared Gwyneth, 41, and Chris, 37, to legendary Hollywood couple Liz Taylor and Richard Burton and their famous can’t-live-with-can’t-live-­without relationship. 
 
 The pal said: “There’s definitely something of Burton and Taylor in them. 
 
 “But Chris and Gwyn did things in a very different way. There was a lot of talking, a lot of analysis – probably too much – and when they decided to call it a day, actually what they’d done was clear the air and given each other an exit route. 
 
 “I think both of them saw it – and then looked at what they have.” 
 
 The friend added: “Chris also felt super-protective about the flak and criticism levelled at Gwyn when it came out. 
 
 "He felt it was unfair and ­uncalled for and he stepped in to make her feel better. 
 
 “He also put it out that a lot of the problems were down to him, not her – I guess that also added to him standing by her rather than walking away.” 
 
 Iron Man star Gwyneth revealed the marriage rift in March, though she and Chris pledged to jointly bring up daughter Apple, ten, and son Moses, eight. 
 
 But in recent weeks the pair have been spotted out together near the home they share in Los Angeles. 
 
 Last weekend a fellow diner snapped them getting up close and personal over a meal in the city. 
 
 A few days earlier they were laughing together during a candlelit dinner at Hollywood’s swanky Chateau Marmont hotel. 
 
 Later they were seen giggling as they slipped out of the back door of a hip Santa Monica restaurant and made a dash for their car to avoid photographers. 
 
 And Gwynnie pulled out of a New York fashion bash to join Chris and the kids at their LA pad. 
 
 Court papers relating to a man alleged to be stalking the actress give the home address – and Chris’s name has been added in a hand-written note as “living with” her. 
 
 Meanwhile, Chris’s friendship with Brit fashionista Alexa Chung, 30 – which has sparked so much speculation since the marriage rift – seems to be have cooled. 
 
 Although they met up in a New York bar four weeks ago, there was a notable lack of body-contact – and Chris denied any romantic link. The respect Chris and Gwynnie have shown for each other since their rift has been immense. 
 
 A showbiz pal said: “Relationships never run in straight lines. 
 
 “Problems build up, there is ­resentment on both sides and it can all blow up. 
 
 “Then you forget what it was that caused the issues – and all you ­remember is how much you like each other and miss each other when you’re not together.” 
 
 While promoting new Coldplay album Ghost Stories last month, Chris said: “You can be with someone very wonderful and because of your own issues you can’t let that be celebrated in the right way. 
 
 “If you don’t open up, you can’t appreciate the wonder outside.” ||||| Nearly two years after they first announced their split, Jennifer Garner is gearing up to file for divorce from Ben Affleck, Us Weekly can confirm. 
 
 Garner and Affleck, both 44, revealed in June 2015 that they were going their separate ways after 10 years of marriage. The pair met on the set of 2001’s Pearl Harbor and fell in love while starring in 2003’s Daredevil. They tied the knot in June 2005 and share three children — Violet, 11, Seraphina, 8, and Samuel, 4. 
 
 “No matter what happens, Ben and Jen are committed to raising their family as one unit and will continue to do so as it has worked for them,” a source close to the couple tells Us in regards to Garner’s plans to officially split from the actor. “They are both committed to their family.” A second source adds that Affleck has since moved out of their shared Brentwood home. 
 
 As Us Weekly exclusively revealed in July 2015, the Justice League actor briefly dated the couple’s nanny, Christine Ouzounian, following the breakup. The California native, 29, began caring for the kids when the stars were apart during a secret 10-month trial separation. 
 
 Us broke the news that same month that Affleck and the Alias alum were in couples therapy “for years” before they separated. “They were going to divorce when Sam was born, but you know how it is — baby comes and solves the issues for a bit, but it’s just a Band-Aid. It hasn’t been working for ages,” a source said at the time. “Ben truly wanted his idea of family life and the idea of family he had growing up in Boston, so he stayed in it longer than he wanted to because of the kids and the idea of family. But he couldn’t save it.” 
 
 In the two years since their very public breakup, Affleck and Garner have remained amicable. In February 2016, Garner told Vanity Fair that he was the love of her life. “I didn’t marry the big fat movie star; I married him,” she told the mag. “And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You can’t have these three babies and so much of what we had. He’s the love of my life. What am I going to do about that? He’s the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous. He’s just a complicated guy. I always say, ‘When his sun shines on you, you feel it.’ But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow.” 
 
 Garner also poked fun at the situation, as well as a large back tattoo that Affleck got around the same time. “You know what we would say in my hometown about that? ‘Bless his heart,'” she quipped. “A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.” 
 
 Following their split, Garner and the Oscar winner continued to travel as a family so the kids could be near both parents when one of them was filming on location. Affleck has also gushed about Garner as a mother in several interviews. “[Jennifer is] the greatest mom in the world,” the Live by Night star and director said during a TimesTalks panel at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts in NYC in December. 
 
 “Jen is a really great cook,” he exclusively told Us the following month. “She’s probably the best cook I know. We had roast chicken this year; it was really, really good. Other than that, we do pizza nights, where a guy comes and makes pizza and nobody has to cook.” 
 
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– Is there something in the water? Hollywood has been hit with a rash of break-ups: After more than three years together, Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp are over, People reports. "It was the long distance that ultimately was the cause," says one source; Ryan, 52, lives in New York while Mellencamp, 62, lives in Indiana. Michelle Rodriguez and Zac Efron weren't together nearly so long, but they, too, are finished after almost two months of dating, Us reports. "Michelle is going to do her own thing. Zac knew this about her when he got with her," one source says. "He's very into her though, and perhaps more than she's into him." Rodriguez, 36, and Efron, 26, reportedly had a big fight in Ibiza that prompted the split. In slightly more D-list news, Jersey Shore couple Ronnie Magro and Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola are done for good after an on-again, off-again five-year relationship, Magro tells People. "We were drifting apart and not really spending any time together," he says. "She's a great girl, but we were growing distant." And, though there's no official word on this yet, multiple outlets are reporting that Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon are all but divorced. Lawyers have been negotiating property and custody agreements for months, according to TMZ, and the couple has been living separately since May. According to Page Six's sources, Carey, 45, thinks Cannon, 33, might have cheated.