Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images; Jason Kempin/Getty ImagesIt wasn't exactly a shocker when we spilled that Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift ended their relatively short coupling. Come on, just look at the timeline of their hardly hot hookups. Not exactly hot goings-on there.
But still, the romance served a purpose, right? Jake had a movie to sell (Love and Other Drugs) and Taylor had an album to promote, with her sung-about-man slot needing to be filled. What a far more respectable replacement for sometimes sleazy John Mayer than the sweetie, dimpled-dude Jake, right?
Wrong. Taylor perhaps didn't choose so wisely on that one.
Even thought reps for Gyllenhaal and Swift would not comment, sources close to the 21-year-old singer confirm the country gal was "very taken" with Jake's movie-man status—Hollywood stars in her eyes and all that biz. (Think Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise here.) She forgot to look past Jake's very winning charm and his impossibly seductive smile.
Because, if she had, she would have seen the ghost of crafty Reese Witherspoon, who's still very much a thorn in Gyllenhaal's side.
"[Jake] was really caught off guard and taken aback by how Reese ended it," claims a source close to the 30-year-old hunk. "Honestly, he's still reeling from that."
So much so that he can't move on with a pretty, wholesome, albeit ambitious young gal?
"Perhaps," considered our trusty Gyllenhaal insider. "Let's just say Jake was surprised by all the attention [he found with Taylor], and the last thing he wanted was another public, surprise breakup. Taylor's young, you just don't know what could have happened. He needed to contain it, before it went any further. He's just not in that relationship space right now."
Hmmm, not sure Taylor would have pulled another icy Reese-like split on the Jakey, but you never know.
Obviously, Swift never shows all her cards in love, right?
Or perhaps the writer of "Dear John" does?