Adam Nemser/startraksphoto.comTaylor Swift and Harry Styles, Bethenny Frankel and husband Jason Hoppy—why are all these celebrity couples breaking up right now?
—Tara, via Facebook
Good question! After a whirldwind autumn, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles are so not together anymore (right, random hot-tub girl?). And then there's the erstwhile Jelena, that adorable punkinheaded duo known separately—as they are right now—as Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.
Why all the heartache? Well, you can blame the time of year. Yep, really.
According to years and years of research supported by—of course—divorce attorneys, January is the month for breakups, celebrity or otherwise.
Why? Tons of reasons. Couples with kids often stay together through the holidays so that their wees ones won't have to cry over their brand-new Red Ryder BB guns.
Jelena and Haylor didn't have kids, of course, but January breakup-itis affects the child-free just as often.
"I think it's just like people who wait to leave a job until after the holiday," relationship expert Dr. Gilda Carle tells me. "They want to get their bonuses! They want to go to the parties, and be a part of a couple during a season when a lot of people are alone and feel lonely."
Or, there's always the compassion factor.
"Sometimes," Carle notes, "people who are ready to break up with their significant others just want to be kind."
True, that.