Is It Really Ever Mutual?

Australian actress Kate Ritchie released a statement yesterday saying that she and her boyfriend of about a year Corbin Harris had broken up. In an interview she said "We remain great friends but at this time we have decided to go our separate ways." She went on to add that the breakup was mutual. I generally find that the person who first makes the announcement is the one that did the dumping. They want to get their story out there and then have the other person try and fight against what was originally put out. This isn't just a Hollywood or Sydneywood thing. It is a real life thing. If you break up with someone, you are probably going to be the first one to start calling all your mutual friends and spin whatever story you want. Later when they have recovered from having their heart crushed, and try to spin their version of events, it's already too late and you find that all your friends have run off to be with the other person, leaving you alone with your Spiderman comic books and that toy Australian Shepherd you bought together.

I guess all break ups are technically mutual. I haven't heard of too many instances outside of Seinfeld where one party just refuses to be broken up with. So in a sense all breakups are mutual. Until you have dated about a month, I think breakups can be mutual. At this time, no one is going to get crushed, and it is possible for you both to decide that you just are not right for each other. After that though, someone is probably going to get hurt. The only exception would be if you each have somebody on the side.

In this case it sounds like Kate is pretty much ok with the whole breaking up thing, and seems in good spirits which means Corbin is probably pretty hurt. Meanwhile, after a year, I'm sure Kate probably misses Corbin to some extent and so probably calls him still every day and although just being friends now, probably manages to stick the knife in a little deeper with each call. God help the poor guy if they have ex-sex. It always amazes me how people from both sexes can just go from OMG I love you, to talking about the weather and the new person they saw who they really want to go out with. Just because you think you are friends with the person you dumped, doesn't really mean the dumpee is also your friend.

It probably further hurts said dumpee when your ex decides to release a statement about the dumping so that way everyone in the country can know that your ex found you lacking. Good for the self esteem.