What Was Up With Kristen Stewart's Crazy Apology?

Even if you really, really did not want to care about the Twilight cheating scandal, admit it: You were a bit floored by Kristen Stewart’s surprisingly emotional, candid apology to Robert Pattinson for cheating on him with Rupert Sanders (read it in full here). Particularly notable is the fact that this is the first time Stewart has ever directly confirmed her relationship with Pattinson, though it’s been the subject of rumors for years. The best reactions:

• The dramatic "I love him, I love him" line makes Stewart’s statement "strangely authentic-sounding," an entertainment PR expert tells the Huffington Post. But the expert’s theory is that Stewart was forced into the mea culpa—perhaps by Pattinson—because "this is the sort of thing famous people generally don’t acknowledge." On the other hand, the whole cheating scandal could have been crafted by their publicists as a way to break them up, seeing as many assume Kristen has been acting as "Rob's beard."

• This is weird, writes Leah Beckmann on Gawker. The normally stony-faced Stewart's statement is "pumped with all the desperate emotion and feelings one would expect from any 22-year-old apologizing for cheating on her boyfriend," but it seems a bit much "for a couple of on-set cuddle pics." Normally, a "PR intern could have managed" this type of situation—so what's going on? "Something wicked this way comes, for sure."
• In the Atlantic, Eleanor Barkhorn notes that not only was the apology shockingly raw, it was immediate. One theory: "Stewart has tremendous financial incentive to make this scandal go away as soon as possible," what with the final Twilight movie coming out in November. Then again, Stewart has never appeared to give a crap what anyone thinks, and doesn’t play the marketing game the way other young starlets do. Maybe "she just wanted forgiveness, so she asked for it."
• The whole thing "feels like a high school f--- up," writes Jessica Coen at Jezebel. "Even the overwrought apology (your boyfriend is 'the most important thing in my life'— really?) sounds like a kid with a case of the swoons."

(More Kristen Stewart stories.)