>>859 Ugh that would be awful. I'm all in favor of celebrities maintaining privacy, and I understand that sometimes the truth is manipulated for PR purposes, but I'd even be annoyed if it came out that they were in a serious relationship and had out and out lied about it. They both explicitly denied being in a relationship at TIFF, when they could have just as easily given a "no comment" or not discussed it. The speculation was going to continue regardless, so it didn't really matter what they said either way.

I also think part of Tom's charm with his fans is that he (I believe intentionally) comes across as honest and not part of the Hollywood Machine, so if it were to come out that he had lied about being serious with an Olsen for an extended period of time, I think his fans would be at least somewhat justified in being upset. A big part of being in the entertainment industry is public image, so I don't think fans can really be faulted for feeling blindsided when a celebrity does something completely contrary to the image they've pushed for years.

All that being said, I think it's possible they were/are hooking up in some casual way, so the "not dating, just friends" statements were technically true, but I don't think it's going to get any more serious than whatever it currently is (if that makes sense).