Last year, rumours suggesting that Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux had broken up began to circulate.

Due to the ridiculous nature of the rumours, with many suggesting Brad Pitt had something to do with it, last week they released a joint statement confirming they were no longer together.

The couple, who married in 2015 after dating for five years, apparently split because Jen preferred LA, while Justin was more at home in New York, reports News AU.

Of course, it didn’t take long for those long-standing fans of Jennifer’s first marriage to get involved, reports HuffPost:

Now, the dedicated enthusiasts who have obsessed over the ex-couple for the past two decades find themselves at a curious junction: Both Jen and Brad [Pitt] are single again. (Aniston announced her separation from Theroux on Thursday, while Pitt and Jolie split back in 2016.)

Like clockwork, these shippers came out of the woodwork this week to demand Aniston and Pitt reignite their flame.

Seriously – look at just a few examples of what popped up on social media:

Jennifer Aniston: single ??
Brad Pitt: single ?? pic.twitter.com/glMAiNSQXz

— La Colox ? (@soyluluuu) February 16, 2018

So Brad and Jen are totally getting back together, right? #exofmyexismyex pic.twitter.com/zRXo7HlFLc

— Kennedy Elsey (@downtownkennedy) February 15, 2018

But why are people so invested in the fate of these two? What do they think they’ll accomplish by tweet-begging for Brad to call Jen?

To answer those questions, HuffPost sought professional advice. Dr. Kathryn Smerling, a New York-based psychotherapist focused on transitory and crisis phases of life, told HuffPost that “people feel personally involved in the reunion of Aniston and Pitt because, well, it’s all fantasy”:

“When there’s hope that love is possible for a once-shattered marriage like Brad and Jennifer’s, there’s this fairytale-like feeling that happily ever after is possible for all of us,” she said. “We all think that what’s happening to Hollywood couples is happening to us. We think to ourselves, ‘If they can get through it, maybe I can, too!’”

“Brad and Jennifer captured our hearts when they were together,” she added. “When we see a couple as admired as Jen and Brad were, it’s like seeing our role models fail ― in turn that leaves us vulnerable, saddened, and fearing the worst.”

I mean, just look at the image right up the top of the page. How could we not want more red carpet moments like that?

Dr. Lindsay Henderson, PsyD, a psychologist who treats patients virtually via telehealth app LiveHealth Online, agrees:

When something like a breakup or separation happens, she told HuffPost that the negative event “does not match up to the fantasy image we prefer to have of their lives that we hold on to. The joyous events fit much more neatly into the perfect image that we have already created in our minds.”

“Our over-identification with the celebrity ends up causing personal discomfort, and because we have elevated them to having achieved such enviable success, it can sometimes be more troubling to us when they fail than when people in our lives that we actually know and have relationships with fail,” Henderson said.

All that summed up in one tweet:

[source:huffingtonpost]