Yankees player Alex Rodriguez and wife Cynthia are said to have split “after about three months of problems in their marriage,” but it’s equally likely the pair already went their separate ways and the Daily News‘ report is just playing catch up with what was already decided between the two — start seeing other people. (That might explain why the baseball star spent about 24 hours with Cynthia after she gave birth to their second daughter.) A-Rod, of course, has spent the week being linked to the still-married (but also marriage problem sufferer) Madonna, while wife Cynthia is supposedly seeing Lenny Kravitz, the one-time paramour of, uh, Madonna.

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Trouble in Nick-And-Mariahdise? According to "sources," the newlyweds are never going to last. Did we need an anonymous source to tell us that?

“I give the marriage six months, tops,” said a source close to the singer. “I can’t see it lasting.”

The insider claims that the reason behind that gloom-and-doom prediction is Nick’s need to do everything for his diva bride. While Mariah likes being waited on hand and foot, that routine won’t work in the long run.

“Nick does whatever Mariah wants him to — he’s like her puppy,” the insider continued. “It seems like Nick spends more time in the stores with Mariah’s credit card than he does with Mariah herself.”

Oh. I thought our reliable source was going to tell us that they don't get along, or that they only married because the sex was good, or that it was all a publicity stunt. But Nick Cannon paying excessive amounts of attention to his more famous, more rich wife? Sounds like a match made in heaven for both of them. [MSNBC]

• Celebrity Circus? Just as ridiculous as we thought it would be. [NB]

• John McCain is sorry about what's happening to flood victims in the Midwest, but Barack Obama's actually doing something to help. [TS]

• Ashanti's performance at last night's NBA game: yea or nay? [TGJ]

• Kanye West's fans are fickle, but only if you make them wait for two hours. Oh well, he'll always have Selita Ebanks. [Bossip]

• No, Death Row artists are not the only rappers to come out of the West Coast. [SB]

"What I found is divorce just can't be an option," Will Smith said on Ellen. "It's really that simple. And I think that's the problem with L.A. – there are so many options. So a huge part of the success for [Jada] and I is that we just removed the other options. We're like listen, we're going to be together one way or the other so we might as well try to be happy," he said.

Tyra would be so disappointed. America's Next Top Model's Cycle 7 winner, CariDee English, learned nothing during that obligatory media-training episode. She spilled to Page Six that her deadbeat hometown boyfriend moved in with her from North Dakota, stole $10,000 from her bank account, and spent it all in Las Vegas. Then she willfully admitted that Tyson Beckford is her new boyfriend. Keep it to yourself until they find out, CariDee. Or maybe that last bit of news was so unbelievable she thought it was okay to let it loose. There's something so wrong about an actual model dating a fake model cast member from ANTM, but I suppose it shows how the world of "reality television" is infiltrating actual reality.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon threw what appears to be an elaborate-but-sparsely-attended wedding party/photo op at Six Flags Magic Mountain Tuesday. The photos, like the general concept, are nausea-inducing. Aren't these two a little too talented to be fashioning themselves into Heidi and Spencer from The Hills?

Perhaps Rihanna and her best friend/brother Chris Brown thought that they were safe to kiss without worrying about paparazzi at a Miami KFC. They were wrong. I feel like such a tween right now, but here goes: "OMG, they are the cutest couple. Chris + Rihanna 4eeeevvveerrrrrrr. [TMZ]

As far back as the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, it looked like Nick Cannon might have had a thing for Mariah Carey. These days, sources are confirming the rumor that the unlikely pair is engaged. This all seems very uncharacteristic of MC, but not so much Nick Cannon. Not only does he have a history of hasty, suspiciously-timed engagements (see his relationship with Selita Ebanks… also see the ring he gave Selita Ebanks), he also has a history of pulling women of a far higher level of attractiveness or fame than one would expect. He must be really charming in person.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon are either engaged or very much enjoying the fact that people think they're engaged. I'm going with the latter, but you never know with Nick Cannon. As we saw in his relationship with Selita Ebanks, he doesn't actually attach a whole lot of meaning to that whole engagement thing. People refers to a "big, gleaming ring" on Mariah's finger quotes Cannon as saying he loves "everything" about M.C. To MTV News, Cannon says about his new relationship, "I can't even know what to say. She's probably the most festive, remarkable person I've ever met. Good friend."

Can't even know what to say? That's love. It should be said that they both have movies that they're promoting right now, although, according to Page Six, Nick skipped the premiere of his film, Ball Don't Lie, to attend the premiere of Carey's Tennessee. I'll give Nick Cannon this, in a competition with Ray J over whose romantic match-up with a far-older R&B diva makes the most sense, Nick wins in a landslide.

And this is when it's time to pack up your things and move back to your parents' house:

“If he doesn’t get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a 5-year-old does,” Gary Coleman's wife, Shannon Price complained on an episode of Divorce Court that airs next month. “He, like, stomps the floor and yells, ‘Meehhhh,’ and starts throwing stuff around. He bashes his head in the wall, too.”

JOHN LEGEND GETS AROUND Word on the street is John Legend has dumped his model girlfriend and is now dating Maria Menounos of Entertainment Tonight. Just because you were obviously dying to know. [PS]

Sean "Diddy" Combs and on-again/off-again girlfriend, Kim Porter, were spotted leaving Victoria Beckham's LA birthday party last night looking very "on again." Are there no relationship problems a very rich man can't fix? I suppose it depends on the woman.

[WI]

Try as I might to come up with something more mature than "Ew, gross!" in response to pictures of the officially reunited Whitney Houston and Ray J at Saturday's Bernard Hopkins fight in Las Vegas, I can't. The two of them are as "Ew, gross!" as they come, and it has little-to-nothing to do with the May-December nature of the relationship. Ray J is so unbelievably slimy and opportunistic and Whitney is just so… Whitney, you know?

There have been many signs that the couple was back on, including Ray J's criticism of Bobby Brown for writing about the negative aspects of his marriage to Whitney Houston and for calling Ray J "little guy." It's also rumored that Ray J's new song "Boyfriend" is about having sex with Whitney Houston, although I see no real evidence of that. Aren't all of his songs about sex?

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PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BEARD Eddie Murphy has been seen out and about with Lara LaRue, the pretty, 25-year-old waitress sister of CSI: Miami's Eva LaRue. Apparently, he sends her huge flower arrangements every day and he's already telling his friends he's in love with her. Yawn. He's sure to get your name in the papers, Miss LaRue, but at what price?