Last week, a handful of blogs got access to new photos of ex-spouses Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter looking especially chummy and affectionate together in LA. It’s not like they were at work – they apparently just went out to eat together, not caring if they were photographed. It warmed my heart a little bit, mostly because I actually liked both of them, and their divorce had made me think that Hall was rather skeevy. I was also thinking to myself, “Watch out girl.” Because Jennifer Carpenter really loved the hell out of Michael, I believe, and I think she got her heart broken really badly with whatever went down. In any case, Us Weekly’s print edition has this little blurb about what’s going on with them these days, and it seems like Michael might still be a d-bag.

Exes Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall seemed very friendly February 8, snuggling as they watched the sunset in LA’s Venice Beach. The Dexter costars were affectionate during a January 18 coffee date and hung out at Amanda Seyfried’s December birthday bash (just days after their divorce was finalized!).

So what’s up with their relationship staus? In a word: complicated.

Carpenter recently split with a new beau “and is desperate to get back with Michael,” says an insider.

“Their friends think they’re sleeping together. But he’s not into commitment.”

[From Us Weekly, print edition]

“…But he’s not into commitment”???? He’s been married twice!!! Why get gun-shy now? Besides that, their divorce JUST became final. It’s not like Jennifer is begging for another ring (hopefully she’s not). Maybe she just loves him and wants to be a part of him life? The big douchenozzle. I can’t believe he’d play Deb like that.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

More than a year ago, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter split up. They had been married for several years after meeting on Dexter, the show where Michael plays a serial killer and Jennifer plays Dexter’s cop sister. Jennifer had been with Michael through cancer, and they really did seem genuinely in love, which made their breakup pretty depressing. There were rumors that Michael had fooled around with Julia Stiles when Julia was guest-starring one season, although Julia later denied it. There were also rumors that Jennifer wanted to start a family and Michael didn’t. And that Michael was also fooling around with some 25-year-old Dexter staffer, and that Michael and Jennifer were very cold to each other while filming this past season of Dexter.

It all sounded like a bad situation, and I sort of felt bad for Jennifer. I watched this past season of Dexter, and I kept waiting for Deb to be killed off – SPOILER – and she wasn’t. The writers did do some really bizarre stuff to the Deb character, though, and there’s totally a chance Deb will die next season, I think. But that’s not the point – the point is that Michael and Jennifer might be reconciling. Maybe. According to Radar.

Are Dexter stars Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter getting a second chance at love?

That’s what a canoodling session at Beverly Hill’s Peninsula Hotel Tuesday night would suggest, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

“Michael and Jennifer were seated at a dimly lit corner table, sipping wine. It was a very romantic setting and definitely looked like a date,” an eyewitness tells RadarOnline.com.

The Emmy winner and his ex-wife, who play brother and sister on the hit Showtime drama, eloped on New Year’s Eve in 2008, but divorced two years later amid rumors that Michael cheated with Julia Stiles, who guest starred on season 6.

However, inside sources claim that Hall — now recovered from Hodgkin’s lymphoma — attacks was devastated by the split, and never fell out of love with Carpenter.

And, apparently the feeling is mutual.

“When Jennifer got up to use the ladies, Michael squeezed her hand, looked up at her and she smiled. And when she got back, they held hands on the table for a bit,” the eyewitness says. “At one point, Michael leaned across the table and he and Jennifer kissed — a make-out kind of kiss, not a friendly one. They both looked really happy.”

Maybe they were just celebrating their divorce, which was finalized last December?

[From Radar]

If they’re back together, that would make me happy. I liked them together, and if Jennifer can overlook and forgive his (allegedly) douchebaggery, then good for her. I’d like to believe that they didn’t stop loving each other. Sigh… does that make me sound like a romantic a–hole? I’m not. I just like them.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

This Enquirer story is utterly sketchy and doubtful, but I still found it interesting because it involved a man that I adore, and who rarely (if ever) gets any tabloid coverage. Last year, as Dexter was filming its fifth season, married costars Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall began having problems. Some said it was that Jennifer wanted babies and Michael didn’t. Some said it was because Michael might have been boning Julia Stiles, who was guest-starring that season. But I have never heard this theory – that Jennifer Carpenter might have boning the other guest-star last year, Jonny Lee Miller.

Miller is Angelina Jolie’s first husband (and first ex-husband). They remained close friends for years after their split, and Jonny ended up remarrying a nice girl named Michele Hicks, whom he had met in a bar. Jonny and Michele have a son together, Buster. I’ve always thought they seemed like a solid couple, a solid family. But… maybe? Jennifer Carpenter? The Enquirer story makes it sound like their torrid affair consisted of jogging and Jonny listening to Jennifer complain about Michael. The Enquirer also makes this relationship sound on-going, but Jonny isn’t on this season of Dexter, so it’s not like he’s even seen Jennifer in a while, I’m thinking:

Insiders say that Jennifer Carpenter has been spending a lot of time with Jonny Lee Miller ever since her marriage to Michael C. Hall ended last year.

“Jennifer was an emotional wreck after her split from Michael, and Jonny has been her support system,” an insider told The Enquirer.

When Jonny guest-starred on Dexter during season 5, he and Jennifer became good friends and joggling partners. When Jennifer and Michael split, Jonny was a shoulder to cry on.

“Recently, Jonny has been in the habit of regularly phoning and texting Jennifer and spending more time with her,” added the insider. “Jonny’s wife Michele was OK with the friendship for a while, but pals think lately she worries that they’ve become too close. Michele wants him to pay more attention to her and less to Jennifer.”

Jonny promised he’d correct the situation because he deeply loves his wife, the insider added. Michael C. Hall also wondered how appropriate it was for a married man to be in such a close relationship with his co-star ex Jennifer.

“Jonny went on the defensive, assuring Michael there was nothing to worry about,” explained the insider. “The two are on good terms now, but I think there were a lot of bad feelings at first.”

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

The only thing that sounds true is that they jogged together. Both of them are runners – Jonny does marathons and Jennifer is such a big runner, the writers even included into the “Deb” character.

Now, I kind of wondered about Jonny when he was working with Sienna Miller on Broadway last year, but I don’t think anything happened there (fingers crossed). Could he be cheating on Michele? I hope not. (That being said, I wouldn’t blame Jennifer for trying to hit it – Jonny is a hot piece.)

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I recently switched to DirectTV (this isn’t an ad or anything, it’s just an explanation), and I got a complimentary subscription to Showtime for three months. So, I’ve been seeing lots of ads for the new season of Dexter, which premieres in October. I don’t know whether they’ve finished filming the new season… I think they work through the summer, maybe? The Enquirer claims that they’re still filming, or whenever they were filming the new season, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter were not in a good place. Considering the drama surrounding the end of their marriage, I don’t think any of this is shocking, but it’s still interesting. If you remember, there was some gossip that Michael began fooling around with last season’s guest star, Julia Stiles, while he was still married to Jennifer. Julia denied it and she and Michael were never couple-y or anything, but I tend to think they probably did have an affair. Anyway, Jennifer is still pissed:

Soon-to-be-divorced Dexter stars Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are engaged in a cold war on the set of their hit show. The former couple, who married in 2008 and split last year, are barely speaking to one another as they film the sixth season of the Showtime show.

“They talk as little as possible while they are filming scenes together and then avoid each other like the plague the rest of the time,” disclosed an insider.

As the Enquirer previously reported, Jennifer couldn’t get over his refusal to start a family.

“They have a ton of unresolved issues over their marriage, but they have nothing to say to each other at this point,” continued the insider. “It seems as if Jennifer hasn’t forgiven Michael and she’s not making life on the set for him easy.”

Jennifer was a no-show at this year’s Comic-Con, and both Jennifer and Michael skipped out on the Season 5 DVD release party on August 9 for fear of running into each other.

“The caring sibling relationship viewers see on the screen is diametrically opposed to the bitter atmosphere between the former lovers when the cameras aren’t rolling,” added the source. “It’s incredibly awkward for everyone on the set.”

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

If things went down like I think – Michael cheated, Jennifer got pissed off and cheated too – I kind of admire their joint restraint. At least they’re not screaming and yelling at each other? At least they’re trying to just keep their heads down and do their jobs? Yeah… something tells me that Dexter won’t be happening for very much longer. Either that, or they’re going to kill off the Deb character so Michael C. Hall doesn’t have to deal with this crap.

Here’s the trailer for the new season. Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos are the guest-stars this season.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

After Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter announced their split late Monday, it took less than 48 hours for a steady stream of rumors to swirl that Michael C. Hall had been carrying on with his leading lady in this past season of Dexter, Julia Stiles. LaineyGossip had a “blind” about it, claiming that after their story lines had been filmed, they had fallen in love. To make things more complicated, our source told us that while yes, Michael and Jennifer were separated months ago, Jennifer was also carrying on with other men. Anyway, Julia must have thought the “homewrecker” allegation would probably damage her career and her reputation, because she issued a statement (through her rep) to E! News:

As soon as Dexter costars Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter announced their real-life marriage was over, the rumors began.

The internet was flooded with claims that Hall has been romancing Julia Stiles, who plays his love interest on the hit Showtime series.

So, what’s the real deal? Stiles insists she and Hall are not seeing each other.

“I have absolutely nothing to do with the split between Michael and Jennifer,” Stiles says in a statement released by her rep. “We are good friends and enjoyed working together. This is a personal matter between them, and we should respect their privacy. Although I too prefer to keep my private life, private—I felt compelled to dispel the rumors I was somehow the cause for this matter.”

Hall and Carpenter told Entertainment Weekly early this week that they were divorcing after almost two years of marriage, explaining that they have “been separated for some time.”

[From E! News]

Hm… on the face of it, I will believe her, I guess. Even though I think the wording is interesting. I’m nit-picking, I know. But it’s interesting that she says that she “had absolutely nothing to do with the split between Michael and Jennifer” BUT she doesn’t specifically deny that she and Michael are in a relationship now, or were in a relationship before he and Carpenter announced their split. She’s denying that she was the cause of the split, not that she and Michael are boning. Fascinating. Splitting Hairs: America’s Past-time.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Quite honestly, I find Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter’s split much more shocking and interesting than any of the other celebrity splits this week. Probably because I always bought Hall and Carpenter as a couple who made sense, who had a lot of genuine love for each other. But I was wrong – and if our tipster a few days ago was right, Hall and Carpenter have been on the outs for a while. Now Lainey at LaineyGossip is suggesting – in a somewhat obvious blind item kind of way – that Michael was all up on costar Julia Stiles’ grill when they were filming this past season of Dexter:

I mentioned yesterday that there are a few more details about one of the recent splits announced in Hollywood this week. Turns out there was someone else: his love interest this season on his tv show. Their chemistry was so crazy and so evident to everyone that writer and producers, seeing it play out on set, actually cranked up their sex scenes to capture it for show. Her career has seen a resurgence since.

Eventually the two fell in love. They were together, very close, at a Halloween party in New York this fall hosted by a famously controversial writer (this isn’t a super important detail) and those who observed them that night are not surprised now that he’s ended it with his wife.

[From LaineyGossip]

Eh. Michael and Julia didn’t really have cranked-up love scenes. But they did have a lot of chemistry. Also, Showbiz Spy (not reliable in the least) has a source who claimed that Julia and Michael were hanging out earlier this week and that, “Michael was checking out Julia’s butt. He was fixated. He seemed fine though. You would never tell his marriage had just collapsed.” And I just want to point out something else – if we’re judging Michael’s “type” as Jennifer Carpenter, then Julia definitely fits into that “type”. Both are very slender, tomboy-ish, athletic women who are… let’s say… lacking in the kind of stereotypical “feminine” vibe. So… sure, I’ll buy Michael and Julia as a couple. I’ll buy that he was attracted to her, and I’ll buy that maybe his vows didn’t mean much to him.

If Lainey is right, I end up having a lot of sympathy for Jennifer Carpenter. Our tipster claimed that Carpenter has spent the last few months partying her ass off and hooking up with guys too, though. And TMZ just threw up some photos of Jennifer having lunch with a mystery man. Perhaps she called the paparazzi for a little revenge “f-ck you” photo op with Mr. Beefcake. Michael already did the photo op think without his ring yesterday (photos below), just after the news about his split broke. Is anyone else getting the feeling that there is some bad stuff about to break? Ugh.

PR image from Dexter. Additional pics courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.

Over the weekend, we got sent a tip from someone who claimed that Dexter star Michael C. Hall and his co-star Jennifer Carpenter were living apart and that everyone on the set of Carpenter’s new movie knew about it. Kaiser and I debated whether we should repeat it, as the story was a “a friend” kind of source and I could not verify that the e-mail address came from anyone who might know or who was even located in LA or Miami.

A tipster e-mailed us: “[A friend] recently got done [working on] a film called Ex Girlfriends with Jennifer Carpenter and he got to know her pretty well. She didn’t open up to him directly about the state of her marriage, but she was living in an entirely different residence than Michael C. Hall and throwing parties and inviting dudes over, kind of hitting on them from what [my friend] could tell. More worrying, [my friend] saw Michael C. in a club a couple months back, and he entered the club with his wedding ring on but left the club with it off and with 2-3 girls on his arms.”

It looks like that person’s information was accurate, sadly, as Hall and Carpenter have just filed for divorce after two years of marriage. Carpenter, who plays Hall’s sister on the show, was by his side while he went through treatment for Hodkin’s lymphoma, which he has since overcome.

After nearly two years of marriage, Dexter stars Michael C. Hall, 39, and Jennifer Carpenter, 31, are divorcing. An exclusive joint statement to EW from their representatives read: “Having been separated for some time, Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall have filed for divorce.” Both reps add that the split was amicable. The couple — who met on the set of the Showtime drama, in which she plays his foster sister — married on December 31, 2008. Hall completed treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma earlier this year.

[From EW via DListed]

Two years is a very short marriage, but I guess that’s par for the course in Hollywood. It sounds like these two had to spend too much time apart for their careers and that it took a toll on the relationship. Was Hall cheating first, or was Carpenter cheating first or was it mutual?

Also, I haven’t watched Dexter past the first three seasons but Kaiser has been following this season and has not seen the season finale (which aired on Sunday) yet. She’s waiting until it reairs this weekend. So please do not post spoilers for the finale in the comments.

NOTE BY KAISER: Seriously, don’t destroy the finale for me! Also: this is so sad! I love them as a couple. She stayed with him through cancer, for the love of God.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Michael C Hall stars as a serial killer with a conscience in the dramatic series Dexter, which recently completed its second season on Showtime. Dexter’s day job is as a forensic blood expert with the Miami police department where he works with his sister, Debra Morgan, an up and coming homicide detective. On screen the two play siblings who have playful camaraderie and help each other out, and offscreen they’re said to have been dating for around four months:

[Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter] “have been seeing each other secretly for some time,” a source tells Star. “They were keeping it quiet because Michael is still married.” The former Six Feet Under star, 36, filed for divorce from his wife of four years, actress Amy Spanger, in 2006. Although it’s still pending, Michael and Jennifer, 28, finally decided that four months of sneaking around was enough!

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 14, 2008]

I’ve only seen the first season of Dexter as I live overseas and don’t have access to the second season yet, but I’m looking forward to it. It took me a while to get into the show as the premise is so odd, but once I watched a couple of episodes I was hooked and my husband loves it two.

Dexter and Deb are just brother and sister by adoption on the show as Deb’s father, a homicide detective, adopted Dexter. I won’t give away much more of the plot as it’s a worthy series to rent and watch in its entirety. Considering that these two play siblings by adoption it might be a little easier for them to step out of their characters and fall in love. Hopefully they aren’t too burdened by the plot of the show. It seems outlandish enough not to be taken seriously by the people who work on it, although it sucks you in, kind of like Prison Break.

Michael C Hall is a talented actor and Six Feet Under is one of my favorite shows of all time. It’s nice to see him finding success again on Dexter.

Images are promotional photos for Dexter season one and two. It’s confirmed that it has been picked up for a third season by Showtime, although it’s likely to be delayed by the writer’s strike.

Update: The first season of Dexter will air on CBS on Sundays starting 2/17. It will be edited for to meet broadcast TV standards. [via ONTD]