"Gossip Girl" hottie Chace Crawford has been getting a lot of press lately, not for his performance in the successful CW TV series, but for rather more serious and personal issues. The young actor has had to deal with the break-up of his relationship with country singer and American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, as well as with some pretty pesky rumors about him playing for the other team, so to say, being gay, that is. His latest potential gay love interest has been former 'Nsync star JC Chasez. The two artists have since denied being more than just very good friends; however, the rumor mill won't stop spinning as far as they are concerned. The latest Crawford love-related rumor comes to add even more strain to the actor's private life, as it has recently been revealed that his splitting from Underwood was not as recent as we all thought - and it was all done via text message.

Carrie herself revealed the rather uncomfortable truth about the pair's break-up to "Extra" tabloid TV show last weekend. "It was completely mutual," she said. "We broke up over text so ... it's like 'peace out'. It just didn't work. We both knew it didn't work ... [There were] no hard feelings at all whatsoever," she added. The interesting part about Carrie's revelations is that they point out her relationship to Crawford was not even half as serious as it was thought to be prior to the rumors of their break-up emerged. At some point, speculations seemed to indicate that things were getting serious between the two artists, with Underwood reportedly spending part of her winter holidays with Crawford's family and so on. It was not, however, the case, seeing that a reasonably serious relationship can't possibly end via text.

Chace's sister Candice - who seems to have become the actor's self-proclaimed representative - insists that her brother didn't treat his break-up from Carrie lightly. "He was upset about the breakup. It's always hard when you lose a relationship," she stated for People magazine. Which may be true or it may simply be an attempt to make her brother appear a little more involved in his past relationship with the country singer, and therefore less likely to seem gay. However, his close personal relationship with former 'Nsync-er Chasez and the many public appearances they put in together - along with rumors of the two being spotted together in various cozy circumstances, such as sharing a pool-side cabana in L.A. - will only add fuel to the "gay" fire. Which means nothing, of course, well, except a hot piece of celebrity gossip. And we all enjoy that, whether we like to admit it or not.