Sep 24, 2010 08:17 GMT  ·  By

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are officially back together, putting divorce on hold – hopefully, for the rest of their life. The decision to end the publicity stunt was prompted by their going broke and literally having nothing to cash in on right now, reports say.

On Heidi’s birthday, the two were pictured together at the zoo, holding hands, kissing and toasting for what seemed to be their reconciliation after a troubled and highly mediated separation.

Today, there is no doubt left that they’re back together again, as a fresh set of photos of the two at the beach (pic also included with the article) has surfaced online.

At the same time, rumor is picking up that this – meaning, staged photo-ops with the paparazzi – is their only remaining means of cashing in, which is very bad, since they’re literally broke.

Radar Online has spoken to sources close to the couple and has confirmation that the two have burned through whatever money they made on MTV’s “The Hills.”

They’re so broke they’re actually forced to move in with Heidi’s mom, the same one whom she called the cops on for dropping by the house to see how she was.

To make matters even worse, interest in them is dwindling because the photos they sell to the paps are no longer wanted – celebrity magazines in the US know their readers know Spencer and Heidi’s separation was a PR stunt.

“The truth is that they are cash-strapped right now and their only real form of income these days is from set-up paparazzi photographs,” an insider reveals for Radar.

“But the US magazines are not really that interested in them anymore and they are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with,” the spy further explains.

“A lot of the editors know that the recent split story was a complete sham and they realize that there readers can see through it all now too,” says the source.

Interest in Heidi and Spencer’s exploits is so tragically low that his most recent stunt – something he probably hoped would be a Brad Pitt 2.0-type of feat – almost went by unnoticed by the media.

“Spencer thought the shaving off his beard stunt would make a lot of money but he kind of blew it by releasing footage of him shearing it on YouTube,” says the source.

“Heidi believes that they should be getting paid a lot more money and she has become really demanding now too. The reality is that they earned a lot of money but did not invest it wisely, spent way too much, and now they are in trouble,” the insider explains.