As Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are supposedly headed for divorce, fans of the popular couple are wondering if Jonas is playing some kind of P.R. game.
Since TMZ broke the shocking news over the Labor Day weekend that Jonas and the “Game of Thrones” alum were ending their four-year marriage, the musician has been seen as sending mixed and irksome messages about the state of their marriage. He has chosen to wear, or not wear, his wedding ring in highly visible ways and he’s been accused of trying to court sympathy by letting it be known that he’s been left the primary caretaker of their two young daughters while Turner is off somewhere.
The questions about Jonas’ intentions grew Monday evening after the singer posted a photo of himself on Instagram, wearing said wedding ring, as if to refute the onslaught of divorce reports that came from outlets over the weekend — outlets like People, TMZ and Page Six, which are usually pretty reliable when it comes to reporting news of celebrity break-ups.
Jonas didn’t caption the photo, which had him trying to look hot in a torso-hugging T-shirt celebrating the Hawaiian Islands. But the presence of the wedding ring prompted arguments among fans, with some saying he was forced to post the photo to dispel the rampant divorce reports, which included TMZ’s claim that the Jonas Brothers member had “his people” consult at least two Los Angeles-area divorce lawyers because he is “on the cusp” of filing divorce papers.
“Y’all really made this man post a singular picture of himself wearing his ring because of rumors going around the internet,” one person said, with another chiming in: “He really said: here’s the ring. Now shut up.” But another said that the divorce news is coming from “credible magazines.” People magazine especially doesn’t publish stories about stars breaking up “without confirming,” fans said.
A third person said it appeared that Jonas had deleted a number of photos of Turner that had once populated his feed, while a fourth floated a theory that the musician’s representatives are stoking the divorce rumors to “create talk around them” for some undefined purpose. “He knows what he is doing,” the person said.
The day before, Jonas posted another photo of himself wearing the wedding ring — seated around a fire pit with his brothers, Nick and Kevin. TMZ said some fans took that to mean everything’s A-OK,” but TMZ said, “we know it isn’t.” TMZ said things haven’t been OK for quite a while.
“Our sources say the couple has had ‘serious problems’ for at least six months,” TMZ said.
Page Six reported that Jonas has opted to play most of his recent concerts without his wedding band, “something out of the ordinary for the ‘Burnin’ Up’ crooner, who wore the special jewelry item at the start of the tour.” Page Six also made note of other signs that the couple haven’t been enjoying “marital heaven” for quite some time.
The couple sold their Miami mansion in early August — after purchasing it just two years earlier — and Turner stopped attending her husband’s concerts, Page Six said. She hasn’t been seen at any of the Jonas Brothers’ “Five Albums. One Night” tour concerts since opening night at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 12. At around the same time, Jonas stopped wearing his gold wedding band while performing, Page Six also said.
Perhaps most irksome for Turner fans is the report, from TMZ, that Jonas had been left to care for the couple’s two daughters, 3 and 1, “pretty much all the time” for the past three months — even as his band has been touring in the United States.
Turner’s fans thought it was sexist of TMZ to highlight this news about the couple’s childcare arrangements, first because it didn’t mention that Turner reportedly has been in the U.K. working on a new project. Also, fans in a lengthy Reddit thread said that TMZ wouldn’t be singling out Turner, the mother, if she had been left to care for the children while Jonas, the father, was busy on tour.
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“I seriously doubt it would have even warranted a mention in the article if Sophie had been caring for the children while working a full time job while Joe was on tour,” someone said on Reddit. “Because that’s still just what is expected.”
But others saw darker forces at work with this mention of Jonas and Turner’s childcare arrangements — a potentially messy custody battle if there is to be a divorce. The British actor had mentioned in an interview last year that she very much missed England and was “slowly dragging” her American husband to move there. Turner’s fans despaired of a possible effort to portray her as some kind of “absentee mother,” while Jonas gets to come across as a doting, hands-on father.
“Kinda wondering if this might be a preview of a future messy custody battle,” one person said. “Particularly since she apparently misses the U.K. so much, it would make sense that she would wanna move back there after the divorce, which would imply taking the kids with her. Painting her as a bad mom who abandoned her kids seems like it would make for an efficient strategy.”
