As reports surfaced Thursday that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have placed their divorce on hold and are working toward a reconciliation, neither actor/filmmaker issued a statement—but that hasn't kept celebrity media outlets from exulting, hand-wringing, worrying about the kids or doling out blame for everything.

So what's behind the flurry of reconciliation reports, and the lack of clarity given the silence of the principals, on the status of the divorce that would end the 12-year marriage of what was Hollywood's highest-profile couple?

“I think there are three likely explanations,” said Stacy Phillips of Blank Rome, one of the top family law attorneys in the nation, who has worked on cases involving Britney Spears, Axl Rose, Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston, among others.