Last week, Justin Timberlake didn't want to address the rumors that he'd broken up with Cameron Diaz -- even as his longtime girlfriend's absence at the Los Angeles premiere of his new movie "Alpha Dog" seemed to speak volumes. But now both Timberlake and Diaz are ready to confirm what the rest of the country has been gossiping about all week: It's over.

"We have, in fact, ended our romantic relationship and have done so mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another," the two said in a joint statement released on Thursday (January 11).

Tabloid reports had placed the split as happening over the holidays, since Timberlake spent time at home with his family in Tennessee while Diaz went skiing with her family in Colorado. Rumors of breakups and marriage plans had plagued the couple throughout the course of their three-and-a-half-year relationship, but they kept silent about all of it.

"It has always been our preference not to comment on the status of our relationship," the statement read. "But out of respect for the time we've spent together, we feel compelled to do so now, in light of recent speculation and the number of inaccurate stories that are being reported by the media."

Timberlake and Diaz didn't specify which stories, but the most likely candidates are those linking the singer to pre-Britney girlfriend Veronica Finn (based on spending time together around Christmas), Kate Hudson (based on spending time together on New Year's Eve) and Scarlett Johansson (based on spending time together during the shooting of a video for his next single, "What Goes Around ...").

Both Diaz and Timberlake voice parts (as Fiona and a young King Arthur figure called Artie, respectively) in the upcoming "Shrek the Third," out May 18.