A Time Out for Rihanna and Baseball Beau?

Wonderwall, Friday, December 17, 2010, 10:43am (PST)

By Kat Giantis

Is Rihanna's romance with Matt Kemp on the rocks? That's the word from E! Online, which says the squeezes, who began dating late last year, have cooled off recently due to complications from long-distance dating.

Seems they're living "separate lives," with RiRi jetting around the world to promote her various projects, and Kemp currently training in Arizona with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Their schedules were difficult," sighs a source, "but they made it all seem so easy being together."

That is, until late last month, when their romance apparently suffered a hiccup.

"I don't think it's him," opines another snitch. "He would never pull the plug. Before, he would leave training to be with her. Something has changed."

Coincidentally (or not), whatever supposedly changed happened right around the time rumors surfaced that Kemp had stepped out on Rihanna with a young lady he met at a club.

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But insiders insist to E! that the rumblings are "not true at all," with a Kemp confidant dutifully noting, "The girl … is nowhere near his type."

The baseballer, 26, loves the 22-year-old chanteuse "very much," adds another spy, "and I honestly believe she loves him a lot. How this plays out no one knows, not even they know at this point."

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But it seems no one will be too shocked if they decide to throw in the towel. After all, Rihanna is "still very much a kid," opines an insider.

The singer recently gushed about how happy she was with Kemp, her first serious romance after her painful (in so many ways) bust-up with Chris Brown.

"He's just easy and really kind," she told the December issue of Marie Claire UK, answering in the affirmative when asked if she was in love.

Kemp, for his part, has said Rihanna makes him happy, gushing in May, "She's just a fun person. I love to be around her."

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