'LA Ink': Is Jesse James just a Kat Von D marketing tool?

Is Kat Von D totally manipulating us?

Call us pessimistic (guilty!), but it seems awfully coincidental that Kat Von D's splashy breakup with Jesse James happened within a week of Thursday's (July 28) return of "LA Ink," her super-successful docu-reality show, to TLC.

News of the split broke Friday (July 22) when the couple announced the end of their relationship just months ahead of a planned wedding. Not for nothing, but we found out Kat had thrown over Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx for James just a few weeks before the show ended its fall 2010 run.

Anyway...

Could Kat's stormy walk out from the set of "Good Day LA" on Wednesday (July 27) morning and subsequeent 'What can I say? I suck' Facebook blog post be, well, downright disingenuous? Should we be questioning the validity of the entire ink-stained relationship?

Certainly two vets of reality TV -- one of whom cheated on America's Sweetheart (Sandra Bullock) with a swastika-adorned stripper -- would never manufacture a stunt relationship to drum up some press. Would they?

Fans of "LA Ink" (again, guilty) know that Kat is nothing if not utterly self-absorbed, insecure and -- to give credit where due -- a shrewd businessperson.

But, hey, if she's guilty of exploiting anyone's feelings -- it's her own. And we guess that's okay.