Once upon a time, bad celebrity breaker-uppers relied on such nonconfrontational methods as fax, FedEx and even Oprah to stick a fork in a failing relationship. These days, however, freedom from romantic entanglements is just a couple of thumb taps away.

Carrie Underwood reveals to "Extra" that she and Chace Crawford ended their under-the-radar coupling of less than a year with a text message.

"It was completely mutual ... we're both fine," the big-haired country warbler breezily and bafflingly admitted Sunday at the star-packed "Idol Gives Back" charity event in Los Angeles. "We broke up over text, so ... it's like 'peace out.'"

According to Underwood, her romance with the dreamy-eyed, swoopy-banged "Gossip Girl" star, 22, "just didn't work and we both knew that it didn't work and no hard feelings at all whatsoever. No big deal."

When asked if they're still friends, she tellingly replies, "I haven't talked to him in a while, but I don't dislike him. So it's no big deal."

Carrie, 25, then oversells her blasé breakup attitude by adding for good measure, "No big deal."

(Alas, it wasn't a small enough deal that she actually whipped out her phone and shared the have-a-nice-like-life missive in question, but maybe next split ...)

The singer says dating in the spotlight can be "difficult," because "people always make a lot bigger deal of things than they actually are."

Also difficult, Underwood maintains, is how a split is sometimes confirmed long after the fact.

"When you break up with somebody and then like two months later it comes out and it's like we're rehashing old stuff," she huffs. "It's like, I don't know why all that's out now.

Continues Carrie, "I don't know why everybody's like, 'We've seen so-and-so moping around' and somebody's family member is coming out saying something."

(Last week, Crawford's beauty queen little sister told People, "He's doing OK through this whole ordeal. He was upset about the breakup. It's always hard when you lose a relationship.")

The Southern sweethearts were first snapped snuggling up in October, and Carrie reportedly spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with Chace and his Texas-based clan.

But it was that old standby -- work commitments -- that supposedly did them in.

"They couldn't spend time together," an insider tells Us Weekly. "It was hard."

Another contributing factor, alleges a Crawford confidante, was Carrie's clinginess.

"She was very needy," the source snipes to the mag. "She called him a thousand times a day and wanted him to be at every one of her shows. He did whatever he could to make it work, but she always wanted more, more, more."

Nuh-uh, pooh-poohs an Underwood mole (apparently via a note passed in study hall): "He wasn't there for her the way he could have been. He could have been on the road more with her. Or called more. It was hard on her not having the guy she liked there."

Carrie and Chace's text message kiss-off puts them in good company. Others who have avoided a face-to-face goodbye include Daniel Day-Lewis and Phil Collins, who are both rumored to have sent breakup faxes to their once significant others.

Sylvester Stallone reportedly relied on the good folks at Federal Express to send a Dear Jane letter to current wife Jennifer Flavin (it clearly didn't stick).

Minnie Driver is said to have found out her romance with Matt Damon was kaput when he announced on Oprah, "We kind of decided it wasn't meant to be."

Julia Roberts supposedly sent a friend to deliver the news to Kiefer Sutherland that she and her ice-cold tootsies were bailing out of their impending nuptials, which was more than Billy Bob Thornton did for Laura Dern.

The actress allegedly learned their live-in relationship was over when he tied the knot with Angelina Jolie.

Next: Is Cameron Diaz Cozying Up to Gerard Butler?