What do you do when the love of your life breaks your heart?

Invite your BFF over, pop open a tub of ice cream to share and have a good cry.

TV host Jon Stewart, 49, tried to play Best Friend Forever to actor Robert Pattinson on his talk show on Monday, complete with tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

But the Twilight heart-throb managed to sidestep Stewart's attempts to get him to say what he thinks of the other Stewart, Kristen.

The 26-year-old actor has been out of sight since learning last month that his girlfriend and Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart, 22, had an affair with married movie director Rupert Sanders, reported AP.

A tabloid printed photos of the illicit dalliance, breaking the hearts of Twilight fans worldwide and prompting Stewart and the director to issue public apologies to their loved ones.

Meanwhile, R-Patz, as fans call him, had kept mum and out of the limelight.

But he couldn't lay low forever - he has a film to promote.

So on Monday, he was in New York for a round of media appearances, including a chat on Stewart's The Daily Show and the premiere of his movie Cosmopolis, a thriller based on a Don DeLillo novel and directed by David Cronenberg.

In the interview that fans had been waiting for, Pattinson played coy as host Stewart tried to fish for information.

"So, what have you been up to?" he asked.

Thrown off by the question, the actor replied: "I thought we'd already prepared this. I had a joke prepared! I was all set up and ready to go. Now it's meaningless."

Couple of 'gals'

Stewart pressed on conspiratorially, offering a tub of ice cream: "We're just a couple of gals talking."

But R-Patz didn't bite. He said: "This is how you got me on the show... This is the problem with actors, in every awkward interview situation..."

They bantered and drew laughter from the audience but try as he might, Stewart couldn't get Pattinson to say much.

The host tried again: "So what are we doing here? I'm worried about you. Are you alright?"

The reply he got: "I literally don't know how to approach this now...

"I'm going to sound like an idiot, but my biggest problem in my life is that I'm cheap.

"I didn't hire a publicist and every awkward interview, most actors have things scripted. I'm going to hire a publicist."

Stewart remarked: "The world has ended!"

The actor jokingly said: "It has... That was my attempt at a joke." Stewart added: "You're better off. Kick her to the curb!"

They then went on to discuss Cosmopolis.

One fan who was at the taping, nurse Carol Ann Castelli, 49, told New York Daily News: "He was confident. He was in control of himself. He handled himself well. I think he just wanted people to know he was okay."

Later on Monday night, at the film's premiere in New York, Pattinson, in a tailored Gucci suit and slicked back hair, smiled and gave a hearty "cheers!" to his fans.

His devotees had camped along the street long before the red carpet was rolled out, some of them since Saturday.

One girl, who didn't give her name, fought back tears when she missed seeing Pattinson sneak into the building.

She said: "We waited 2 1/2 days... and we didn't see him."

On the red carpet, an upbeat Pattinson wasn't asked directly about the cheating scandal - media were limited on the number of questions they could ask - but he talked at one point about the movie's steamy sex scenes.

"I felt a little uncomfortable doing that. But I mean, some of the scenes in this were like complicated acting scenes, like during a sex scene which makes it - it's a very strange experience," he said with a smile.

Pattinson and Stewart began dating as they shot to worldwide fame playing Edward Cullen and Bella Swan in the wildly popular Twilight vampire movies, based on the novels by Stephenie Meyer.

The final instalment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2, is due to be screened in November.

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