Brad Pitt apparently had no idea that there were rumors swirling about him allegedly dating Alia Shawkat in 2019.
“[Pitt] had no awareness of it at all,” Shawkat, 32, told The New Yorker of the rumors. “Which is so funny. Because he doesn’t read that s–t.”
Shawkat revealed she was the one who ended up breaking the news to Pitt, 58, that tabloids were reporting they were seeing each other.
“I was like, ‘You know everyone thinks we’re dating? And there’s this whole thing, and I’m being followed,’” she said.
“And he was, like, ‘I’m sorry. It happens. If you hang out with me, it happens.’ He had no awareness of it at all.”
The actress joked to the outlet that she was so bombarded by the reports that she almost started to believe the rumors herself.
“It came in hot and left as fast as it came in,” Shawkat recalled. “It happened during COVID, and I was alone with it. It was so weird. Now it’s like a weird dream, where I’m, like, ‘Did that happen?’”
But the “weird dream” was more like a nightmare for Shawkat, who said she was stalked by paparazzi during the whole ordeal.
“At the time, it was not fun at all. I’m not an actor who has ever dealt with the paparazzi. They don’t know who the f–k I am,” she said. “There’s something ironic about it. It has nothing to do with Brad as a person — he’s a great f–king guy. But of course, the idea of me being romantically involved with an older white guy is what gets me the most attention. Not a twenty-year career. That’s what gets me.”
Fortunately, one of Shawkat’s family members seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting over her rumored romance with the “Fight Club” star.
“The other day I was at my grandmother’s house, my father’s mother. She’s been in this country for over 30 years and still barely speaks English. An Iraqi Muslim woman,” Shawkat began. “She’s sitting there, watching her Turkish soap opera. And next to her is this old gossip magazine with Brad’s face, and my face in a small circle. And it says, ‘Brad’s New Girl!’ And then on the inside it’s old Instagram photos of me and friends at dinner.”
She continued, “It was like, ‘ALL ABOUT ALIA.’ This whole made-up story about how we were healing each other by spending time together. I looked at my grandmother, like, ‘Why do you have this?’ She’s, like, ‘It’s you and this movie star! And it’s your face.’ I was embarrassed by it. I told her she had to throw it away. And she laughed.”
Page Six reported in November 2019 that the rumors were false after the allegations of their romance materialized. In June 2020, Shawkat finally addressed the rumors, denying that she and Pitt were ever romantically involved.
“We’re not dating. We’re just friends,” she told Vulture at the time. “I’ve gotten press, but not like that. Not so uncontrollable.”
Shawkat, who came out as bisexual in 2017, explained that they were introduced through director Spike Jonze.
“We just became friends, and Brad introduced me to his group of friends, and it grew from there,” she said, adding that the tabloids loved the idea of their romance because it seemed so unlikely.
“To them it’s like, ‘We don’t get it! This girl is weird! She’s so different! Why are they hanging out?’” she had said. “You get too close to the prom king, and all of a sudden, everyone’s like, ‘Well, who is this bitch?’”