Paul Morigi/Getty; Desiree Navarro/WireImage.
Alia Shawkatis setting the record straight about her friendship withBrad Pitt.
In a new interview withThe New Yorker, Shawkat addressed rumors that she was romantically linked several years ago, insisting the “weird” gossip was completely false. (TheSearch Partyactress was firstspottedwith Pitt in 2019, although a source told PEOPLE their relationship was purely platonic at the time.)
When asked about any potential “runoff” from rumors that she and Pitt were dating, Shawkat told The New York that the attention has since died down.
“It came in hot and left as fast as it came in,” she said. “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?’ "
Samir Hussein/WireImage; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty.
“I was like, ‘You know everyone thinks we’re dating? And there’s this whole thing, and I’m being followed,’ " she explained. “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.”
Shawkat said that while Pitt was unaware of the spotlight on their friendship, her own family was even keeping up with the saga in the press.
“The other day I was at my grandmother’s house, my father’s mother. She’s been in this country for over thirty years and still barely speaks English. An Iraqi Muslim woman. 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,” Shawkat said.
The attention was unwelcome, Shawkat said, calling it “no fun at all.”
“I’m not an actor who has ever dealt with the paparazzi. They don’t know who the f— I am,” she toldThe New Yorker. “There’s something ironic about it.”
Shawkat said, “it has nothing to do with Brad,” describing Pitt as “great,” before adding, “of course, the idea of me being romantically involved with an older white guy is what gets me the most attention. Not a 20-year career. That’s what gets me.”
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Shawkat has been acting since she was 12, and has appeared inArrested Development,Broad City,Transparent, Being the RicardosandSearch Party.
source: people.com
