Alia Shawkat is finally setting the record straight on one of Hollywood’s most persistent dating rumors — her alleged relationship with Brad Pitt. The Arrested Development and Search Party star was repeatedly linked to Pitt in 2019, despite neither actor ever confirming they were romantically involved.

Nearly seven years later, the rumor still follows Shawkat. Now, during a candid appearance on a popular talk show, she has opened up about what actually brought her and Pitt together — and why their friendship became something far bigger in the public eye.

Years after the rumors first began between Alia Shawkat and Brad Pitt, Shawkat finally addressed her alleged relationship with Brad Pitt during her appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen to promote her upcoming film, The Wrong Girls. When Cohen brought up the story, Shawkat laughed and admitted, “This is my favorite question to get asked.”

“Everyone thought we were dating, because if you stand next to him everyone thinks you’re dating...[My grandmother] saved the Us Weekly I was on the cover of,” Shawkat recalled, describing how seriously her family took the rumors. The actress found it amusing that her grandmother had barely followed her decades-long career before suddenly becoming fascinated by a story claiming she was dating Pitt.

“It sounds all very chic and Hollywood,” Shawkat said during her appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, explaining that she and Pitt were introduced by their mutual friend, director Spike Jonze. The two bonded over art and became friends, but their repeated appearances together quickly sparked speculation.

The pair were spotted at an art exhibition, a Ye concert and even In-N-Out, turning an ordinary friendship into a tabloid storyline. The rumors eventually became so persistent that Pitt was asked about Shawkat in 2019, when he dismissed the various dating reports surrounding his personal life.

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But with the old rumor finally put into perspective, Shawkat’s latest chapter is less about who she was seen with and more about the work she is putting in front of audiences now.

Alia Shawkat’s comments come as she promotes The Wrong Girls, the new comedy starring her alongside Kristen Stewart. The film follows two aimless young women who inadvertently gain telepathic abilities after ingesting an experimental drug, only to find themselves targeted by dangerous rivals pursuing the same substance. The wild premise gives Shawkat the chance to return to the kind of unconventional, offbeat storytelling that has defined much of her career.

The project also puts the spotlight back where Shawkat would probably prefer it: on her work rather than the celebrity rumors that have followed her. While her friendship with Pitt once turned her into tabloid fodder.

Nearly seven years later, Shawkat’s explanation finally strips away the mystery surrounding one of Hollywood’s most persistent dating rumors. What looked like a celebrity romance from the outside was, by her account, simply a friendship that became far more interesting to the tabloids than it ever was to the two people actually living it.

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After all these years, do you think the Alia Shawkat-Brad Pitt dating rumors were simply one of Hollywood’s most bizarre cases of a friendship being mistaken for romance? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!