The 31-year-old “Arrested Development” star finally cleared the air about her and 56-year-old Pitt that they dated after being spotted hanging out at the “L.A. on Fire” art exhibition in November.
“We’re not dating. We’re just friends,” she told Vulture. “I’ve gotten press, but not like that. Not so uncontrollable.”
Shawkat was left flabbergasted at how much she was focused on by the media cycle — and how much her friends wouldn’t leave alone enough.
“I was like, ‘I don’t believe this,’” she said. “All my friends were like ‘What’s going on?’ and sending me photos. I just felt overwhelmed. It’s that feeling of being naked in school, like, ‘Oh my God, everyone’s looking at me.’”
The “Search Party” star clarified that, through director Spike Jonze, she met Brad Pitt.
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“We just became friends, and Brad introduced me to his group of friends, and it grew from there,” she said, pointing out that news reports centered on how she and Pitt didn’t seem like a match to be predicted.
“To them it’s like, ‘We don’t get it! This girl is weird! She’s so different! Why are they hanging out?’” she said, laughing. “You get too close to the prom king, and all of a sudden, everyone’s like, ‘Well, who is this bitch?’”
Besides her relationship with Brad Pitt, Alia had also recently received another round of press. A 2016 South By Southwest panel resurfaced clip showed her quoting a Drake lyric that included the N-word. She apologized right away.
This scandal was particularly painful for Alia, a Queer woman (she is half-Iraqi and identifies as pansexual) who was a vocal supporter of liberal ideals.