Christina Applegate's Memoir Reveals MTV VMAs Snub of Brad Pitt
In a candid revelation from her new memoir, actress Christina Applegate has detailed the embarrassing moment she ditched a young Brad Pitt for rock musician Sebastian Bach at the MTV Video Music Awards. The incident, which occurred in 1989, led to Pitt not speaking to her for years and became a notorious story among his later girlfriends.
The Fateful MTV Video Music Awards Date
Applegate, then just 17 years old, was part of an extended friendship group that included a "little-known actor named Brad Pitt." Their relationship had always been platonic until, as Applegate explains in her book You With The Sad Eyes, they both suddenly saw each other in a new romantic light. When she needed a date for the MTV Video Music Awards, she invited Pitt to accompany her.
The young actor proved himself to be "kind enough" to drive to her house and transport not only Applegate but also her mother Nancy Priddy and best friend Lori Allison to the awards ceremony. However, any potential romance was abruptly derailed when Applegate laid eyes on Sebastian Bach, the "long-haired hunk" frontman of the heavy metal band Skid Row.
The Aftermath of the Rockstar Choice
"I felt so powerful and sure of myself for once that when the awards show was over, I left with Sebastian Bach, not Brad Pitt," Applegate admitted in her memoir. She elaborated that at the time, Pitt was still establishing himself as an actor and hadn't yet become "THE Brad Pitt, the man of so many people's dreams."
After being abandoned, Pitt was left to "sullenly" drive Applegate's mother and friend home. The journey proved eventful as he narrowly avoided a confrontation with "a bunch of gang members" at a petrol station, leaving him "subsequently very mad" at Applegate. The actress revealed that "we didn't talk for many years after that."
Movie Star Girlfriends' Inquiries and Eventual Reconciliation
The story became something of a legend in Pitt's romantic circles. Applegate disclosed that "much later, but at different times, two of his movie star girlfriends asked me if it was true that I was the girl who left Brad behind at the MTV Video Music Awards." Pitt had apparently told both women separately that he remained upset about the incident.
Eventually, the pair reconciled. "We agreed that I'd been a kid, and though he'd deserved much better, it was time to forgive the child who dumped him for the lead singer of Skid Row," Applegate wrote. She added wryly, "Of course, Brad is now THE Brad Pitt, and Sebastian Bach... well, he still has long hair, I guess."
Previous Revelations and Bach's Response
This isn't the first time Applegate has hinted at the story. In 2015, during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, she mentioned leaving Pitt for someone "known to the public but not an actor" though they never actually dated. The following year, Sebastian Bach confirmed his involvement while promoting his own autobiography.
"That dude would be me," Bach declared proudly. "So there was a time on this earth when Sebastian Bach was, like, a hotter lay than Brad Pitt. Of course that's going in the book. I've gotta tell somebody that!"
The anecdote forms part of Applegate's broader memoir that details her career from her breakout role as Kelly Bundy in Married... With Children at age 15 to her life since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021. The MTV VMAs story represents what she describes as a "real sliding doors moment" in her personal history.
