In her newly released memoir You with the Sad Eyes, the 54-year-old actress shared the surprising story from 1989, when she invited Pitt to accompany her to the MTV Video Music Awards while she was at the height of her fame on Married… with Children. But during the event, her attention quickly shifted to Sebastian Bach, the long-haired frontman of the rock band Skid Row.
Applegate admitted she spent most of the night captivated by the rocker rather than her date. At the time, Pitt was still early in his acting career and had not yet become the global star he is today. According to Applegate, Pitt ended up leaving the event to drive her mother home—and he reportedly did so in a gloomy mood after the evening’s awkward turn.
She later learned that he had an eventful trip on the way, even nearly getting into a confrontation with gang members at a gas station. Unsurprisingly, Pitt was reportedly furious with her afterward, and the two didn’t speak for years.
Applegate eventually came to regret her choice when she discovered that Bach was already in a relationship and had a young child. Years later, she recalled being asked by some of Pitt’s famous girlfriends whether she was really the woman who had left him behind at the VMAs—something Pitt apparently mentioned more than once.
Looking back, Applegate said the two ultimately made peace with the situation and chalked it up to youthful mistakes. She joked that Pitt later became the superstar admired by millions, while Bach “still has long hair.”
Elsewhere in the memoir, Applegate opens up about other parts of her personal life, including having a longtime crush on Johnny Depp and a troubling past relationship with a man she says subjected her to years of emotional and physical abuse. The actress, who revealed in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, wrote that her mother repeatedly urged her to leave the relationship.
Her former TV co-star Ed O’Neill, who played her father on Married… with Children, reportedly disliked the boyfriend so much that she feared he might confront him physically. Applegate said the relationship eventually ended after a violent argument.
The actress also discusses her struggles with body dysmorphia and anorexia while playing Kelly Bundy on the hit sitcom. Determined to fit into the revealing outfits worn by her character, she said she often ate very little and became dangerously thin during the show’s run from 1987 to 1997.
Despite the difficulties she faced, Applegate said she doesn’t blame the cast or crew for what happened, explaining that she was young and still trying to understand the trauma and pressures that influenced her relationship with food and body image.
