GettyThe net curtains in Hollywood are twitching, as the rumour mill becomes rife with conjecture over Brad Pitt’s love life. Again.
This time, caught up in the media-made debacle is 21-year-old Ella Purnell.
The British actress, as fate would have it, starred alongside Pitt’s former wife, Angelina Jolie, in Disney’s Maleficent and you can practically hear the sound of busy-bodies licking their lips in glee.
Purnell played ‘the younger version’ of Jolie’s Maleficent in the 2014 melancholic masterpiece:
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Yet, much to the dismay of all those living life vicariously through the rich and famous, the rumours have been called into question by a close friend of Purnell. Surprise, surprise.
Speaking to the Mirror Online, a source close to the actress said:
It’s completely made up. They’re not dating.
The validity of the ‘source’ is non-existent, as with the other so-called source who started the rumour mill churning in the first place.
Another source ignited the romantic rumours when they told In Touch Weekly:
Brad had Ella in mind from the get-go. He went out of his way to cast her. Ella is incredibly flattered by all the attention she’s getting from Brad.
She’s told friends he’s always been her number one celebrity crush.
GettyAccording to the gossip rag, Pitt is apparently so ‘enchanted’ by the Never Let Me Go actress, he’s given her a part in his new Starz series, Bittersweet.
The upcoming drama is based on a novel about a waitress based in New York City and Brad apparently, wanted Ella as the star from the very beginning.
Thus is the gospel according to the rumour mill, there’s just simply no way Pitt could have noticed Ella for her acting prowess or on-screen credentials… Oh no. No way, Jose. That would be too easy and too boring.
And it wouldn’t give Joe Public enough opportunity to shame a young female actor in the comments sections enough, would it?
The London-born actress has also starred in Never Let Me Go as the young Ruth, in Churchill as Helen Garrett, in Kick-Ass 2 in 2013, and in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, as Emma.
All the while, yet another ‘insider’ has chosen to put words squarely into the mouth of the beloved UN Ambassador, actor, humanitarian and mother, Angelina Jolie, by claiming she ‘absolutely hates‘ the unverified ‘fact’ her ex is dating ‘someone who played the teenage version of her in a film.’
GettyMeanwhile, Brad, 53, has been subjected to speculation ever since his former wife, the majestic Angelina Jolie filed for divorce in 2016.
Initially, he was dragged through the press after colleagues accused him of a romantic relationship with Allied co-tar Marion Cotillard, who was then forced to defend her own fidelity to her husband.
It seems we have learnt nothing at all.
Universal PicturesAs with Marion, the same is with Ella, and with Angelina previously, when Brad’s marriage with Jennifer Aniston broke down; it is a shame that in 2017, a respected actor with a family and thriving career is dragged through the dirt in this way, simply for working with a male colleague.
We can only hope the media will stop pitting successful women against each other in this sad narrative.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.