In her new memoir, Applegate confirms that she ditched Pitt as her VMAs date for the Skid Row rocker in 1989.

Everything Christina Applegate and Sebastian Bach have said about their relationship, Brad Pitt

In her new memoir, Applegate confirms that she ditched Pitt as her VMAs date for the Skid Row rocker in 1989.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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March 4, 2026 3:20 p.m. ET

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Christina Applegate; Sebastian Bach. Credit:

Steve Granitz/WireImage; Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Christina Applegate and Sebastian Bach's romance didn't last long, but their brief fling became infamous for its third celebrity component: Brad Pitt.

Applegate's ditching of Pitt for a rock star at the 1989 MTV VMAs has long been an all-but-confirmed rumor. Applegate herself has publicly confirmed it a few times, including during an appearance on *Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen* back in 2015, but she's never revealed the identity of said rock musician until the release of her memoir *You With the Sad Eyes*, published Tuesday.

However, Bach outed himself as the other man when promoting his own memoir, *18 and Life on Skid Row*, in 2016. *"*That dude would be me," laughed Bach at the time.

Keep reading for a breakdown on everything that's been said by Applegate and Bach about the fateful night in question.

Christina Applegate attends the 9th Annual Youth In Film Awards in 1987.

Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

In her new memoir, *You With the Sad Eyes*, Applegate recalls the momentum of fame that led to her asking Pitt to be her date to the 1989 MTV VMAs after several years of friendship. The now-54-year-old was 17 at the time and feeling on top of the world at the peak of her *Married…With Children* tenure as Kelly Bundy. She and Pitt had become friends after both of them made several appearances on the series *21 Jump Street*, with the now-62-year-old making regular appearances at her home for dinners with her family.

"We had been platonic pals for the longest time," Applegate says of Pitt in excerpts of her old journals. "He'd often swing by my 750-square-foot row house with a tiny door, and we'd have barbecues and hang out, always part of a much bigger group."

While Applegate initially only saw Pitt in a friendly light as she crushed hard on other members of their friend group, including a young Johnny Depp, she recalls gaining stronger feelings stirring for the *Seven* actor, then 25, as time went on.

"One day I took another look at Brad and thought, 'Hmm...' Apparently, he did the same, and so I invited him to the awards," the *Dead to Me *star writes.

Brad Pitt and Christina Applegate attend the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Applegate shares that Pitt was "the perfect date," offering to pick up her mom, Nancy Priddy, and her best friend at the time, Johnny Depp’s ex-wife, Lori Allison, since she had to arrive at the venue earlier to rehearse her appearance. She decided to wear a classy Ceil Chapman gown to the ceremony, which made her feel so "incredible." It was a rare feeling for the teen who confessed to intense struggles with self-esteem and disordered eating.

"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," she goes on to reveal. "I had spent all night staring at Bach, who was then a long-haired hunk fronting the band Skid Row. I hate to put it like this, but Brad back then was still making his way as an actor, and he wasn't yet THE Brad Pitt, the man of so many people's dreams."

Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach circa 1989.

Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty

But losing his date wasn't the end of the night for Pitt; the actor still had to drive Applegate's mom and Lori home after the event was over.

"Apparently, at a gas station on the way, Brad almost got into a fight with a bunch of gang members, and, not surprisingly, was subsequently very mad at me," Applegate shares. "We didn't talk for many years after that."

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*The Sweetest Thing *star mused on how Pitt shared the story with "two of his movie star girlfriends," who would ask her if she was "the girl who left Brad behind at the MTV Video Music Awards."

When Bach was sharing his perspective on the infamous event in 2016, he called his relationship with Applegate "a brief fling," and shared that the duo had gone out a couple of times.

Sebastian Bach with Skid Row circa 1989.

Krasner/Trebitz/Redferns

"She was interviewed recently on, like, *Entertainment Tonight*, or something, and they said, 'What was the dumbest thing you ever did?' And she goes, 'One night I ditched Brad Pitt for this other dude,'" the hard rock band frontman said during an appearance on the *Elliot in the Morning* radio show at the time, per Loudwire. "And that dude would be me. "

Bach, who left Skid Row in 1996 and has since made appearances in film and on TV such as *Trailer Park Boys*, *The Masked Singer*, and *Gilmore Girls*, quipped that there was no way he wouldn't share the story when given the chance. "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," he added. "I've gotta tell somebody that, Jesus!"

Christina Applegate and Brad Pitt attend 1988 Amnesty International Event.

Barry King/WireImage

Looking back on the experience in her memoir, Applegate shares that she and Pitt "eventually" came to terms with the events of that night and made up.

"He 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," she added. "Of course, Brad is now THE Brad Pitt, and Sebastian Bach... well, he still has long hair, I guess."

*You With the Sad Eyes* is now available to purchase wherever books are sold.

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