Perhaps you’ve heard that Brad Pitt and Emily Ratajkowski have recently been strategically near and around each other, but aren’t “formally” dating. They, per People, “are spending a lot of time together,” but “friends aren’t sure if it’s serious.” And if their friends aren’t sure, then no one is sure.
Except Page Six. They seem pretty sure. Page Six is suggesting that all the intrigue over this stuff is because they’re both publicly navigating the end of their marriages. Pitt is technically single but still extricating himself from legal entanglements with Angelina Jolie (the latest has been a suit and countersuit over their formerly shared estate Château Miraval). Ratajkowski formally filed for divorce from husband Sebastian Bear-McClard on September 8, per Page Six. It’s just the wise thing to do.
Ever committed to research, I Googled, “dating while divorcing good idea?” and what turned up was a lot of regional family law practices emphatically advising against it. Sounds like a lot can go wrong with the divorce, especially if you have children, which both do. But what is Brad Pitt supposed to do? Though legally declared single many years ago, he’s been in the process of extricating himself legally from the mother of his children for about six years now, and, despite his new skin care line, is not getting any younger. In this case, maybe the stars are just like us: They’re aware of the pitfalls of dating while divorcing, but they are human, so they at least try to do it quietly. The alternative seems much worse. Nobody wants a Kim Kardashian/Kanye West/Pete Davidson situation.
A source told Page Six that they are keeping it casual—going on dates, but not dating, as it were—and the reason has nothing to do with any legal issues and everything to do with personal ones. “Brad has quietly dated the last couple of years,” Page Six’s source said. “He worries that Jolie will bad-mouth him to their kids, more than she already has, if he has a serious girlfriend.”
All well and good, if a bit catty, but all this dithering probably means this commitment to not committing is all we’re going to get for some time. Remember the Alia Shawkat “are they dating or are they just friends” panic of 2020? That lasted ages.
This post was originally published in Vanity Fair.
