Lena Dunham Explains ‘Awkward’ Red Carpet Kiss Photo With Brad Pitt

Lena Dunham has provided the backstory for a 2019 red carpet photo with Brad Pitt that many unfairly characterized at the time as capturing a forced physical interaction. Speaking with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live this week, Dunham—who appeared with Pitt in last year’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood—explained that the gesture was indeed a mutually friendly one.

“I don’t know if you remember there was a sort of awkward photo taken of the two of us,” Dunham said, as spotted by E! News early Tuesday. “Well, the way the internet read it was I had somehow physically accosted him causing him a great deal of stress.” That reading, Dunham pointed out, was way off.

“I would never force a kiss on Brad Pitt,” she said of the London premiere moment. “I respect him far too much as an artist and a friend.”

Later on that night, per Dunham, she and Pitt “secretly ate pizza” in a tucked-away room because Pitt was aware of her nervousness regarding the events of the evening. Dunham added that she had admired a ring Pitt was wearing at the time, resulting in the Cliff Booth embodier gifting it to her. 

“And I wear it and every time I wear it, something amazing happens,” she said.