Christina Applegate Reveals Which Rock Star She Ditched Brad Pitt For at the 1989 MTV VMAs

Christina Applegate has finally revealed a story that’s been swirling around for decades. In her new memoir, You With the Sad Eyes, the Dead to Me star opens up about the night she left a young Brad Pitt at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards to walk out with a rock star instead.

Applegate, now 54, explains that she had invited Pitt to the VMAs when they were “platonic pals” and she was just 17, at the height of her Married… with Children fame. Wearing a stunning Ceil Chapman gown, she felt confident and unstoppable that night. “In fact, 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 writes, naming the Skid Row frontman as the mystery man.

The actress admits she had been eyeing Bach all evening, noting that Pitt, who was still early in his acting career, wasn’t yet the megastar he would become with Thelma & Louise in 1991. Applegate recalls that Pitt had to drive her mother and a friend home after she ditched him. “Not surprisingly, [he] was subsequently very mad at me. We didn’t talk for many years after that,” she writes. “Eventually, we 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.”

Back in 2015, Applegate had played coy about the story on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, refusing to name the mystery man. She confirmed then that he was famous but not an actor, and that nothing romantic followed after that night. She also clarified that she never dated Pitt.

Applegate’s memoir covers much more than this wild VMA story. She details her childhood, past abusive relationships, motherhood, and her experiences with breast cancer and multiple sclerosis. “We all have come from somewhere, some places more painful than others, and it’s what you do with it, I guess,” she told PEOPLE. “This is not an inspirational book by any means. But it can inspire.”

This story is a fun glimpse into Hollywood history and shows how bold Applegate was even as a teenager. It’s wild to imagine Brad Pitt left sitting in a limo while she walked off with a rock star! What do you think about Christina Applegate’s VMA decision? Share your thoughts in the comments.