Christina Applegate is 54 years old and she’s been working steadily since she was a teenager. Work has slowed down since she developed multiple sclerosis, which is why she’s written a memoir called You with the Sad Eyes. Christina actually got super-famous because of Married… with Children when she was just a kid (she was 15/16 when the show began). By the time she was 17 years old, she was dating 26-year-old Brad Pitt before he was really a thing (this was before Thelma & Louise). Well, apparently, Christina dumped Brad very suddenly one night when she decided to run off with Sebastian Bach, the iconic rock star and frontman for Skid Row.
Christina Applegate reveals how she dumped Brad Pitt — for Skid Row rocker Sebastian Bach — at the height of her “Married … With Children” fame, as she details the dark truths behind her sunny Hollywood persona. The beloved star, now 54, admits in her new memoir, “You with the Sad Eyes,” that she very nearly didn’t take the sitcom role that made her a star, because “I hated Kelly Bundy.”
After the show became a hit, she was asked to be a presenter at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards and invited Pitt, then 26 and part of her LA posse — which also included Johnny Depp, whom Applegate admits she was “in love with for years.”
But that night, she only had eyes for Sebastian Bach.
“I had spent all night staring at Bach, who was then a long-haired hunk fronting the band Skid Row,” Applegate, who was 17 at the time, writes. “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.”
The actress adds: “And it gets worse: Brad was left to sullenly drive my mom … home. 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.”
She regretted the decision as soon as she found out that Bach already had a long-term partner and a 1-year-old child.
Pitt, meanwhile, “didn’t talk” to her “for many years.” Applegate recalls that “much later … two of [Pitt’s] movie star girlfriends asked me if it was true that I was the girl who left Brad behind at the MTV Video Music Awards. Brad had apparently told both of them separately that he was still mad at me. Eventually, we agreed that I’d been a kid, and though he deserved much better, it was time to forgive the child who dumped him for the lead singer of Skid Row.”
She jokes, “Of course, Brad is now THE Brad Pitt, and Sebastian Bach … well, he still has long hair, I guess.”
Applegate, who started acting at age 5 to help pay the bills, is open about body-image issues that started when she was super young. She writes how her mom, Nancy Priddy, even suggested liposuction on her thighs when she was still a teen.
While this is presented as a fun and funny story from her misspent youth, I feel like we should talk about how 20-something Brad Pitt was constantly dating teenagers? He was 26, why was he dating a 17-year-old Christina Applegate? Why did he then go on to date Juliette Lewis when she was 16 years old? Jesus. I mean, that could be an explanation for Christina as well – “hey, that’s what you get when you date a 17 year old, it would have been weird to NOT run off with Sebastian Bach.”
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Brad Pitt was always a running red flag.
Well, his friends in high places will protect him forever from any homecoming he deserves.
I think I read that Bach was 21 at the time so still not age appropriate (as she was a minor) but definitely better than a grown ass 26 year old.
I feel bad that she was so highly sexualized at a young age starting that role when she was 15/16. Couldn’t they have at least casted an older actress?? At the same time the “kids” in BH 90210 were mostly in their 20s.
didn’t she also write that david boreanez helped her escape an abusive relationship? Just asking.
LMFAO. Sounds like Brad was holding a grudge for years. He’s a big red flag and he’s also undateable.
That’s how I read it, too. Such a weird thing to hold onto, it wasn’t like they had been together for years.
Right??! That dude can hold a grudge. Plus it was the freaking MTV music awards and he was probably only able to get in because he was HER +1.
This story is chock full of red flags, from their huge age difference, to him holding a grudge against her for years before finally “allowing” her to apologize to him and agreeing that he “deserved” better from her. Dude, she was 17, it’s not like you were in a ten year marriage.
The fact that he apparently badmouthed her to his subsequent girlfriends is also telling – not only would it hurt her reputation, but it was also likely used as an excuse for why he was so possessive and controlling.
And let’s not even get into the description of him sulkily driving her Mom home and then nearly getting into it with “a bunch of gang members”. With…her mom in the car? Christina doesn’t elaborate, but that sounds a lot like someone who decided to go looking for a fight to try to deal with his feelings of rejection.
Brad holds a grudge for a long time!
This shows how he can carry a grudge. I remember dating at 16, 17. You’re wild and do crazy things. Lots of drama drama drama. And not knowing who or what you really want. So that’s what he gets for dating a child. And how immature was he to think 16 or 17 year old girls were appropriate for him at 26? Of course this was the time period 27 year old Johnny Depp was dating 17 year old Winona Ryder. He got what he deserved from her too.
No lie. When I was 17 I was dating a 19 year old college student but he really didn’t fit in with my friends so I dumped him. He was shocked because he assumed I was thrilled to be with him.
When I was 18, I dated a 24 year old because I thought it would be cool to have someone buy alcohol for my friends and me. This man had no problem getting a bunch of immature teenagers drunk, which looking back, was really creepy.
It was also rumoured that a then 24 year old Pitt dated his 14 year old Dallas costar Shalene McCall, back in the day.
I’m almost done with her book & that entry was BEYOND pathetic & hilarious & quantifies A LOT!😆
Brad Pitt dated for clout and status back then and he preyed on young women who were successful. Though she wasn’t a teen he dated Robin Givens for clout too. Such an ick vibe he had then and now.
His behavioural issues were always there – she dodged a bullet there. Plus Sebastian Bach was a GOD back in the day – Pitt in his prime had nothing on him. So i don’t fault her at all.
IKR? Sebastian Bach? Get it girl!! It’s funny as adults being all it’s creepy and dudes stop dating teens, knowing full well most of us would have dated these dudes as teens given half a chance. I have a lot of tolerance for the silly choices young people make. I draw the line at controlling and manipulative behavior exhibited by older men who prey on underage girls.
Sebastian Bach in the 90’s?
HELL YEAH.
I mean, Bach’s had a steady career, and I’ve never heard anything heinous about his private life. The subtle jab CA threw at his career trajectory seems pretty mean.
To push it a little further, he endorsed Kamala in 2024. That + long hair + fronting Twisted Sister feels like a win to me.
Right? Sebastian Bach in 1989? WOULD.
“Hahaha, isn’t it so funny how I was preyed on as a teen?” 🙄
Dude is 26, dating a 17yr old and has the gall to be mad because she behaved like a 17yr old. Holds grudge for years. Bleh!
This.
isn’t that the required template for this type of thing: older dude tells girl she’s “mature for her age” and then gets mad when she’s not.
It amuses me that of the 3 potential romantic partners in this story, the best of the bunch turned out to be…….Sebastian Bach. Even with the partner and the young child.
Bach is a violent asshole and bigot. He’s had multiple run ins with the law for assault. And this lovely bit:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-21-ca-727-story.html
Can we please talk about how hot Sebastien Bach was back then?!? That man was so incredibly beautiful and a talented singer that I would have bailed on Pitt to hang out with Bach any day! Respect to her choices!
I follow him on Twitter and he’s still a decent dude who loves to rock. He’s been very outspoken against Trump, racism, and fascism – the anti Kid Rock with better hair.
I like the subtle jab that Brad wasn’t famous then, he was just a pretty boy trying to break into the industry.