Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky has claimed that Jake Gyllenhaal once made her cry while opening up about difficult celebrity interviews during her former role as an E! News red carpet reporter.
Fedotowsky, who starred on the sixth season of The Bachelorette, reflected on the pressures of the correspondent job, and the ways it “ate away” at her self-confidence, during an appearance on the Women On Top podcast.
According to the former reality star, there is one celebrity interview in particular that stands out, with Fedotowsky telling Tammin Sursok and Roxy Manning that it happened to be with the Brokeback Mountain star.
“Sorry, Jake Gyllenhaal, I’m going to Taylor Swift you right now,” Fedotowsky began, referencing the songs reportedly written by the singer about her former relationship with Gyllenhaal. “I’ve never talked about, like, celebrities that were mean to me before because I always thought like: ’Aw, I shouldn’t… What if they just had a bad day?’ But like, c’mon, if Taylor’s gonna write a whole song about it, it’s gotta be bad.”
Fedotowsky then proceeded to recall an interview that allegedly took place with Gyllenhaal, which she said occurred during her first ever red carpet for E! News.
“Jake Gyllenhaal shows up on the red carpet, again, my first red carpet for E! News. I’m like: ‘I’m gonna kill it. I’m gonna be so good,’” Fedotowsky recalled, adding that she’d practised and rehearsed all her questions ahead of the red carpet. “I was so ready to go.”
According to the former reality star, who admitted that she was nervous and “shaking in [her] heels,” Gyllenhaal then walked up to her, at which point she asked him who he’d brought as a date.
“He walks up, I’m shaking in my heels - which, I’m horrible in heels - and I say to him: ‘Hi, Jake who’d you bring tonight?’ Like, for a date, like, who’s your date tonight?” she recalled, before claiming: “He goes: ‘Bye bye,’ and walked away from me.”
Fedotowsky said she “started crying” immediately after the encounter as she recalled being afraid that she would lose her job. “I was like: ‘Oh my gosh, this is my first red carpet, I’m going to lose my job because I didn’t get any of the questions, he’s the star of the film,’” she said.
However, Fedotowsky then claimed that Gyllenhaal gave a similar response to the interviewer next to her on the red carpet, who’d asked the actor a question about his tattoos in the film.
“And he goes ‘Bye’ and walks away. Because he is a serious actor and these personal questions…” she continued, before noting that she wished the actor would have given her any other response. “For my question, he could have just been like: ‘My mom.’ Or like: ‘Wouldn’t you like to know.’ Or ‘Nobody,’ or ‘Next question.’ Anything else!”
According to Fedotowsky, the encounter was especially surprising because she claimed it is “so easy to be nice” while walking red carpets.
“It is so easy to be nice, especially if a crazy question is asked,” she said while reflecting on her own experiences with red carpet interviews. “I went from walking the red carpet, and like I had walked so many red carpets because of The Bachelorette, right? And done countless interviews and I know how easy it is to be nice, right? I mean people used to ask me things like: ‘Who’d ya screw last week?’”
While reflecting on her time as a red carpet correspondent, Fedotowsky also shared some of her positive celebrity interactions, with the former reality star claiming that Tom Hanks is the “nicest guy ever,” and that Kris Jenner “is the kindest, nicest human being”.
Fedotowsky’s recollection comes after Hugh Grant recently faced scrutiny over his “rude” responses to Ashley Graham on the Oscars red carpet.
The Independent has contacted Jake Gyllenhaal for comment.
