Julia Fox regrets her relationship with Ye: 'I was being used as a pawn'
Julia Fox doesn't exactly look back fondly on her short-lived relationship with Ye.
The "Uncut Gems" star, 34, opened up in an interview with the U.K.'s Sunday Times about dating the rapper formerly known as Kanye West for about a month in early 2022.
"I regret that relationship so much," she told the news outlet. "I hate it! It was only a few weeks but enough to last me a lifetime. ... I was in probably the most uncomfortable position in my life and that's saying a lot. I don't want to be known for being anyone's girlfriend."
Fox added that it "wasn't my idea" for the relationship to become public, and she felt like they "should wait." But then "boom, it was done behind my back," she said. The actress noted that she felt Ye was using her to get back at Kim Kardashian, his ex-wife.
"I realized pretty quickly I was being used as a pawn," she said.
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Fox also told The Sunday Times she credits her 3-year-old son, Valentino, for serving as a "grounding force" that helped her walk away from the relationship. "It was like, I can't go down this spiral because no man, no matter how rich or famous, is worth one minute away from my child," she said.
The "No Sudden Move" actress confirmed her relationship with Ye in an article for Interview Magazine in January 2022, in which she described meeting the rapper in Miami on New Year's Eve just days earlier and forming an "instant connection."
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She later revealed in her memoir "Down the Drain" that Ye tried to get her to publish a "completely fabricated" version of how they met, which sounded "nothing like" her. She said the version that was ultimately published was "somewhere in the middle" of their two drafts.
Fox did not mention Ye by name in her 2023 memoir, but it was clear that he's the man she referred to in the book as "the artist." She described Ye texting her that he "can't be friends with you if you don't sign" a non-disclosure agreement, but she said she refused and replied, 'I'll live."
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In a 2023 interview on "The Drew Barrymore Show," Fox said that dating Ye was like having a second child.
"My son has to be first," she said. "It just became too much, like I didn’t sign up to have two babies. Ultimately, I think he needed a full-time person and I just couldn’t be full-time."
Speaking with USA TODAY earlier this year, Fox confirmed she was "not dating right now" and didn't "have the bandwidth for it emotionally, physically, mentally."
Fox seemed to come out as a lesbian on TikTok in July when she responded to a video in which comedian Emily Gracin joked, "I love when I see a lesbian with their boyfriend. It's like, ah, you hate that man." While walking down the street, Fox responded, "Hey, that was me. I was that lesbian. So sorry, boys. Won't happen again."
In her interview with The Sunday Times, Fox confirmed she thinks she's a lesbian and told the outlet, "I'd definitely be up for a relationship with a woman."
Contributing: Naledi Ushe and Ralphie Aversa, USA TODAY