Brad’s new ‘ rock star professor’ love
It was only a matter of time
before he was taken off the list of eligible A-list bachelors – he is Brad Pitt after all. But with his divorce to Angelina Jolie not yet finalised, word leaked a little earlier than anticipated last week that Mr Pitt potentially has a hugely impressive new love interest in his sights.
So-called ‘rock star professor’ Neri Oxman, a celebrity of the science world, has the type of résumé that puts the rest of us to shame – and it’s not difficult to see how Brad has become enamoured with her brains and beauty.
In the first-ever pictures of the pair, Brad, 54, and Neri, 42, pose happily together at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last November (where Neri works as a professor of media arts and science). According to US reports last week, they connected while Brad was working on a project for his Make It Right Foundation and clicked over their shared passions for architecture, design and art.
And a source informs Grazia that while it’s still a fledgling relationship, those close to the actor hint that this could be much more than a rebound fling, even comparing Neri to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of Brad’s best pal, George Clooney.
‘Brad was impressed with her from the word go, she’s a phenomenon. Everyone is saying it’s like he’s found his own Amal… although it is very early days, but the comparisons are inevitable,’ a source said.
Like Amal before she met George, Neri is unquestionably one hell of a catch. The Israeli-born, award-winning architect has had a fascinating career that’s seen her hold her own exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, and collaborate on performance art with singer Björk in 2016. A prominent TED talker, Neri’s admirable eco-friendly work focuses on marrying design and architecture with natural and biological materials. Something Brad has always been interested in, too.
Intriguingly, there have even been some subtle connections to Brad in Neri’s work that preceded their companionship. Last year, Neri was profiled by W Magazine, where, talking about whether the issue of male dominance was unique to her
profession, she namechecked Brad. ‘For the same reason we have the Brad Pitts and the George Clooneys, it’s just part of human nature to idolise stereotypes,’ she said.
As Grazia has previously reported, the low-profile nature of Brad’s relationship with Neri could be down to the fact that he’d made a pact with Angelina to keep their post-marriage love lives out of the public eye until they are officially divorced, for the sake of their children: Maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 11, and twins Knox and Vivienne, nine. There have also been recent denials over reports that Angelina has been dating a real estate agent.
Now, sources tell Grazia that Brad’s ex-wife has been left less than pleased by the news: ‘Angelina is understandably annoyed at the situation. Despite the fact she’s been told that it’s just a friendship between the pair, it seems pretty obvious there has been something going on for some time now.’
And Neri – who was previously married to Grammy award-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov – was also said to be involved romantically with billionaire Bill Ackman (an influential Wall Street investor who has recently made a number of high-profile missteps in the financial market) when she first met Brad.
Our source adds, ‘ They haven’t met under the easiest of circumstances, for either of them. They’re taking it slowly and trying to be as delicate as possible when it comes to their respective situations. But there’s a magnetic chemistry between them that’s been increasingly impossible to ignore.’