Turns out Joaquin Phoenix may not actually be engaged after all.
Just hours after sharing a lively anecdote about his relationship status while appearing on Late Show with David Letterman, the Inherent Vice star told Good Morning America‘s George Stephanopoulos that he won’t be tying the knot after all.
In fact, he made up the story altogether.
Read more AFI Fest: Paul Thomas Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix Bring ‘Inherent Vice’ to L.A.
“I think like my life’s so boring, and it seemed like something exciting to talk about, and I wanted the audience to like me,” he said. “They really like people getting married…. I can get engaged again, if you like?”
Phoenix had colorfully noted that he popped the question to his yoga instructor, whom he began dating after a compromising meet-cute. “I think she’s the one — I proposed to her and she said yes,” he told David Letterman on Monday night, nodding while the audience applauded the announcement that he’s getting married. “Well, I mean, if everything works out … I don’t know what that says about me, is that — probably nothing good, right?”
The exchange follows the actor’s puzzling and largely silent Late Show appearance in 2009, a stunt that appeared in the mockumentary I’m Still Here and for which he later apologized.
Minutes after his GMA appearance, he was confronted about the validity of the anecdote during a sit-down on Live! With Kelly and Michael.
“I did not play a prank on him — he knew that I was joking around,” he said in reference to telling Letterman he was getting married to his yoga instructor. “Did I say that? I was in bed too, I was getting ready for this show. I have no idea what I said.” He then denied doing yoga at all.
When asked about reuniting with Reese Witherspoon onscreen after Walk the Line and whether he’s ever taken the actress out on a date, Phoenix again joked that he and Witherspoon are engaged, to the audience’s applause. And when Ripa started teasing him about his hairstyles in the Paul Thomas Anderson film, he beamed and asked her, “Are we engaged? I can’t believe this is happening!”
A rep for Phoenix responded to The Hollywood Reporter’s request for further comment: “How about the fact that he happens to have an extraordinary spontaneous sense of humor?”
Email: Ashley.Lee@THR.com
Twitter: @cashleelee
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