Model April Florio can't seem to get her story straight when it comes to Brad Pitt.
After reportedly dishing to Us Weekly on her so-called relationship with the star, Florio has changed her tune, saying that she only met Pitt once at a party and accusing the magazine of fabricating her quotes--despite the fact that Us claims to have the interview on tape.
In her interview with Us, which took place Monday, Florio, 22, allegedly stated that Pitt "was attracted to me" had once "tried to kiss me, but I shied away," and claims that she told him she was not interested in dating anyone "in the Industry."
She also claimed that the two had met up for a "three-day excursion last August" and that Pitt bought her a plane ticket to Los Angeles--all while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston.
But after Us Weekly broke the story about her supposed link to Pitt, Florio executed a rapid U-turn and went on record with other media sources, proclaiming herself the victim of shoddy reporting.
"The direct quotes that are supposedly from me in the magazine article are totally fabricated," Florio told Star magazine of her Us Weekly interview. "I met Brad Pitt only once, very briefly, at a party. Would he remember me? Probably not."
Pitt, for the record, also denies any love connection with Florio. "Brad does not know April Florio," his rep told Star magazine. "Could he possibly have met her at some time? Maybe, because he meets so many people, but he does not ever recall meeting her."
On Thursday, Florio appeared as a guest on CNBC's The Big Picture with Donny Deutsch to further explain her side of the Brad brouhaha.
In response to Deutsch's queries on how she could explain away Us Weekly's tape recording of her making the statements they printed, she suggested that Us Weekly had perhaps faked her voice for her portion of the recorded interview, saying that "they must have spoke to somebody else."
Deutsch expressed his doubt that the magazine would stoop to such levels of deception.
"So, I guess the only conclusion I can get from you, and I want to obviously get responses from them, is that Us just made all this stuff up and basically made up quotes for you and basically voice-recorded a conversation that's not you," Deutsch said.
"Right," Florio responded.
Deutsch returned to the issue later in the interview, stressing his incredulity over Florio's version of events.
"You're going to go oncamera and tell me--that Us magazine made up those quotes and, even though they say they have a recording of them, you're saying you never said any of those things," Deutsch said.
"I'm saying that," Florio said.
Florio told Deutsch that she signed an affidavit provided by Pitt's attorneys swearing that she never had a fling with the actor. Pitt's publicist has hinted that a lawsuit might be in the works against the magazine, if Florio's revised version of events is proven correct.
Florio went on to say that Pitt, at 41, was too old for her because he's the same age as her mother, which she said was "just a little weird for me."
The aspiring starlet, who is married, also said that her mother suffered a heart attack upon reading of her daughter's alleged association with Pitt in the pages of Us.
"She said she felt like there was some sort of numbing solution on her, and she freaked out, and she had my stepdad take her to the hospital," Florio said. "And it ended up she had a heart attack, and she's on a monitor right now at home."
However, Florio said her mother agreed with her that it was more important for her to appear on television to refute the Us Weekly story than to return home. Florio also vowed to Deutsch that she won't be milking the scandal to further her own career, and that she would no longer grant any televised interviews to discuss the story.
Meanwhile, Us Weekly's West Coast Executive Editor Ken Baker told E! Online that the magazine stands by its report.
"We conducted an interview with her. We have her on tape making the statements published in the magazine," Baker said.
"She did an interview. It was tape-recorded. A few hours later, she sat for a photo shoot. Our Miami reporter met with her in person, and she confirmed what she said in the interview. We took that extra step. What's being lost is the thoroughness with which we went after this story.
"We gave her ample opportunity to retract. If she regrets what she told us, that's unfortunate for her, and she can now retract what she said. But for her to claim we fabricated is wrong.
"Our primary function is to deliver the latest news on celebrities to our readers. Our fundamental purpose is to serve our readers, and that's what we did this week."
One thing's for certain--no matter whose version of events proves to be correct, Florio seems to have achieved her primary goal of racking up those sought-after 15 minutes of fame.