Angelina Jolie probably doesn’t have time to deal with rumors and reports that she’s been going on “secret dates” and holing up in hotel suites with British rapper, author and activist Akala — which is why she issued a statement this week saying they are just “close friends.”
Among other things, the 49-year-old film star is in the throes of promoting her movie, “Maria,” which has provided her with the first opportunity in more than 15 years for Academy Award consideration for her acting. (Jolie is a previous Oscar winner, for best supporting actress for the 1999 film, “Girl, Interrupted,” and was nominated for a best actress award in 2009.)
It’s easy to see why she would like media attention to focus on her performance as opera legend Maria Callas and director Pablo Lorrain’s artistically ambitious direction of the biopic, and not on the rumors about her relationship with Akala, 40, whose real name is Kingsley James McLean Daley.
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 14: Akala attends the UK Premiere of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” at the BFI London Film Festival at BFI IMAX Waterloo on October 14, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures)
Depending on the Oscar campaign Jolie and her publicists are waging, it probably can’t help for her to be hit with the sort of “home wrecker” allegations that followed her back in the 2000s, after she and her ex-husband Brad Pitt began a relationship amid his divorce from Jennifer Aniston.
On Tuesday, a source close to Jolie insisted to People that Jolie is “close friends with Akala and his partner.” The source stressed that Akala’s girlfriend and business partner, Chanelle Newman, “has been at every event” that Jolie and Akala have appeared at in recent days.
“They all work together,” the source told People. “Angelina remains focused on her family and is not dating at this time.”
It remains to be seen whether Jolie’s denial will quiet the rumors. Speculation about her relationship with Akala has been brewing since at least May, The Cut reported. That’s when In Touch Weekly claimed they had been dating for more than a year, having bonded over “their interest in activism” and “passion for travel and discovering different cultures.” The tabloid report sought to counter Jolie’s claim to WSJ magazine in 2023 that she was still reeling from her nasty split from Pitt and has no interest in pursuing “a social life.”
In Touch apparently based its claims about Jolie and Akala on the duo’s reported 2023 outing to the Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica, along with the actress’s daughters Zahara and Shiloh, The Cut said. The tabloid, though, also said that Jolie was dating Broadway composer Justin Levine, who worked with her on “The Outsiders” musical she helped produce.
Since then, Jolie and Akala have been the subject of more conflicting reports, some asserting that they have been friends for years, again, based on their shared humanitarian interests, The Cut reported.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 29: (L-R) Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Zahara Marley Jolie and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt attend the “Maria” screening during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on September 29, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for FLC)
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But the romance angle began heating up again in August, as Akala was spotted at some of Jolie’s promotional events for “Maria.” They were seen leaving a hotel together in Venice in August during the Venice Film Festival, People reported. That sighting also prompted an Aug. 29 statement to People from “a source close to Jolie,” who first said that she and Akala “are not dating.”
But the romance rumors persisted after they were seen together at the film’s U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival in late September, Page Six reported. The U.K. tabloid, The Sun, claimed that Akala was seen hugging Jolie’s son, Pax, while Page Six said both were spotted at a soiree at Atelier Jolie, Jolie’s clothing store in New York.
This week, Jolie felt compelled to deny the affair rumors again after The Sun took things to another level and reported that she and Akala enjoyed “a string of secret dates” while they were in London last week. The Sun went so far as to allege that Jolie sneaked the rapper into her London hotel suite.
The Sun claimed that they spent two nights “holed up” in the suite before having dinner together at the members-only Soho House club following the London premiere last Friday of “Maria.”
“Angelina and Akala have been secretly spending nights together at her London hotel The Corinthia,” a source told The Sun, which referred to the musician as Jolie’s “toyboy rapper.”
“Angelina arrived at the hotel via the loading bay at around 8 p.m.on Wednesday before being joined by Akala at around 10 p.m.,” the source continued. “The pair spent Wednesday and Thursday night together inside the hotel and did not leave.”
The Sun noted that they attended the film’s premiere at London’s Southbank Centre, though they arrived separately.
Whatever is going on between Jolie and Akala personally, the actor is supposedly learning a lot from him about history, politics and Britain’s colonial past, The Cut and People reported. In addition to releasing five albums, he also penned a nonfiction book, “Natives: Race & Class in the Ruins of Empire” in 2019.
“They did several collabs over the years that focus on global issues like human rights,” a second source told People. “Angie speaks very highly of him.”