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Joaquin Phoenix Says He’s Not Engaged After All: “I Wanted the Audience to Like Me”

Joaquin Phoenix
After telling David Letterman he was engaged, Joaquin Phoenix revealed to Good Morning America that he made the story up because he "wanted the audience to like [him]"

Keep your wedding gifts, Hollywood — it appears that Joaquin Phoenix is not engaged after all. Hours after telling late-night host David Letterman on Monday, Dec. 8, that he was set to marry an unnamed yoga instructor, the eccentric actor appeared on Good Morning America, where he revealed that he made the whole thing up.

Related: PHOTOS: Quickest celeb engagements

GMA tweeted on Tuesday, Dec. 9, that Phoenix, 40, is not engaged and simply wanted to "spice up his 'story' a little bit" to make himself seem more interesting. "I think my life's so boring, and it seemed like something exciting to talk about, and I wanted the audience to like me," he said on the show. "They really like people getting married." He added, "I can get engaged again, if you like." 

Related: PHOTOS: Unlikely celeb couples

The actor's publicist also denied his engagement, telling the UK's Independent that the whole thing was "a joke." The rep said: "Joaquin has an extraordinary and spontaneous sense of humor but it is not true." 

He certainly knows how to spin a tale, though. During his Late Show appearance on Monday, the Her star gave a hilarious (albeit fictional) account of how he fell in love after attempting a yoga position he called "harnessing the hog." 

Related: PHOTOS: The best celeb engagement rings

"First we do these breathing exercises and I go, 'I can do this'…and then she says we are going to get in the first position — the 'harnessing of the hog,'" he told Letterman. "Before I can say, 'Who is the hog,' she grabs me…[and] it's a compromising and vulnerable position, and she gets a strap and puts it [around me]…and she's thrusting. And I go, 'Oh, no! My back pain!' And she goes, 'No, that's your emotional back pain.'" 

The "crazy part of the story," he said, is that they started dating. "I think she's the one," he told Letterman. "I proposed to her and she said yes. If everything works out…so far, so good."

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