“I didnt want that sort of attention,” the actor says in a new interview.

The red carpet was new, everything was new to me."

all the speculation that they were an item.

Lupita Nyongo and Jared Leto

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty; Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty

“It was drawing attention away from the work,” Nyong’o said.

“I didnt want that sort of attention.

I didnt want all that chatter to deter from the joy I was having becoming his friend.”

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