Anna Friel has slammed allegations she had an affair with a co-star - insisting pictures of her kissing young actor Joseph Cross were "manipulated" because the embrace was not as intimate as it looked.
Friel, who is in a longterm relationship with Harry Potter star David Thewlis, has been working with 23-year-old Cross on a stage production of Breakfast At Tiffany's in London.
They were recently snapped hugging, and the pictures sparked rumours of a possible new romance with her young co-star - but the Pushing Daisies actress, 33, insists there is no truth to the stories.
She tells InStyle magazine, "(Cross is) a person I'm very close to. I worked with him every day for six months - he's so dear to me. He's my wonderful friend and co-star.
"He gave me a kiss and was, like, 'Hello, darling' and they made a story about it. I'm very tactile.
"They always manipulate things - they once took a picture of me with my brother and ran a story about 'Anna Friel's mystery man'."
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