Actor Brad Pitt, 62, has revealed that he has returned to drinking alcohol after maintaining seven years of sobriety. The actor made the admission in a recent interview with Esquire, stating he has "got back off the wagon."
Pitt has been open about his struggles with alcohol consumption, a journey that intensified following his 2016 split from Angelina Jolie. At that time, reports surfaced alleging an intoxicated rage on a private jet involving Jolie and their children, which contributed to his decision to become teetotal. A source close to Pitt told the Daily Mail that his return to drinking has been a "gradual process in recent years."
Pitt's path toward sobriety began earlier, in the early 2000s, when he gave up marijuana after becoming a father to Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. He stated in a 2009 appearance on "Real Time With Bill Maher" that he quit cannabis because he wanted to be alert as a parent, noting that the drug used to make his eyes "glaze over."
He has previously spoken about how his marijuana use impacted his education, admitting he was two credits short of graduating college. Pitt described himself as a "drifter" in his youth, who felt he grew up in a "vacuum" and wanted to explore the world. He recalled getting "burnt out" and feeling he was "wasting my opportunity," leading to a "conscious change."
By the late 1990s, Pitt expressed dissatisfaction with his marijuana use, stating he was "sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnut." A trip to Morocco, where he witnessed "extreme poverty" and social injustices, reportedly inspired him to stop smoking marijuana and become more active.
In 2017, Pitt discussed his sobriety journey, mentioning he had "stopped everything except boozing when I started my family." He confessed that for a significant period after college, he was consistently consuming alcohol or marijuana. He identified cigarettes as "pacifiers" and acknowledged he was "running from feelings." He expressed happiness about being sober for six months at that time, stating he felt he had "got my feelings in my fingertips again."
Pitt detailed his relationship with alcohol, noting, "I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute." He admitted he "could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka" and was "a professional" at it, but decided he "didn't want to live that way anymore." He replaced alcohol with "cranberry juice and fizzy water."
He has credited actor Bradley Cooper, who has been sober for two decades after struggling with alcohol and cocaine addiction, with helping him quit drinking. Pitt stated at the 2020 National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala, "I got sober because of this guy. And every day's been happier ever since."
Pitt explained in a 2019 interview with The New York Times that he had "taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges." He found Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to be a "wake up call" and a "safe space" where men were "open and honest in a way I have never heard." He described the experience as "incredible" and noted that meetings became something he "look[ed] forward to."
In his recent interview, Pitt clarified his current approach to drinking. He stated he can "have a few" glasses of wine but "can't have a lot" and must "be professional about it." He acknowledged that he had "got overconfident a couple times, went, 'Yep, nope, not good for me.' Not in big quantities."
Following Pitt's admission, a source told The Daily Mail, "This was a personal decision. He has spent years reflecting on his relationship with alcohol and knows what works for him."
Angelina Jolie reportedly reacted to the news, with a source claiming she was "not surprised" and "knew this was always a possibility." The insider added that Jolie "long believed that sobriety did not necessarily mean the underlying problems [Brad had] had disappeared" and that she "doesn’t believe Brad has fundamentally changed."