Brad Pitt reveals he’s ‘off the wagon’ after seven years of sobriety
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicidal thoughts which some readers may find distressing.
Brad Pitt has given a rare interview where he has stated he is ‘off the wagon’ after having been sober for seven years and speaking last year about joining Alcoholic's Anonymous after saying he was 'on his knees' and 'trying anything and everything'.
The A-List celebrity has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons, with his and Angelina Jolie’s children Zahara, Maddox, and Knox making legal orders to remove ‘Pitt’ from their names.
Pitt and Jolie divorced in 2019, however a lawsuit between the pair over a winery they owned together saw her countersue Pitt, alleging that he had physically and verbally both her and their kids on a plane in 2016.
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As a result Pitt has engaged with press on a far more rare basis and in this new interview spoken about his mental health struggles, grief, and sobriety.
Pitt stated he had ‘suicidal thoughts’ in the past and linked them to ‘family stuff
In a new profile with Esquire Pitt said he had been feeling suicidal in the past, adding: “I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period. And in that one little period, I just thought — I just couldn’t — just didn’t see a way out.
“The pain was so oppressive that — I wasn’t going to act on this, but I could feel — I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief.
“I thought, ‘Oh, okay, now I understand’ — I understand suicide, in the sense that it’s just relief. It’s just looking for relief from the pain.
“But I also think we have incredible survival instincts. And for me, that immediately kicked in.”
The interviewer noted that Pitt had paused before saying that life ‘ain’t easy’ even though he is talking to ‘someone who has won the lottery’.
When asked by the interviewer whether the suicidal thoughts were linked to 'kid stuff', Pitt responded by simply saying: "Family stuff... we could leave it at that."
Pitt discussed being 'off the wagon' after going sober seven year ago
In 2020 Pitt spoke on an awards show, thanking Bradley Cooper for helping him get sober. He then discussed this further on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shephard, saying that he went to Alcoholics Anonymous and adding: "I was pretty much on my knees, and I was really open. I was trying anything and everyone, anything anyone threw at me.
"It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting."
This came after, in 2019, he admitted that he was sober and had joined a 12-step programme in an interview with the New York Times.
Now though, he has said he fell 'off the wagon' and is no longer sober, telling Esquire: "No, I got—I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon.... In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times, went, Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities."
The actor said he can have 'a few' glasses of wine, adding: "But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it."
Topics: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Mental Health, Celebrity, TV and Film
Michael Slavin