Brad Pitt says he is drinking alcohol again after seven years of sobriety and has also opened up about a brief period when emotional pain became so severe that he experienced suicidal thoughts.
The 62-year-old actor made both disclosures in a wide-ranging Esquire profile published August 10, speaking candidly about alcohol, family difficulties, grief and how his outlook has changed as he has gotten older.
Pitt said he now drinks in much smaller amounts than he once did and has learned that he needs limits. He also described one particularly difficult period in which he felt unable to see a way forward, while emphasizing that he did not intend to act on his suicidal thoughts.
When the interviewer asked whether that period involved his children, Pitt declined to define it that way. He referred to the circumstances only as “family stuff” and made clear that he did not want to elaborate further.
Pitt Says He Started Drinking Again After Seven Years Sober
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Pitt discussed his current relationship with alcohol after offering his Esquire interviewer wine. “I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt said in the Esquire profile.
He explained that his drinking is now considerably more restrained and said previous attempts to consume larger amounts had reminded him that doing so was not good for him. Pitt said he can have a few drinks but cannot drink heavily and has to remain disciplined about it.
He first publicly discussed giving up alcohol after his 2016 separation from Angelina Jolie. Pitt later said he spent approximately a year and a half attending a 12-step recovery program and described the experience as a place where people could speak openly without judgment. He also credited Bradley Cooper with supporting his sobriety while accepting an award in 2020.
He Recalled One Brief Period of Suicidal Thoughts
Elsewhere in the interview, Pitt reflected on emotional extremes and said suicidal thoughts had generally never been part of his life. He made one exception. Pitt recalled a short period when the pain he was experiencing became so overwhelming that he struggled to see a way out.
He stressed that he was not planning to act on the thoughts but said the experience gave him a new understanding of why someone in severe emotional distress might view death as an escape from pain. He also said his survival instincts asserted themselves quickly. The actor did not identify when the episode occurred.
The interviewer then asked whether Pitt was referring to difficulties involving his children. Pitt answered more broadly. “Family stuff. We could leave it at that,” he said.
Pitt and Jolie separated in 2016 after more than a decade together and two years of marriage. They share six children. Their divorce settlement was finalized in December 2024 after more than eight years of proceedings. A separate legal dispute involving Château Miraval, the French winery they once owned together, remains ongoing.
Pitt Says He Eventually Learned to Stop Fighting What He Could Not Control
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Pitt also spoke about what happened after that difficult period and rejected the idea that recovery was as simple as climbing out of a low point. He described continuing through the pain, repeatedly trying to move forward even when he felt exhausted.
Eventually, he said, small changes began to appear. Some mornings felt slightly better, and ordinary parts of life gradually became easier to appreciate again.
Pitt said he has also reconsidered his relationship with difficult emotions. A friend once told him that the full human experience includes both extraordinary highs and deeply painful lows, which helped him stop viewing strong emotions as something inherently wrong with him.
He now believes part of acceptance involves giving up the expectation that life must unfold exactly as imagined and recognizing the limits of how much anyone can control.