GettyBrad Pitt has opened up about addiction, loneliness and his mental health in his first interview since the actor’s estranged wife, Angelina Jolie, filed for divorce in August 2016.
Brad Pitt is a Missouri-born Hollywood legend, but he’s human like all of us and not immune to the pressures and strains life can throw up, as he revealed in an interview with GQ.
The 53-year-old star of Snatch and Fight Club admitted he has a history of drug and alcohol abuse and that he has recently embarked on a course of therapy, explaining, ‘In the end, you find: I am those things I don’t like.’
Ryan McGinley / GQ StyleIn the latest issue of the men’s magazine, Pitt told GQ:
I often wind up with a smelly foot in my mouth. I often say the wrong thing, often in the wrong place and time … I’m trying to get better. I’m really trying to get better.
You know, I just started therapy. I love it, I love it. I went through two therapists to get to the right one.
Asked if divorce proceedings had acted as a catalyst to his desire to seek help, Pitt simply answered, “I think it would have come knocking, no matter what.”
GettyThe Academy Award-nominated actor spoke candidly about his relationship with alcohol and marijuana, saying:
I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something. Something. And you realize that a lot of it is, um—cigarettes, you know, pacifiers.
And I’m running from feelings. I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that. I mean I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family. But even this last year, you know—things I wasn’t dealing with.
I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem…but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again. I think that’s part of the human challenge: You either deny them all of your life or you answer them and evolve.
GettyNever losing his sense of humour, in the face of adversity, Pitt added, “And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good.”
But the father-of-six claimed he sought change after realising he didn’t ‘want to live that way anymore’.
Pitt dismissed the suggestion that he was going through a mid-life crisis, stating:
No, this isn’t that. I interpret a midlife crisis as a fear of growing old and fear of dying, you know, going out and buying a Lamborghini…Actually – they’ve been looking pretty good to me lately!
I do remember a few spots along the road where I’ve become absolutely tired of myself. And this is a big one. These moments have always been a huge generator for change. And I’m quite grateful for it.
GettyAlthough Brad was careful not to mention Angelina Jolie directly, he did talk often and openly about his children, and fatherhood, saying, ‘I haven’t been great at it’ but adding, ‘I want to be better at that.’
Pitt recently made headlines after he lost weight for a new film role. The chameleon of the fictional silver screen may be dealing with the realities of life, but he is manoeuvring through the break down of a family – and hoping to come out the other side a better man.
After all, in Brad’s own words, ‘We’re complicated creatures’.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.