Brad Pitt has confirmed he is drinking alcohol again after seven years of sobriety, telling Esquire magazine in an interview published on August 10 that he has returned to wine in careful moderation. “No, I got—I was sober for seven years,” Pitt told the magazine’s Ryan D’Agostino, before adding “and then I got back off the wagon.”
The 62-year-old actor stressed the shift was measured rather than a return to his former drinking habits, saying he now drinks “in a more restrained manner.”
He acknowledged testing his limits since resuming, recalling moments when he “got overconfident a couple times, went, Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities.” Asked what his approach looks like now, Pitt said “I can have a few [glasses of wine]. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”
Why Did Brad Pitt Originally Get Sober?
Pitt gave up alcohol in 2016 following his split from Angelina Jolie, with whom he shares six children, and has previously spoken of spending eighteen months in an all-male Alcoholics Anonymous group during that period. He credited fellow actor Bradley Cooper with helping him through the early stages of recovery, telling an awards audience in 2020 that “I got sober because of this guy and every day has been happier ever since.”
Did Brad Pitt Discuss Darker Moments in the Interview?
Pitt also spoke candidly about a difficult period he attributed to family circumstances, describing pain that became severe enough that he understood how someone might view death as a form of relief, though he said he had no plan to act on the thoughts and that his instinct for survival took over. He declined to say whether the period involved his children, telling the interviewer only “family stuff. We could leave it at that.”
How Did Brad Pitt Describe His Relationship With Drink Before He Quit?
Pitt has spoken previously about a long period of heavy use that predated his decision to get sober in 2016. In a 2017 interview with GQ, he recalled that he could not remember a single day since leaving college when he was not drinking, smoking marijuana or using some other substance, a pattern he later linked to years of unresolved personal strain.
He has also described smoking heavily during the 1990s as a way of coping with the pressures of early fame, telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 that he felt “really sick” of himself in that period and turned to marijuana to manage depression that followed his breakout role in A River Runs Through It.
The reckoning came to a head after Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, a split that followed a reported dispute aboard the couple’s private plane. Pitt has said the fallout pushed him into eighteen months of an all-male recovery group, a process he told The New York Times in 2019 he found unexpectedly freeing.
“You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard,” he told the newspaper, adding that the experience helped him confront parts of himself he had long avoided. It was against that backdrop of hard-won recovery that Pitt’s admission to Esquire, that he has since eased back into drinking in a more disciplined way, carries particular weight for those who have followed his account of the years in between.
What Comes Next for Brad Pitt Professionally?
The profile also touched on Pitt’s upcoming projects, including his role in the racing drama F1 and his return as stuntman Cliff Booth in a forthcoming Netflix film directed by David Fincher, suggesting the actor remains focused on an active production slate even as he reflects publicly on a turbulent personal chapter.
This piece touches on sensitive subjects including suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through a mental health professional or a crisis helpline in your area.
