Brad Pitt reveals his darkest period
Brad Pitt made a bold confession about inner struggles.
Speaking to Esquire with Ryan D’Agostino, the Hollywood star revealed one of the darkest periods of his life when he had suicidal thoughts. “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,” Brad said.
Adding, “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 understand suicide, in the sense that it’s just relief.”
“It’s just looking for relief from the pain,” he further revealed at the time.
It is worth noting here that Brad and his former wife, Angelina Jolie, share six children together; however, the couple split in 2016, and he faced reported estrangement from some of his six children.
When the interviewer questioned if the dark period was due to “kid stuff,” Brad simply said, “Family stuff. We could leave it at that.”
Now, a source told Radar Online that the lowest point may have been related to his painful family struggles.
“It’s no secret that the loss of his kids hit him like a ton of bricks and ripped his morale to shreds,” the source revealed.
Brad Pitt Says ‘Family Stuff’ Left Him At His Lowest Point
Brad Pitt seemingly has it all.
At 62, the still-hunky Hollywood heartthrob has two Oscars, a fortune worth hundreds of millions, a red-hot career, a stunning girlfriend nearly 30 years his junior and the kind of fame most actors can only dream about, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
But sources said the Fight Club hunk is missing something no amount of money or movie stardom can replace – a close relationship with his six children.
Pitt Reveals His Darkest Moment
And now Pitt has made the stunning admission that amid agonizing “family stuff,” he sank so low he could understand suicide – and even imagined the sensation of a bullet in his head.
“I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period,” Pitt revealed in a startling new interview with Esquire. “And in that one little period, I just thought – I just couldn’t – just didn’t see a way out.”
The emotional pain became so overwhelming, Pitt said, that death suddenly seemed to offer an escape.
“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.”
The Oscar winner says the frightening thought gave him a new understanding of what can drive a desperate person to the brink.
Pitt Links Dark Period to ‘Family Stuff’
“I understand suicide, in the sense that it’s just relief,” he explained. “It’s just looking for relief from the pain.”
Fortunately, Pitt insisted he never intended to follow through – and said his natural survival instinct quickly kicked in.
But when his interviewer asked whether the dark period involved “kid stuff,” Pitt tellingly replied: “Family stuff. We could leave it at that.”
His family has been fractured since Angelina Jolie, 51, filed for divorce in 2016 after she accused Pitt of physically abusing her and more than one of their children aboard a private plane.
Estrangement From Kids ‘Ripped’ Pitt Apart
Pitt was cleared of wrongdoing by child welfare officials, while the FBI investigated the incident but declined to file charges. Their bitter divorce dragged on for eight years before finally being settled in 2024.
The former couple shares Maddox [Jolie-Pitt], 25, Pax [Jolie-Pitt], 22, Zahara [Jolie-Pitt], 21, Shiloh [Jolie-Pitt], 20, and 18-year-old twins Knox [Jolie-Pitt] and Vivienne [Jolie-Pitt] – and Brad is reportedly estranged from several of them.
Four have even taken legal steps to remove “Pitt” from their surnames. Shiloh successfully changed hers to Jolie in 2024, while Maddox, Zahara and, most recently, Vivienne have filed their own petitions.
“It’s no secret that the loss of his kids hit him like a ton of bricks and ripped his morale to shreds,” an insider told RadarOnline.com.
Pitt Admits He’s Drinking Again
Meanwhile, Brad has also revealed he’s drinking again after seven years of sobriety, although he insists he now imbibes only in moderation.
“I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” he admitted, adding that he learned after getting “overconfident a couple times” that heavy drinking is “not good for me.”
Despite everything, Brad said he remains a “congenital optimist” who knows he’s been extraordinarily fortunate.
“This s— ain’t easy,” he said. “And you’re talking to a guy who won the lottery.”
Brad Pitt admits he began drinking again after years of sobriety
The ‘F1’ star also opened up about grief, a brief period of suicidal thoughts and the pain of ‘family stuff’
After seven years of sobriety, Brad Pitt started drinking again.
The startling confession came as Pitt reflected on his darkest moments, the lasting scars of grief and the complicated reality of struggling despite having “won the lottery” in life.
“I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt told Esquire for the September cover story.
Brad Pitt revealed he started drinking again after seven years of sobriety in a candid new interview. (Samir Hussein/WireImage))
The actor said he approached drinking differently after giving up his sobriety, describing his consumption as more limited than before. “In a more restrained manner,” he clarified. “I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities.’”
Pitt’s candid admission came as he reflected on the harder chapters of his life and acknowledged that fame and success had not insulated him from struggle. The “F1” star has been dealing with “family stuff” since 2016, when he began the divorce process from his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie.
Pitt’s reflections took a darker turn as he recalled a period when the pain became nearly unbearable.
“I was never suicidal in any way. It just was not my makeup,” he told the outlet. “In fact, if I have any afflictions, it’s probably being a congenital optimist. Which has helped many times, and it’s also gotten me – I’ve walked foolishly head-on into a Mack truck because of my optimism. Or, as my forever-funny friend David Fincher will say, ‘Yeah, you see the glass as half full, but it’s half full of urine.’ Anyway, I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period.”
Brad Pitt reflected on sobriety, grief and the difficult years dealing with “family stuff.” (CHANTAL ANDERSON/Esquire)
“And in that one little period, I just thought – I just couldn’t – just didn’t see a way out,” Pitt continued. “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. And 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, but it was just… ”
The Oscar winner tempered his candid admission by acknowledging the extraordinary hand he had been dealt in life.
Brad Pitt said fame and success did not shield him from personal struggles. (CHANTAL ANDERSON/Esquire)
“Yeah. Like, listen: This s–t ain’t easy,” he said. “And you’re talking to a guy who won the lottery.”
Pitt also reflected on the lasting impact of grief, describing the pain it left behind alongside an unexpected sense of beauty.
“Grief, if you survive it, leaves a gaping hole, but it also leaves profound beauty,” he said. “It’s an aching beauty, but it’s beauty.”
Brad Pitt poses for the cover of Esquire magazine. (CHANTAL ANDERSON/Esquire)
Pitt first gained major attention with his memorable supporting turn in 1991’s “Thelma & Louise,” before becoming a leading man in films including “A River Runs Through It,” “Legends of the Fall” and “Se7en.”
His signature films include “Fight Club,” “Ocean’s Eleven,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Moneyball” and “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”
Brad Pitt smiling in a scene from the film ‘Thelma & Louise’, 1991. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images)
Pitt has also built an influential career behind the camera through his production company, Plan B Entertainment. As a producer, he won the best picture Oscar for “12 Years a Slave,” adding to a résumé that extends well beyond acting.
Now in his 60s, Pitt looked back on the previous decade with a sense of urgency.
“God, I want my fifties back,” he said. “I would do more. Your fifties are just – man, anything that’s on your mind, go. Go attack it. Go attack it now.”
Brad Pitt Broke His Sobriety. Now, He’s Setting Rules for Drinking
Brad Pitt is opening up about a major change in his relationship with alcohol.
The 62-year-old actor revealed that after seven years of sobriety, he began drinking again — but says he’s now approaching alcohol with considerably more restraint.
Pitt made the admission in a new Esquire profile published Monday (August 10), after offering writer Ryan D’Agostino a glass of wine and explaining that he now drinks in moderation.
Brad Pitt Opens Up About Drinking Again
Pitt previously revealed that he gave up alcohol in 2016 following his split from Angelina Jolie and turned to a 12-step program as he worked on his sobriety.
Now, he says he has learned to approach drinking differently. “No, I got — I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt said with a laugh when D’Agostino asked whether the wine was only for guests.
The F1 star said he now drinks alcohol “in a more restrained manner.”
I got overconfident a couple times, went, Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities.
Asked if he can enjoy a glass of wine, Pitt replied, “Yeah. Well . . . I can have a few. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”
Why Brad Pitt Gave Up Alcohol
Pitt stopped drinking in 2016 following his split from Jolie, who filed for divorce that year. The former couple shares six children.
In a 2017 chat with GQ, Pitt was candid about his drinking before getting sober, saying he couldn’t remember “a day” after leaving college when he “wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something.”
READ MORE: Miley Cyrus ‘Needed to Fall’ Before Getting Sober
At the time, Pitt said he had been sober for six months and acknowledged that he had been drinking too much.
Now, seven years after giving up alcohol, Pitt says he’s drinking again — but with limits.
