Brad Pitt Opens Up About Sobriety Journey

Brad Pitt has offered a rare window into his ongoing struggle with alcohol, chronicling a journey that has included both extended sobriety and recent setbacks.

The actor began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in 2016 after a private jet incident involving his family triggered a child abuse investigation. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services ultimately cleared Pitt of wrongdoing later that year. One week after news of the incident emerged, Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, whom she had married in 2014. Their divorce proceedings stretched across eight years before reaching finalization in December 2024.

In a 2017 interview with GQ, Pitt acknowledged the pervasive role substances had played throughout his adult life. "Personally, 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," he told the magazine. "I'm really, really happy to be done with all of that."

The actor confronted the irony of owning Miraval, a winery, while battling alcohol dependency. "I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground," he reflected to GQ in 2017. "I had to step away for a minute. And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good. Don't want to live that way anymore."

By September 2019, Pitt told the New York Times he had "removed" his "drinking privileges" after recognizing he "had taken things as far as" he could. The recovery process introduced him to a community of men confronting similar challenges.

"You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard," he recalled to the New York Times. "It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself ... It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself. There's great value in that."

In a December 2019 conversation with Interview magazine, Pitt characterized his drinking as both an "escape" and "disservice" to himself. He emphasized the importance of how individuals respond after making mistakes rather than the errors themselves.

"I think we're living in a time where we're extremely judgmental and quick to treat people as disposable. We've always placed great importance on the mistake. But the next move, what you do after the mistake, is what really defines a person," he told Interview magazine. "We're all going to make mistakes. But what is that next step? We don't, as a culture, seem to stick around to see what that person's next step is. And that's the part I find so much more invigorating and interesting."

Pitt has publicly credited Bradley Cooper as instrumental to his recovery efforts. At the 2020 National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala, where Cooper presented him with the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pitt acknowledged his friend's influence.

"I got sober because of this guy," Pitt said at the ceremony. "And every day's been happier ever since."

During his time in Alcoholics Anonymous, Pitt developed a friendship with Dax Shepard. In a June 2025 appearance on Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, Pitt described the impact Shepard's presence had during meetings.

"You go around in a circle, it's kind of a spiral because it's a really crowded room. Dax was usually near the end because he's been there a while. He's kind of like an elder statesman. And I really respected it," Pitt said on the podcast. "It was really open, honest, was a way to take whatever theme seemed to go in the evening and then put it in the funniest package. And it meant a lot to me, it really did."

Pitt acknowledged he was at a vulnerable point when he entered the program. "I was trying anything and everyone, anything anyone threw at me. It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting," he continued on the podcast. "I needed to wake the f*** up in some areas."

In August 2026, Pitt revealed to Esquire that his sobriety had ended. "I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon," he told the magazine. "In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times, went, 'Yep, nope, not good for me.' Not in big quantities."

The disclosure marks a new chapter in the F1 star's public discussion of his relationship with alcohol, one characterized by ongoing self-awareness and adjustment rather than a linear path to recovery.