Brad Pitt is drinking again in moderation after spending seven years completely sober.
The Oscar-winning actor and producer, 62, spoke about his relationship with alcohol in a new interview published Monday.
“No, I got—I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt told Esquire. “In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times, went, Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities.”
He added that he can “have a few” glasses of wine, saying, “But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”
Pitt first cut out drinking in 2016 following his highly publicized split from Angelina Jolie, with whom he shares children Maddox, 24, Zahara, 21, Pax, 22, Shiloh, 20, Knox, 18, and Vivienne, 18.
He has spoken openly about his sobriety journey over the years, even thanking his friend Bradley Cooper for helping him to get sober during his acceptance speech at the 2020 Academy Awards.
During an appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast in June 2025, Pitt credited his Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for helping him stay disciplined.
“It was when I was first getting sober,” Pitt explained to Shepard, whom he met at AA. “It was just incredible. Men sharing their experiences, their foibles, their missteps, their wants, their aches and a lot of humor with it. I thought it was a really special experience.”
He continued: “I was pretty much on my knees, and I was really open. I was trying anything and everyone. Anything anyone threw at me. It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f*** up in some areas. And it just meant a lot to me.”
Pitt spoke more about overcoming difficult periods of his life elsewhere in the Esquire interview, revealing he once felt “suicidal” while navigating “family stuff.”
“And in that one little period, I just thought — I just couldn’t — just didn’t see a way out,” he said. “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.”
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI) or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you
