Brad Pitt Reveals He Ended Seven Years of Sobriety

Actor Brad Pitt has revealed that he is no longer sober, ending a seven-year period without alcohol. The admission was made in a profile published by Esquire magazine on Monday, August 10, 2026. During the interview, conducted at Pitt's residence in Los Angeles, the 62-year-old actor discussed his current relationship with alcohol. Pitt previously stopped drinking following a 2016 private plane incident involving his family and the subsequent filing for divorce by his then-wife, Angelina Jolie. Addressing his return to drinking, Pitt stated, “I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon.” He explained that he now consumes alcohol in a more restrained manner, noting, “I got overconfident a couple times, went, 'Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities.' I can have a few. But I can't have a lot. I have to be professional about it.” In the same interview, Pitt reflected on the psychological toll of his highly publicized separation from Jolie and the subsequent legal battles concerning their family. He opened up about experiencing a brief period of severe emotional distress and suicidal ideation during that time. Describing the intensity of the experience, Pitt 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...” Pitt and Jolie married in 2014 and share six children: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Their legal separation was initiated in 2016 and finalized in subsequent years, accompanied by extensive public media coverage regarding custody and family dynamics. Additionally, the Esquire profile touched upon broader topics, including Pit