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Brad Pitt has revealed he's drinking again after nearly a decade of sobriety, though he insists it's now in moderation.
In a new Esquire profile published August 10, the 62-year-old actor shared: "I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon." He clarified that he now drinks "in a more restrained manner," explaining, "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."
Pitt began his path to sobriety in 2016, following the end of his marriage to Angelina Jolie. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous soon after, where he found comfort in the honesty and vulnerability shared within the group. He later recalled how hearing men speak openly about their struggles gave him a sense of relief and connection during one of the hardest chapters of his life.
"I was pretty much on my knees and I was really open. I was trying anything anyone threw at me. I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f--- up in some areas," he recalled during a 2025 appearance on Armchair Expert.
The actor has long been candid about his struggles with alcohol. In 2017, he told GQ he couldn't remember "a day" after college when he wasn't drinking or smoking. By 2019, he spoke to The New York Times about the year and a half he spent in a 12-step program, calling it "really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself."
Pitt has also credited Bradley Cooper with inspiring him to get sober. Accepting his Best Supporting Actor award in 2020, he told the audience: "I got sober because of this guy. And every day's been happier ever since."
Now, with nearly four years of dating Ines De Ramon and a career that continues to thrive, Pitt says his focus is on balance. He reflected on his emotional nature, sharing how a friend recently told him: "The human experience means I'm here to feel it all. Feel it all. The extreme highs and the depths of the soul-crushing lows."
Pitt admitted that perspective freed him: "I'm going to stop feeling like there's something wrong with that."
