Brad Pitt says his seven-year period of sobriety has ended, revealing that he has started drinking again while insisting he now approaches alcohol more cautiously.
The Oscar-winning actor made the disclosure in a candid interview with Esquire, explaining that he had been sober for seven years before returning to drinking. He said he now drinks in a “more restrained manner” and has learned from moments when he became overconfident about his ability to handle alcohol.
Pitt’s comments came during a much broader conversation about his life, including a deeply painful period he described only as “family stuff.”
That portion of the interview revealed just how difficult that chapter became.
Pitt was direct about the change in his relationship with alcohol.
“I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” he told Esquire. He quickly clarified that his current drinking is different from his past relationship with alcohol, describing it as being “in a more restrained manner.”
The actor said he had become overconfident a couple of times and then recognized that drinking heavily was still not good for him.
He explained that he can have a few glasses of wine but has to remain conscious of his limits.
“I have to be professional about it,” Pitt said.
His comments mark a significant change from the sobriety journey he had publicly discussed for years.
After his split from Angelina Jolie, Pitt previously credited Bradley Cooper with helping him get sober. He also spent more than a year attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings during that period.
Now, Pitt says he has returned to drinking, but his comments suggest he is approaching it with considerably more awareness of what works—and what does not—for him.
The interview then moved into much heavier territory.
Pitt reflected on a period when his emotional pain became so overwhelming that he understood why someone might see death as relief.
He emphasized that he did not intend to act on those thoughts.
Instead, he described the experience as an unusually dark period in which the emotional pain felt oppressive. He said his survival instincts ultimately kicked in.
When the interviewer asked whether the experience involved his children, Pitt did not elaborate.
“Family stuff,” he replied, making clear that he did not want to go further into the details.
That boundary is important. Pitt has not publicly identified the specific circumstances behind the period he was discussing, so the comments should not be used to assign a particular cause to his mental health struggles.
What he did make clear was that the pain was real—and that he ultimately moved through it.
Pitt’s sobriety became a prominent part of his public story after his 2016 split from Jolie.
He has previously spoken about confronting his drinking and seeking help through recovery meetings. In 2020, he publicly thanked Cooper for helping him get sober.
That seven-year stretch eventually became an important marker in Pitt’s personal life.
His latest Esquire interview provides an update: he is no longer completely abstaining from alcohol.
But Pitt’s comments do not present the change as a return to his previous drinking habits. Instead, he says he has learned that large quantities are not good for him and that he needs to maintain discipline.
The revelation comes alongside continued public interest in his personal life following his long and highly publicized divorce from Jolie, which was finalized in 2024 after years of legal disputes.
Still, Pitt himself stopped short of connecting the difficult period he described directly to any specific family member or event.
Pitt’s admission stands out because sobriety had been a meaningful part of his public narrative for years.
Rather than presenting recovery as a simple, permanent finish line, his comments describe something more complicated: a person who stopped drinking for seven years, eventually resumed, and says he has had to learn his limits again.
His remarks about mental health add another layer.
Pitt acknowledged experiencing one brief period in which emotional pain became overwhelming enough for him to understand suicidal thinking, while stressing that he did not intend to act on those thoughts.
He also chose not to disclose what he meant by “family stuff.”
That restraint matters. The actor is sharing a deeply personal experience without providing the details behind it, and there is no basis to fill those gaps with speculation.
Pitt’s most revealing comments may be the simplest ones.
Despite describing himself as someone whose optimism has generally helped him navigate difficult circumstances, he acknowledged that life has not always felt manageable.
He ultimately pointed to his survival instincts as the force that helped him through the darkest period.
The actor also framed his current relationship with alcohol around self-awareness, acknowledging that he has learned from experiences in which he pushed beyond what was healthy for him.
For someone who has spent decades in the public eye, the interview offers a rare glimpse at a side of Pitt that is considerably less polished than his Hollywood image.
Brad Pitt says he is drinking again after seven years of sobriety, but his latest comments make clear that he is approaching alcohol with greater restraint and awareness of his limits.
And while he remains private about the “family stuff” behind his darkest period, he is now willing to acknowledge publicly just how difficult that chapter became.
