Brad Pitt Opens Up About a Major Change in His Relationship With Alcohol After Seven Years Sober

Brad Pitt has spoken candidly about a significant change in his relationship with alcohol, revealing that after seven years without drinking, he has started consuming it again in what he describes as a more controlled way.

The 62-year-old actor has previously been unusually open about his struggles with alcohol and the role that recovery support played in his life, particularly during the difficult years surrounding his separation from Angelina Jolie.

Now, in a new interview with Esquire, Pitt has explained that his approach has changed.

Rather than returning to heavy drinking, he said he is attempting to understand his limits and approach alcohol with greater restraint.

“I got overconfident a couple times,” Pitt said, explaining that he eventually recognised that large quantities were not good for him.

He added that he believes he can drink in moderation but needs to remain aware of his boundaries.

“I was sober for seven years,” Pitt said, acknowledging that he eventually returned to drinking.

Pitt has previously been candid about his drinking and sobriety (Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)

Why Brad Pitt changed his perspective

Pitt's comments reveal that his current outlook is not simply about alcohol itself.

The actor also reflected on a conversation with a female friend who encouraged him to reconsider the way he viewed his own emotions and experiences.

According to Pitt, the friend suggested that life involves experiencing the full range of human emotions rather than constantly trying to avoid difficult feelings.

That idea had a lasting effect on him.

Pitt said the conversation ultimately “freed” him from feeling that there was something inherently wrong with experiencing difficult emotions.

The revelation offers a different perspective on an actor whose private life has been under intense scrutiny for years.

Pitt's long history of discussing sobriety

Pitt has previously spoken publicly about his relationship with alcohol.

In a 2017 interview with GQ, he discussed how drinking and marijuana had become part of his lifestyle after college.

Following the breakdown of his marriage to Jolie in 2016, Pitt sought professional and peer support as he attempted to change his relationship with substances.

He later described attending an all-male support group for approximately 18 months.

In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Pitt discussed the importance of that experience and the value he found in being able to speak openly with other men about personal difficulties.

His comments at the time represented one of the rare occasions when the actor addressed his recovery journey in such personal terms.

The support system that helped Pitt

Pitt later revisited those experiences during a 2025 appearance on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast.

He recalled the support group as an important part of the early stages of his sobriety.

The actor described an environment in which participants could discuss their mistakes, struggles and personal experiences while also finding moments of humour.

Pitt has previously acknowledged that opening up did not come naturally to him.

He described arriving at the group during a particularly difficult period in his life and being willing to listen to whatever advice might help him move forward.

That experience, he suggested, became an important part of rebuilding his life.

Pitt said that he is now drinking again, but practising moderation (Katelyn Mulcahy - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Brad Pitt has also credited Bradley Cooper

Pitt has publicly acknowledged that other people played an important role in his recovery.

At the 2020 Academy Awards, he specifically thanked Bradley Cooper for helping him during his journey toward sobriety.

The moment attracted considerable attention because Pitt had rarely spoken so openly about the people who supported him.

Cooper has also spoken about his own experiences with addiction and recovery, making the friendship between the two actors particularly notable.

For Pitt, the support appears to have represented something larger than simply giving up alcohol: it was part of a broader effort to rebuild his personal life and establish healthier routines.

His latest comments mark a complicated new chapter

Pitt's decision to drink again after seven years of sobriety has inevitably attracted attention because of his previous statements about alcohol.

But his latest comments do not suggest that he sees the change as a return to his former lifestyle.

Instead, he says he is attempting to approach alcohol cautiously and remain conscious of his personal limits.

That distinction is important.

A person's experience with alcohol and recovery is highly individual, and Pitt's comments should not be interpreted as medical or recovery advice for anyone else.

What makes the interview notable is the actor's willingness to acknowledge that his relationship with alcohol has changed over time.

From Hollywood superstar to a more private life

Pitt's comments also arrive after years in which his personal life has frequently overshadowed his film career.

His divorce from Jolie became one of Hollywood's most closely followed family stories, while his relationship with his children has continued to attract public attention.

Yet Pitt has increasingly spoken about wanting to move beyond the most difficult chapters of his past.

His latest interview fits into that pattern.

Rather than presenting his life as a straightforward transformation from one state to another, Pitt appears to be describing something more complicated: learning from earlier experiences, recognising personal limits and accepting that life can contain both difficult and positive periods.

After seven years of sobriety, his relationship with alcohol has changed once again.

And his explanation suggests that, for Pitt, the bigger story may not be about drinking at all — but about how he has learned to view himself, his emotions and the experiences that shaped him.