Brad Pitt has a journey with sobriety over the years.
Pitt attended Alcoholics Anonymous in 2016 following an incident on a private jet with his family which led to a child abuse investigation. One week after the news broke, Angelina Jolie, whom Pitt married in 2014, filed for divorce. (Jolie and Pitt’s divorce continued in court until it was finalized in December 2024.)
Later that year, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services cleared Pitt. In 2017, Pitt opened up about quitting drinking and how his life had improved.
“Personally, I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff or something. Something. And you realize that a lot of it is, um — cigarettes, you know, pacifiers. And I’m running from feelings,” he told GQ at the time. “I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that. I mean, I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family. But even this last year, you know — things I wasn’t dealing with. I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem. And I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again.”
Keep scrolling to see Pitt’s best quotes about getting sober:
Being Around Alcohol
At the start of Pitt’s struggles, he opened up about how he abstained from alcohol especially while owning his winery, Miraval.
“I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground,” he reflected to GQ in 2017. “ I had to step away for a minute. And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good. Don’t want to live that way anymore.”
Knowing When to Stop
Pitt previously told the New York Times in September 2019 that he “had taken things as far as” he could so he “removed” his “drinking privileges.” When the actor sought recovery, he was surrounded by men going through similar struggles.
“You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard,” he recalled. “It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself … It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself. There’s great value in that.”
Unhealthy Coping Mechanism
During a sit down with Interview magazine in December 2019, Pitt referred to his drinking habit as an “escape” and “disservice” to himself.
“I think we’re living in a time where we’re extremely judgmental and quick to treat people as disposable. We’ve always placed great importance on the mistake. But the next move, what you do after the mistake, is what really defines a person,” he reflected. “We’re all going to make mistakes. But what is that next step? We don’t, as a culture, seem to stick around to see what that person’s next step is. And that’s the part I find so much more invigorating and interesting.”
Support System
Pitt credited pal Bradley Cooper as one of his influences to refrain from drinking.
“I got sober because of this guy,” Pitt said after Cooper presented him with the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood during the 2020 National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala. “And every day’s been happier ever since.”
Making Connections in AA
While in AA, Pitt formed a friendship with Dax Shepard.
“You go around in a circle, it’s kind of a spiral because it’s a really crowded room. Dax was usually near the end because he’s been there a while. He’s kind of like an elder statesman. And I really respected it,” he said during a June 2025 appearance on Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast. “It was really open, honest, was a way to take whatever theme seemed to go in the evening and then put it in the funniest package. And it meant a lot to me, it really did.”
Pitt added that when he was in AA where he was at a low point.
“I was trying anything and everyone, anything anyone threw at me. It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting,” he continued. “I needed to wake the f*** up in some areas.”
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