Brad Pitt Reveals He Felt “Suicidal” During Lengthy Divorce, Confesses He Is No Longer Sober

Brad Pitt is dropping major bombshells about his private life. The 62-year-old Oscar winner broke his silence in a candid new cover profile, admitting he suffered through a harrowing period where he felt suicidal while processing his grueling divorce and family drama. To make matters even more shocking, the actor confessed he is officially no longer sober after walking away from a seven-year stretch of total abstinence.

Speaking to Esquire, the Hollywood A-lister offered the interviewer a glass of wine before making the stunning admission that he had started drinking alcohol again.

“No, I got — I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt revealed, offering a “little laugh” before adding that he now indulges “in a more restrained manner.”

“I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities,'” Pitt explained. When the interviewer noted that people can still enjoy a single glass of wine, Pitt agreed with a caveat: “Yeah. Well . . . I can have a few. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”

The admission marks a dramatic shift for the movie star, who famously entered Alcoholics Anonymous and gave up booze following his explosive 2016 split from ex-wife Angelina Jolie. The former couple was embroiled in a brutal, eight-year legal battle over assets and child custody that was only finalized in late 2024.

During the sprawling conversation, Pitt candidly reflected on the emotional toll that his messy divorce and lingering “family stuff” took on his mental health. The actor confessed that despite identifying as an optimist, he endured a deeply alarming crisis amid the fallout.

“I was never suicidal in any way, it just was not my make-up,” Pitt shared. “In fact, if I have any afflictions, it’s probably being a congenital optimist, which has helped many times, and it’s also gotten me, I’ve walked foolishly head-on into a Mack truck because of my optimism.”

However, he admitted that his emotional resilience shattered during one particularly dark stretch of time.

“Anyway, I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period, and in that one little period, I just thought — I just couldn’t — just didn’t see a way out,” Pitt admitted.

Describing the intensity of the emotional anguish, Pitt offered a chilling detail about what he experienced mentally during that breakdown.

“The pain was so oppressive that I wasn’t going to act on this, but I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief,” he confessed.

Thankfully, the star noted that his strong “survival instincts” kicked in before things went any further. He was able to pull himself back from the edge and gain a fresh perspective on life. He recalled speaking with a close friend who reminded him that feeling both “extreme highs” and “soul-crushing lows” is simply an inescapable element of being human.

“She goes, ‘I don’t know, I believe in the human experience, and the human experience means I’m here to feel it all.’ … And that freed me,” Pitt explained. “I heard that and I went, ‘I’m going to stop feeling like there’s something wrong with that.'”

Despite the heavy emotional weight of the past decade, Pitt appears determined to navigate his current chapter with moderation and introspection. He noted that he now appreciates peace and early mornings much more than late-night drinking sessions.

“You can miss a lovely morning when you drink too much the night before, and it’s just not as interesting,” Pitt remarked. “Mornings are interesting, and he doesn’t want any more of them to go by unseen.”