Booze Binges Every Night

The Truth About Brad's Drinking Brad Pitt’s alcohol use was far worse than anyone knows

His confession was shocking. “I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem,” Brad Pitt recently divulged to GQ Style in his first interview since Angelina Jolie filed for divorce last September. Though Brad, 53, also revealed he’s since given up alcohol in the wake of their split — and the headline-making private plane incident that preceded it and led to a lengthy child services childabuse investigation — he didn’t shy away from discussing his issues. “Truthfully,” he added, “I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional.”

But despite his raw honesty, there’s far more Brad didn’t reveal. “Alcohol was not just a huge part of his life, but in recent years Brad was boozing every night, drinking himself into oblivion” often, an insider tells In Touch. “It was out of control — worse than anyone could imagine. Brad would begin drinking around dinner and wouldn’t stop until long after the kids went to bed. He would eventually pass out around 3 a.m. and not wake up until around noon. Often he was massively hungover.”

That behavior accelerated his marriage’s death spiral. When Brad was hungover, adds the insider, “It caused him to lash out at the kids

and Angie. Brad’s temper became unpredictable,” and everyone, including their six kids, Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8, in the house would try to tiptoe around his moods. “His drinking caused him to miss a lot of moments with the kids.” Now he’s owning his behavior — and it hurts. “Being public about his drinking has been helpful and healing in Brad’s journey,” adds the insider. “It’s been therapeutic. But he has to deal with these feelings and can’t use alcohol or drugs to numb the pain.”

What Brad didn’t tell the world in his revealing interview is that he simply cracked. “There had been pressure on Brad for years to be the best actor, husband, father and humanitarian,” and he just crumbled under the weight, the insider tells In Touch. “Angie wasn’t the easiest person to live with,” and that made things worse. They fought over friends — she didn’t want him hanging out with his close pals George Clooney and Julia Roberts. “George and Julia weren’t Angie’s biggest fans, but they were always extremely polite to her for Brad’s sake,” the insider adds. “But Angie made horrible comments if Brad wanted to spend time with them.”

The pressure on Brad caused his drinking to increase weeks after his and Angie’s August 2014 wedding. “The drinking became out of control around the time of Brad and Angie’s honeymoon, when they were shooting By the Sea,” explains the in- sider, referring to the box-office bomb about a couple whose marriage is crumbling — which Angelina wrote and directed, and starred in alongside Brad. “He was absolutely miserable during the entire shoot and didn’t want to be working during what should have been their honeymoon. The script was just so dark, and Brad thought Angie was using the movie to make public their differences.”

Tensions continued to fester. “Angie had been wanting to sell Miraval, their French château and vineyard, because she thought it only brought out the worst in Brad, who loves to drink wine, and it was just getting out of control,” adds the insider.

Brad admitted to GQ that having the award-winning winery made it easy to imbibe. “I mean, we have a winery,” he said. “I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute.”

Now he’s no longer bitter about the divorce and war with Angie. “After the anger wore off, Brad’s main goal was to get healthy, and that included quitting drinking,” says the insider. “He got extensive counseling daily, and it absolutely saved his life.” ◼