I’m a Brad boy
Drinking led to Pitt of despair
BRAD PITT is owning up to his mistakes that he says ripped his family apart.
The 53-year-old actor opened up to GQ about the last six months of his life after splitting from wife Angelina Jolie, battling over visitation rights regarding his six kids and dealing with a drinking problem.
“For me, this period has been about looking at my weakness and failures and owning my side of the street,” he told the magazine.
Pitt’s life started to unravel in September after someone called authorities about an alleged altercation between him and his eldest son Maddox, 15, while on an airplane that led to an FBI investigation.
No charges were ever filed, but the very public scrutiny left him feeling “chained,” he said.
Jolie filed for divorce days later.
“I was boozing too much,” he told GQ, saying he is now sober. “It’s just become a problem. And I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet.”
Asked if he missed drinking, Pitt referenced that he still owns a winery, but “ran it to the ground.”
“Truthfully,” he added, “I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good.”
But quitting booze since the divorce hasn’t brought his children back — at least not yet.
He said he’s working with Jolie to figure out a schedule to see his kids, Maddox, along with Pax, 12; Zahara, 11; Shiloh, 10, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 8. But now both he and Jolie, 41, have agreed to deal with their problems privately. While the split played out messy in public, Pitt never speaks ill of his former partner, who he was with for more than 10 years. “It’s just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart,” he said. The “Fight Club” star expressed that his main focus is his children and makings sure they are not exposed to exaggerated stories about him in the media. “It is a drag to have certain things drug out in public and misconstrued,” he told GQ. “And so you know the most sensational sells, and that’s what they’ll be subjected to, and that pains me.”
Over the past few months, Pitt has been working on sculpting and other artwork at his friend’s studio and just trying to work on himself. He said acting currently takes up very little of his life — even noting that he wouldn’t call himself an actor.
“It’s such a silly idea, the idea that the world is fair. And this is coming from a guy who hit the lottery, I’m well aware of that,” he said. “I hit the lottery, and I still would waste my time on those hollow pursuits.”