Brad Pitt’s Esquire interview came out yesterday, and the biggest headline from it is that he is no longer sober. It’s a big reveal, given that alcohol played a huge role in the disintegration of his second marriage. I still believe, to this day, that Brad was blackout drunk on the plane in 2016, and he barely has any memory of terrorizing and assaulting Angelina Jolie and her children. After Jolie abandoned him and filed for divorce immediately following the plane assault, Brad worked a half-assed 12-step program without even going into a rehab facility to properly dry out. He announced his sobriety in a 2019 interview with the NY Times. But for years now, social media has been keeping receipts of his insobriety – his glassy eyes at work events, blurry fan photos of Brad holding cocktails, his bizarre behavior at various premieres. According to Page Six, Brad was openly drinking at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding last month too:
Guests at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s NYC wedding were surprised to see Brad Pitt tipping back drinks before he publicly admitted he was no longer sober. A source told Page Six last month that the “Ocean’s Eleven” actor had been seen imbibing at the star-studded affair at Madison Square Garden on July 3.
The source noted at the time that guests were shocked to see Pitt, who has been vocal about his sobriety, drinking at the high-profile event that brought out Adam Sandler, Paul McCartney, Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, Tom Cruise and more. Pitt attended Swift and Kelce’s wedding with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.
In an Esquire interview published Monday, the Oscar winner confirmed he had made the decision to drink again.
“I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt confessed in the interview. “In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me.’ Not in big quantities.”
Pitt explained he “can have a few” glasses of wine, but he “can’t have a lot.”
“I have to be professional about it,” he said.
Yeah, I believe he was openly drinking at the MSG wedding. By Brad’s own timeline, he hasn’t been sober since 2023?? I think it’s been longer than that. My guess is that he probably started drinking again during the pandemic, honestly. Also, this is so Pete Hegseth-coded: “In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times…Not in big quantities.” That kind of self-bargaining is a huge red flag for alcoholics. Still, it’s interesting that so many people have clocked this story and what it really means: that his kids have had every right to cut their ties with Brad, who is still in the throes of alcoholism.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
-
- Brad Pitt,Image: 904096954, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Mirco Toniolo / AGF Foto / Avalon
-
- WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – AUGUST 01: American actor Brad Pitt arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Sony Pictures’ ‘Bullet Train’ held at the Regency Village Theatre on August 1, 2022 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 711495232, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
-
- WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – AUGUST 01: American actor Brad Pitt arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Sony Pictures’ ‘Bullet Train’ held at the Regency Village Theatre on August 1, 2022 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 711495403, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
-
- LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 01: Brad Pitt attends the Los Angeles premiere of Sony Pictures’ “Bullet Train” at Regency Village Theatre on August 01, 2022 in Los Angeles, California,Image: 711520553, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
-
- WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – AUGUST 01: American actor Brad Pitt wearing a custom Haans Nicholas Mott look with adidas x Gucci Gazelle shoes arrives at the Premiere Of Sony Pictures’ ‘Bullet Train’ held at the Regency Village Theatre on August 1, 2022 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 711691403, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt, Credit line: Image Press Agency / Image Press Agency / Avalon
-
- Brad Pitt during Blonde red carpet. 79th Venice International Film Festival, Italy – 08 Sep 2022,Image: 720717161, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
-
- Brad Pitt during Blonde red carpet. 79th Venice International Film Festival, Italy – 08 Sep 2022,Image: 720717485, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
-
- Ines de Ramon and Brad Pitt at the F1 European film premiere, London, UK on the 23rd Jun 2025,Image: 1014163951, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw/Avalon
-
- New York City, NY Brad Pitt was spotted leaving Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s star-studded wedding celebration alongside girlfriend Ines de Ramon and musician Beck at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The trio departed the lavish event together in the same SUV following the ceremony and reception, joining the long list of celebrity guests who attended the highly anticipated celebration. Pictured: Beck, Brad Pitt, Ines de Ramon BACKGRID USA 4 JULY 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
“Seen drinking” certainly implies that he had more than a few glasses.
Yes, but he’s pro… Remember!
Yes. He’s a professional drinker. Not a good sign.
I too believe that he believes he has plausible deniability because he was so blackout drunk on that plane that he doesn’t remember. I also believe he never stopped drinking. I mean, he owns a winery….
I can only imagine the belligerent messages he has left on his kids’ voicemails.
If it were only Angelina on that plane, he could deny it, but with the kids and personnel… He can only admit and own it, but alas…
Yeah, I wouldn’t say Angelina “abandoned” him after the plane incident. More like she protected herself and her kids and filed for divorce.
Yes. She ran. She did not walk. She is smart.
I’ve seen a lot more chatter on SM about Brad Pitt since that article landed. He was trying to sound cool but mentioning the drinking again part really backfired. I get why he did bc he is likely seen drinking enough that he didn’t want it to come out another way. But it’s still messy.
Yeha I think he must have been drinking again for quite some time, by the time someone reveals something like this especially unprompted it means they want to get ahead of something.
Yes, Brad Pitt’s casual arrogance here resulted in a cluelessness and unintended result that reminds me of the response to the Max Miller video where he tried to defend himself against his wife’s credible accusations of abuse by asking “would she have made dinner for me after?” (I’m lightly paraphrasing) and suddenly even people who’d been ambivalent or on his side started whispering, speculating that he probably was abusive after all.
Why? Because people who have been in or witnessed domestic abuse up close recognized both the scenario, the attitude, and the wording as familiar and something clicked.
WAY, WAY more people have experience with an alcoholic or addict friend, family member, or colleague in America so way, way more people find the kinds of statements made by Brad Pitt to be uncomfortably familiar and know what they often mean between the lines and behind the scenes.
I think a lot of people who grew up with him as a matinee idol and teenage crush or mid-western boy in a Hollyweird-world both wanted and needed this to him to be blameless and Angelina to be the villain or, at least, this to be a “both sides” situation where, sure he might have had an alcohol problem and sure, maybe, something happened on the plane, but he’d been doing the work for years (to paraphrase Miller’s logic, “Would Hollywood keep employing him if he was that bad?” spoiler alert: yes, yes they would), had been sober for years, and still Angelina “wouldn’t let up” and was “affecting his relationship with his kids,” etc. They wanted it so bad, they ignored the quiet but mounting evidence in front of them (Jennifer Aniston’s “sensitivity chip” comment pre-dating all of this, nearly every tabloid leak serving Brad’s side and not Angelina’s–while he claimed she was trying to destroy his reputation–and the kids maintaining relationships with extended Pitt family but cutting him out personally and legally as time went by, and so on).
But to find out he hasn’t actually been sober (for years), that he casually dismisses “overdoing it” “a few times” and saying ALL the things that every alcoholic and addict says when they are trying to explain why they and they alone can “manage” drinking again–well, it makes those folks uncomfortable and finally opens room for the doubt to creep in.
And it’s about darn time.
I have very little sympathy for Brad as he is an abusive narcissist.
However, having watched people in my life struggle with alcoholism and seeing the impact on those around them, it’s sad to watch someone do so publicly knowing he legitimately thinks he’s pulling it off and that he is undoubtedly still causing pain – not just to Angelina and the kids, but to everyone in his life.
Two things are true – Brad Pitt is terrible, and addiction is devastating for everyone.
Yeah, I can have sympathy for addiction and possible depression but what i can’t have sympathy for is the drawn out lawsuit over miraval that he instigated and the continuous press shenanigans that he has played over the years in which he made the mother of his kids look like a villain and him like the hapless poor woe is me father. That’s where I’m like yeah no sorry.
That stupid story in Esquire said that he has “stayed quiet” about the divorce. 🤮 Yeah, by suing her for YEARS.
And the idea that he and his pr team. Have stayed silent? Bullshit. TMZ and People mag and page 6 “sources” that are very obviously from Brad’s team would suggest otherwise.
Thank you for this more nuanced take. Speaking as an alcoholic in recovery, it often seems as if the public thinks alcohol abuser is synonymous with abuser. It is not. I abused alcohol as a piss poor coping mechanism to being abused by my malignant narcisstic ex. And he has zero problems with alcohol. Just with empathy and kindness. Sounds me like Brad has problems with all of it. Drying out won’t change the fact you’re an asshole if that’s who you are. If you work really hard at being sober, then you’ll improve in that area. But you have to be committed to change. He clearly is not.
Ugh, I didn’t know he was at the wedding. Not sure why you’d want someone like that at your wedding.
Kelce wants to become an actor after retirement. That’s why.
Pretty gross that he is the avenue they are using to make that happen. Shows Brad’s reputation and pull within the industry are still very strong.
Brad’s been easy lately, meaning he’s not picky and will work with anyone just to show up on the red carpet and get paid. And he wasn’t the only actor there. And I’m not sure if Kelce didn’t team up with the same agency that represents Brad. In such situations, the agency often arranges different meetings between its clients, for money and exposure, of course.
All of us who have dealt with alcoholism whether personally or with family/friends are side eying his claims of control over his drinking.
Unfortunately the alcohol controls you for most alcoholics.
@originalmitch: Exactly that. Anyone who has known an alcoholic who takes up drinking again will recognize the magical thinking.
Yep. Our first step is admitting we are powerless over alcohol. That disease is so extremely powerful. The delusions it tells you like “I can just have a little bit, I’m fine” or “So I got too out of control that time, I won’t do it again” as Brad said in this interview, can be loud.
It is hard to be sympathetic to Brad after what he did to his wife and children but I will say god, alcoholism is so awful and I hope he can find his way out again.
“If you have to control it, you’re out of control.” Listen, I feel for anyone who suffers from alcoholism, and I don’t think that the things that you do in active addiction define who you are. Great people can do some really messed-up sH!!t. What you do when you’re sober to be accountable for those terrible things DOES define you, though, and… man, he is falling short. No accountability here — just “woe is me”. I don’t believe celebrities owe US any insight into their personal lives, but the cavalier way he announced that he’s drinking again sends a message that his family doesn’t actually mean anything to him.
THIS WHOLE COMMENT!!!!!! Yes.
I hate that I’m thinking about Brad and this topic. I have so much sympathy for his children for what they have lived through with regards to their father. I have two children and their father is an alcoholic. I left him five years ago and the drama never ends even though he has been sober for two years. Not all alcoholics are narcissists but Brad sure seems like it.
He is in complete denial and that is sad for him. He has caused so much harm to his children and their mother because of drinking. His children are removing his name from theirs, probably in part because he is now not sober and has never actually embraced sobriety and the accountability that comes with it.
In the face of this new knowledge, the fact that he made public statements about his children removing his name from theirs, it’s a low that in my mind he can never come back from. You were their father Brad. You hurt them with drinking and never stopped drinking. And then you publicly said words about their very healthy decisions to set boundaries with you. Those kids deserved better.
Just a matter of time before he treats the current girlfriend the way he treated Angelina and the kids. Wonder how long she’ll put up with it?
@Chaine, I came here to say the same thing. I believe that, and unfortunately, she chose this situation.
Exactly. She chose career and money.
He definitely might but I also think he chose Ines because she’s also a drinker and an enabler who likely doesn’t challenge his behavior in any way. Men like Brad cannot tolerate strong and assertive women who don’t put up with their bullshit.
He may already be doing so. I have been around alcholics my entire life (extended family and dated one for 10 years and was close friends with another and grew to know their AA social circles and other partners/friends) and let me tell you there are no shortage of partners (sometimes children or friends), sadly too often women, who believe that they are different, that they can be the one to save them, that the person is troubled but “needs” them, that they understand them uniquely, etc. And the alcoholic can feed this.
You see it with drug use, tempers, and all the ways these things intersect and it often can get really, really bad before someone realizes where they are and by then, asking for help or getting out or condemning the behavior afterwards is a really high bar. And when the partner is richer, more powerful, better lawyered, and famous–it’s an NDA and a big, old Nicole Kidman/Jennifer Aniston sigh of relief/freedom on the way out and you leave it to be. The next woman wouldn’t believe you anyway.
It’s ironic how, in many of his recent interviews, he talks about how good he is at accountability, taking responsibility for his mistakes and learning from them, when CLEARLY he has learned absolutely nothing. The self-own in bragging about falling off the wagon is another great irony, but it’s the only one I love. And I say that as a former fan – from his pre-Angelina days, when no one knew what he was capable of.
If I had lost my marriage and all of my children because I drank until I was blackout drunk, then assaulted my wife and my children, I wouldn’t be giving interviews about how it’s cool for me to be drinking now.
Alcoholism is hard to control, and he’d rather drink than have his children and wife. It is what it is, but he shouldn’t be bragging.
That was my reaction. Talk about tone deaf. He seems like he needs therapy rather than trying to talk things out with an interviewer for a major publication.
Jennifer Aniston told us about how Brad lacks a “sensitivity chip” long, long before his marriage to Angelina Jolie crumbled under the weight of all this and it’s remained true. Others, even those who remain fond of him as an ex or friend, have hinted at ways he isn’t/wasn’t an ideal partner or friend at times. And look at the business collaborators and charitable beneficiaries who have been disappointed.
Maya Angelou told us, but some folks don’t want to listen. He’s who he is. And he’s not changing, by pathology and by choice.
Every alcoholic and addict in recovery understands exactly what is happening and can see that this man’s disease is fully in the driver’s seat. If he is talking about drinking in interviews and drinking publicly, he is drinking around the clock.
He was drinking DURING that interview !
He is in complete delusion.
Great. This looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun, because he’ll probably pull something off again soon. Nothing’s holding him back now. I’m waiting.
This.
I briefly dated a recovering alcoholic years ago.
Wine is one of my passion, I like doing wine tasting going to events etc. etc. mind that I don’t drink anything else, and in my 45 YO I have been drunk twice.I don’t like getting sick.
Eventually we both agreed to call it off: he said it wasn’t a problem (me drinking and having bottles at my house) but he was also committed to his sobriety, and I didn’t want to compromise so it ended there.
Brad Pitt is not even close to committment or accountability.
He has to “be professional” about drinking? Huh?
I never understood Pitt’s appeal. And I certainly don’t understand why he’s given a pass in Hollywood after abusing Angelina and their kids.
He was kinda cute in Thelma & Louise.
There’s a lot of people (lots of women, too) who believe Angelina got what she deserved for being a “home wrecker.” I see the comment sections. It’s disgusting.
I think “Jolie abandoned him” was probably written as if from his “poor me” point of view but Jolie didn’t abandon him. She protected herself and her children from an abusive alcoholic.
Yeah, that “Jolie abandoned him” line didn’t sit well with me either. It makes it sound like she ditched him in his hour of need, which was most certainly not the case.
I’ve always thought she put up with a lot of his behavior because she loved him and had compassion and forgiveness because he was an addict. But as soon as he turned his issues directly on the kids she bounced. That was the red line.
Wonder how he’s manhandling , attacking his girlfriend. Bc that’s his m.o.
I just think it’s gross that he was invited to the wedding.
Massive back pedaling from Brad’s “sources” since that story broke yesterday.
Aside from being a horrible human being, Brad seems like the attorney/PR person’s “client from hell”. Absolutely no one would have advised him to pour someone a drink/drink himself/talk about his drinking for a cover story interview from a major men’s magazine…
[I used to read my dad’s copies of Esquire when I was young. It WAS a decent men’s magazine. It’s true that print magazines are dropping like flies, but is Esquire really that desperate???]
Oh my, will the crows come to roost for Pitt at last?? Let’s hope this ridiculous sequel goes down in flames!!!
PS: Kaiser-you found the clown photos!!! He definitely looks drunk and/or demented…
His looks have been his gift his whole life. Alcohol will ruin them in his later ages…
I am only here to applaud your absolute dedication to using only the least flattering photos of Brad Pitt.
You find and share pictures that feel like they reveal his inner douchebag and the clown he truly is.
I love the quiet shade and your refusal to post anything remotely flattering because he’s actually the worst.
Bravo.
Yes!!! He looks so much like a clown in that ridiculous green suit. Excellent choice.
I went no contact with my father who is an alcoholic. He threatened my mom with a knife. I was 11 and legally obliged to see him, but I made it very unpleasant and hard for him and he gave up after the first visit. I tried a few years later to see if he changed. He had a story for everything. The father of my best friend gave up alcohol and did a lot of work on himself to really get sober. It really depends on what kind of person you are whether you can do the deep and hard work on yourself and even then it’s hard to quit. But you’re never going to quit without doing that work and my father did not have it in him. He rather told himself stories about who he was. That’s what’s Brad doing too.
Did you guys ever make a post about how he acted with bad bunny on the red carpet? It was so weird