Knox and Vivienne Jolie(-Pitt) turned 18 years old last month, marking the end to any and all custodial drama between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. We now know that Vivienne filed to drop “Pitt” from her surname soon after her 18th birthday, making her the fourth Jolie-Pitt child to go the legal route to change her name. For years before the twins’ 18th b-day, it felt like they and their siblings had zero relationship with Brad. Like, we never heard anything about visitation or anything like that in the past five years. Given Brad’s admission this week that he’s off the wagon and he’s been drinking for (at least) the past three years, there’s a growing theory that Brad’s insobriety is yet another reason why all of the kids seemingly stopped seeing him completely. As in, visitation with his kids was likely contingent on his sobriety, and once he started flunking those tests, Angelina was under no legal obligation to allow Brad to have access to Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox (they’re the three youngest).

So when did Brad actually fall off the wagon and why? Pity poor Ines de Ramon, because the Daily Mail’s sources are throwing her under the bus in a new exclusive. They’re making it sound like Ines both influenced Brad’s decision to fall off the wagon AND that she’s the one monitoring his alcohol consumption. Oh, Brad. This is pitiful.

[Brad Pitt] insisted that he now drinks ‘in a more restrained manner’, describing how he ‘got over-confident a couple times, went, “Yep, nope, not good for me.” Not in big quantities.’ He clarified that he can ‘have a few’ glasses of wine, but no more. ‘I have to be professional about it.’

This week a source close to Pitt’s camp told the Daily Mail that the star’s return to drinking was a ‘gradual process in recent years’, as Pitt slowly figured out ‘how he felt comfortable and what he felt was appropriate for him’.

‘Friends had become more aware of it recently,’ said the insider who added he drinks with pals and his girlfriend of four years, Ines de Ramon. It’s de Ramon, according to sources, who stops Pitt from having one too many and succumbing to the pull of addiction. Pitt has been dating jewellery executive de Ramon, 33, since late 2022, with the elusive pair moving in together in Los Angeles before making their red-carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival in 2024.

‘Ines smokes and likes a glass of wine or two, especially at dinner,’ said a source close to Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment. ‘She’s never set boundaries with Brad, but until recently he’s managed to hold off alcohol. He’s made a pact with Ines that she won’t let his habit get out of control. Brad has had one of the most stressful years of his life. On top of dealing with what seemed like a never-ending divorce, he’s found it very difficult to get over his mother’s death. Ines understands the strain the past year has been for him. She’s by his side to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.’

But one person who has already raised doubts is ex-wife Angelina Jolie, who is reportedly ‘not surprised’ by Pitt’s return to drinking.

This week a source close to Pitt’s camp was insistent that the actor had not resumed drinking as a result of the ongoing estrangement [with his kids].

‘The extraordinarily painful isolation of his children has been difficult, but his decision to drink is independent of this. It was not [because of] the name changes.’

Yet it is hard to ignore the timing of Pitt’s decision. If abstaining from drinking was a way to prove that he could be a good father, he seemingly has no reason to keep proving himself, given that his children have made clear their stance.

‘Brad knew when Shiloh got approval for dropping Pitt from her name in late 2024, his other children would follow suit,’ said the source close to Plan B Entertainment. ‘He was humiliated every time another one did – there was nothing he could do about it.’

Despite being declared legally single in 2019 and the overall divorce finalised and signed off in December 2024, the exes are still embroiled in an acrimonious battle -dubbed the War of the Rosé – over shares in their 1,200-acre estate, Miraval, in Provence, where the award-winning wine they launched in 2013, is made.

‘Although they’re still battling it out, he doesn’t feel that falling off the wagon will be an issue,’ said a source. ‘If he wasn’t so much in love and in such a great place in his career, the sadness of his family and Angie issues would be way too much. When it’s all done and she’s completely out of his life, he feels he’ll finally be able to breathe again.’

[From The Daily Mail]

My issue is that everyone is treating a 62 year old man with a history of alcoholism, domestic violence and child abuse like he’s incapable of making healthier choices for himself. They portray him as an emotional wreck who needs alcohol as a crutch to get through A) his mother’s death, B) a lawsuit he filed to financially abuse his ex-wife because she didn’t want to be financially tied to his alcoholic ass, C) a divorce HE extended for years, D) his children hating his guts for abusing their mom and being unwilling to stay sober. And in addition to all of that, there’s Bad Influence Ines! I have to admit something too – for all of us long-time Jolie stans, this week has been amazing. Chickens coming home to roost, the biggest “told ya so” in gossip history.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.