Over the weekend, we discussed Vivienne Jolie’s efforts to drop “Pitt” from her legal name. Vivienne recently completed the state-required four weeks of newspaper ads announcing her name change, and her court date (for her official name change) is scheduled for early November. By the time she completes this process, she will be the fourth “Jolie-Pitt” child to successfully drop “Pitt” from her legal name. In TMZ’s coverage of the newspaper ads, a “source close to Brad Pitt” told the outlet that “they believe Angelina caused the rift between Brad and their children, adding of the recent name change … ‘This is alienation the sequel … same script … same sad story.’”

As I said in my earlier coverage, what’s unique about the Vivienne update is that this is now unfolding with the knowledge that Brad relapsed years ago and he hasn’t stopped drinking. Brad said all of that (using different words) in his recent Esquire cover interview. He claimed that he was sober for seven years and then he got off the wagon three years ago… back when his youngest children were around 14/15 and he still had some kind of custodial situation. Meaning, it’s getting pretty difficult for Brad to run the same old “Angelina alienated the kids” play while he was half in the bag. During the whole sobriety conversation, we heard from many “experts” in the field who mostly talked around what is effectively an alcoholic relapse. Well, Radar Online claims that Brad’s AA buddies are actually quite upset about what he said.

Brad Pitt’s friends from Alcoholics Anonymous are worried about his decision to drink again after seven years sober, fearing the Hollywood star could be taking a dangerous gamble with a habit that previously caused turmoil in his life.

As Radaronline.com has reported, the 62-year-old Fight Club actor has revealed he has returned to alcohol but insists he now drinks in moderation, following years of sobriety after joining AA in the aftermath of his 2016 split from Angelina Jolie, 51.

Pitt now said he limits himself to a few glasses of wine, while girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 33, is said to help ensure his drinking remains controlled.

A Hollywood insider warned us: “There are people Brad met through AA who are genuinely concerned. They remember how seriously he approached sobriety and what his life looked like before he stopped drinking. For them, the worry is that somebody with that history cannot necessarily assume moderate drinking will remain moderate forever.”

Pitt recently told Esquire magazine about his journey with alcohol: “I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon.” He said he now drinks in a “more restrained manner,” adding he had “got over-confident a couple times” before realizing he needed limits. Pitt added: “I can have a few. I have to be professional about it.”

Sources said the change happened gradually rather than following a sudden decision, with friends becoming increasingly aware that Pitt was drinking socially with de Ramon and others.

Another source said: “Brad believes he understands himself much better now and has established boundaries. Some of his AA friends simply don’t share that confidence. They supported him through a period when complete abstinence became incredibly important to him, so naturally this is difficult for them to see.”

[From Radar via Yahoo]

To be fair, even if you think *some* alcoholics can return to drinking in a “professional way,” no one in AA will agree with you. It goes against every tenet of AA. There are no half-measures, no falling off the wagon in a professional way, no “one glass of wine won’t hurt,” no California sober. True believers in the AA program see this for what it really is: a years-long relapse from someone who only worked the program in a superficial way to begin with. What has stunned me about all of these stories from “addiction specialists” is how many of them are bending over backwards to excuse Brad or act as if his sobriety wasn’t a prerequisite for having a relationship with his children.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.