Brad Pitt Stopped Drinking: Why It’s So Tough to Quit Alcohol

I’m really good at cutting myself off, and it’s been a problem. I need to be more accessible, especially to the ones I love. So, this is the season of me getting my drink on.…[laughs] Yeah, what causes alcohol addiction it’s that stupid. “This is my Sid and Nancy season.” I remember that one when I first got out to L.A. Back in my stoner days, I wanted to smoke a joint with Jack and Snoop and Willie.

I often say the wrong thing, often in the wrong place and time. In my own private Idaho, it’s funny as shit. I’m better speaking in some other art form. So were you there for speaking in tongues? I’m not even an actor yet, but I know… I mean the people, I know they believe it.

  1. Meanwhile, Pitt — who dedicated his Oscars win to his kids last month — talked about, above all, wanting to be there for them in his revealing GQ Style interview.
  2. Without assistance, functional alcoholics tend to be the last ones to get treatment for their addiction.
  3. An important step towards recovery is to be able to recognise the signs and admit that there is a problem.
  4. Even though a person may seem to have their life in order, it does not mean that they do not have a problem with substance abuse or are not suffering from a mental disorder.

They could also be seen as powerful or high achieving. Oftentimes, a functional alcoholic’s success may be the reason why people do not notice their drinking. But perhaps nobody has been more visibly supportive of Affleck during his personal struggles than his ex-wife, 47-year-old Jennifer Garner. Garner drove a distraught-looking Affleck to his third stint in rehab in August 2018, and in October, he was snapped by paparazzi visiting his ex-wife’s home as he admitted that he “slipped” with regard to his recovery. The insider went on to divulge that Pitt and Jolie’s family members became the hot topic of conversation instead of the artwork on the walls. While the Babylon star has fully moved on with is romance with de Ramon, he and Jolie are still battling it out over the ownership of their winery in France, Château Miraval.

He channeled a lot from his own father for the performance, Pitt told The Times, adding that he’s reached a point where he sees his dad in every role he plays now. Pitt has spent a lot of timing looking inward recently, especially as he prepped for his role in Ad Astra — a film about an astronaut in search of his father (Tommy Lee Jones). In a 2022 GQ interview, the Oscar winner revealed that he wasn’t initially on board with the idea of a support group because of the videos he saw online. The “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” star also acknowledged that he quit smoking cigarettes when he realized he couldn’t strike a balance without overindulging. When Bradley Cooper presented Pitt with the Best Supporting Actor award at the National Board of Review Awards Gala, Pitt credited Cooper with helping him get sober.

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They may think that they are doing well in their professional and personal life, or they might make excuses to prove that their drinking is not a problem. A person cannot drink at the level of an alcoholic and uphold their responsibilities for extended periods of time. No one can drink heavily without it catching up with him or her eventually. As you can see, the differences are slight, but they are still there. What’s most concerning is that people tend to believe that they are safe from alcoholism. They feel immune from it, and don’t worry much about drinking abusing alcohol, even if they do it regularly.

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They need to have their hand held and things explained. When I get in that busy work mode, I’m not hearing. I’m working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood. But it’s a very, very lonely occupation.

Before you go, click here to see family feuds we can’t believe played out in public. Zahara dropped Pitt from her last name at her college sorority’s induction ceremony in November 2023; Pax reportedly referred to his dad as a “world class a–hole” and “f–king awful human being” in a Father’s Day 2020 rant. The actor recently attended the Gagosian Gallery opening in Beverly Hills for an exhibition by his “Moneyball” director, Bennett Miller — as did Jolie’s father, Jon Voight, and brother, James Haven. Brad Pitt reportedly had an unexpected run-in with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie’s family. John A. Smith is a Senior Psychotherapist at The Dawn and an internationally accredited Addiction Treatment Professional (ISSUP), Certified Life and NLP Coach.

BuzzFeed has reached out to representatives for The Gardener and Jolie, but did not receive a response at time of publication.

“He’s his mother’s son and my son, and he’s come up the chasm much quicker than we did,” Downey Jr. said. “Thank you, Bradley. Bradley just put his daughter to bed and rushed over here to do this,” Pitt said, referring to Cooper’s 2-year-old daughter, Lea. “He’s a sweetheart. I got sober because of this guy and every day has been happier ever since. I love you and I thank you.” “I can’t tell you how valuable it is to have somebody who’s been through things with you, ups and downs, who knows what your life experience is like, who can identify with that,” he said.

Other Signs of an Alcohol Problem

I can drill on that for days and years. It’s such a silly idea, the idea that the world is fair. And this is coming from a guy who hit the lottery, how to help an alcoholic parent I’m well aware of that. I hit the lottery, and I still would waste my time on those hollow pursuits. Intense.But beautiful—and quite honest….

Families and friends may realise that the person has a drinking problem before the alcoholic does and helping them reach the same conclusion can take some work. And yet Pitt is the first one to acknowledge that it’s been chaos these past six months, during what he calls a “weird” time. When he was on a flight to Los Angeles aboard a private plane, there was a reported altercation between Pitt and one of his six children, 15-year-old Maddox.

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Remember that most functional alcoholics can keep functioning for years without realising that there is a problem. They are usually in such deep denial that they will go to extreme lengths to hide and feed their addiction. Since they are usually convinced that they are not a classic alcoholic, the chances of them staying undiagnosed are even greater. Without assistance, functional alcoholics tend to be the last ones to get treatment for their addiction. Entertainment Weekly interviewed Pitt again in 2020, following a recent National Board of Review Awards win for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In his acceptance speech, he named fellow actor Bradley Cooper, also a recovering alcoholic, as a critical figure in his sobriety.

Then, when I was in high school, my folks jumped to a more charismatic movement, which got into speaking in tongues and raising your hands and some goofy-ass shit. In what can only be described as a fantastic onscreen year for Brad Pitt, the actor has spoken about a more difficult past in a candid conversation with a fellow actor. More details of the alleged incident were made public in court papers last October, also part of the legal battle. The battle reportedly began after Jolie sold her portion of the property without Pitt’s approval to the wine division of the Stoli Group, Tenute del Mondo. Emma Watson was recently criticized for promoting the brand on her Instagram.

A person with an alcohol abuse problem may acquire a tolerance to alcohol, which will cause them to drink more each time to reach the same effects. They may also experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms, or experience hangovers, when they do effective treatments for alcohol use disorders not have alcohol. However, some functional alcoholics may not even get hangovers since they have trained themselves to function despite the negative effects of alcohol. Many functional alcoholics are also in denial about their habits.

Deal of the Day

Yet as many actors can attest, spending so many decades in the spotlight can take a heavy toll, especially when addiction is involved. In the last five years, following his high-profile split from superstar Angelina Jolie, Pitt has opened up about his struggles with alcoholism and relatedly, his mental health. Now sober, he recently shared how he turned his life around since his bombshell divorce in 2017, and credited one mega-celebrity friend with helping him overcome his addiction. Read on to learn who helped Pitt get sober, and how he’s working to become a better man. Denial is quite common in both the functional alcoholic and those who love them. An important step towards recovery is to be able to recognise the signs and admit that there is a problem.

Our content is fact checked by our senior editorial staff to reflect accuracy and ensure our readers get sound information and advice to make the smartest, healthiest choices. “I think we’re living in a time where we’re extremely judgmental and quick to treat people as disposable.” Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Cari Nierenberg has been writing about health and wellness topics for online news outlets and print publications for more than two decades. Her work has been published by Live Science, The Washington Post, WebMD, Scientific American, among others.

Brad will continue to respond in court as he has consistently done,” Kiley said. “I was at a party, and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor,” he recalled, citing one of the many self-harming incidents that he said would leave him recuperating for days. “And then I did it again. I spent the night at St. Vincent’s Hospital with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up.” Pitt said he was using substances to avoid his feelings. “Brad is completely sober now and is in such a different place than he was when they were together,” the source said.