Brad Pitt admitted to experiencing suicidal thoughts due to oppressive pain stemming from ongoing family issues.
The 62-year-old actor shared his mental health struggles.
Pitt linked his dark period to family conflicts, including a long-running public dispute with ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
Brad Pitt Reveals Experiencing Suicidal Thoughts Due To ‘Family Stuff’, Says He's No Longer Sober
Pitt also discussed his struggle with sobriety, admitting he fell off the wagon but now approaches alcohol with restraint.
Summary
Brad Pitt, 62, opened up about experiencing a brief period of suicidal thoughts amid "family stuff". He also revealed that he is no longer sober, in an interview with Esquire. The F1 star opened up about his mental health, alcoholism and struggles in his personal life while talking about his split from Angelina Jolie.
Brad Pitt on suicidal thoughts
"I just couldn’t — just didn’t see a way out," Pitt told. "The pain was so oppressive that — I wasn’t going to act on this, but I could feel — I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief. And I thought, ‘Oh, OK, now I understand.’ I understand suicide, in the sense that it’s just relief. It’s just looking for relief from the pain. But I also think we have incredible survival instincts. And for me, that immediately kicked in."
Struggles with family
Pitt did not specify the exact trigger for his dark period, confirming only that it related to his family. The actor has been engaged in a long-running public dispute with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie. The conflict stems from an incident on a long-haul flight from France to Los Angeles in September 2016.
During the flight, intoxicated Pitt allegedly abused Jolie and their six children verbally and was physically aggressive towards them. Jolie claimed in court papers that Pitt choked one of their older children and "grabb[ed] Jolie by the head and [shook] her".
Jolie filed for divorce shortly after the midair incident. In recent years, several of Pitt's children have taken legal measures to remove Pitt's surname from their names.
On sobriety and moderation
The 2016 midair incident led Pitt to quit drinking, resulting in seven years of sobriety. However, he told Esquire that he eventually fell "off the wagon".
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Pitt now approaches alcohol "in a more restrained manner".
"I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me.’ Not in big quantities. I can have a few [glasses of wine]. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it," Pitt added.
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