Brad Pitt is getting candid about his relationship with alcohol — and admitting that his years of total sobriety are now behind him.
The 62-year-old actor revealed in a new Esquire interview published Monday that he was sober for seven years before eventually deciding to drink again.
The surprising admission came after journalist Ryan D’Agostino noticed Pitt offering him wine during their conversation and asked whether the alcohol was only for guests.
“No, I got — I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,” Pitt said with a laugh.
But Pitt quickly clarified that he now tries to keep his drinking under control.
“In a more restrained manner,” he said. “I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me.’ Not in big quantities.”
According to Pitt, he can still enjoy a few glasses of wine, but he knows he has to draw a line.
“I can have a few,” he said. “But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”
Pitt has spoken openly about his struggles with alcohol for years.
He began attending Alcoholics Anonymous in 2016 following a highly publicized incident aboard a private jet with his family that resulted in a child abuse investigation.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services later cleared Pitt in the matter.
Shortly after the incident became public, Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt. Their lengthy divorce proceedings were ultimately finalized in 2024.
In a 2017 interview with GQ, Pitt admitted that alcohol and marijuana had been a regular part of his life for years.
“Personally, I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff or something,” he said at the time.
Pitt said he eventually realized he had been using substances as a way to avoid dealing with his emotions.
“You realize that a lot of it is, um — cigarettes, you know, pacifiers,” he explained. “And I’m running from feelings.”
At the time, Pitt said he had stopped using everything except alcohol when he started a family, but eventually realized his drinking had become a serious issue.
“I was boozing too much,” he said. “It’s just become a problem.”
Pitt later credited sobriety with helping him reconnect with his emotions.
“I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again,” he said.
His time in Alcoholics Anonymous also led to an unexpected friendship with actor and podcast host Dax Shepard.
Pitt spoke about their connection during a 2025 appearance on Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, recalling how much he respected Shepard’s openness during AA meetings.
“Dax was usually near the end because he’s been there a while,” Pitt said. “He’s kind of like an elder statesman. And I really respected it.”
Pitt said Shepard had a way of being brutally honest while also bringing humor into serious conversations.
“It was really open, honest,” Pitt said. “And it meant a lot to me, it really did.”
Looking back on that period of his life, Pitt said he was willing to try just about anything that might help him reset.
“It was a difficult time,” he said. “I needed rebooting.”
He added that he needed to “wake the f*** up in some areas.”
Now, nearly a decade later, Pitt says he is no longer completely sober — but insists he has learned enough about himself to know where his limits are.