Everything Brad Pitt Has Said About His 7 Years of Sobriety

Emily Blackwood, Nicole PomaricoWed, August 12, 2026 at 1:06 PM UTC

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Brad PittCredit: Manuel Velasquez/Getty -

Brad Pitt initially quit drinking in 2016

The F1 actor said he joined a 12-step program following his divorce from Angelina Jolie

In August 2026, Pitt revealed he was “sober for seven years” before getting “back off the wagon”

After years of sobriety, Brad Pitt has made a change.

The Oscar-winning actor gave up drinking in 2016, following his split from ex-wife and Mr. and Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie. Three years later, he shared he was sober in a profile for The New York Times.

Since then, Pitt has been vocal about how joining a 12-step program helped him maintain his sobriety. In a June 2025 episode of the podcast Armchair Expert, he told host Dax Shepard that, even though he was “shy” initially, he found it easy to be vulnerable in meetings.

“I was pretty much on my knees, and I was really open,” Pitt said. “I was trying anything and everyone. Anything anyone threw at me. It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f--- up in some areas. And it just meant a lot to me.”

More recently, however, Pitt spoke with Esquirefor an August 2026 profile andrevealed that he is no longer sober.

“I was sober for seven years,” he said. “And then I got back off the wagon. I can have a few. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”

Below, here’s everything Brad Pitt has said about his sobriety journey.

Pitt said he smoked “too much dope” in the ‘90s

Brad Pitt at the “Seven Years in Tibet” Los Angeles PremiereCredit: Barry King/WireImage

In a January 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pitt opened up about his struggle with fame after his breakout role in the 1992 film A River Runs Through It. Feeling “really sick” of himself, the actor smoked weed to cope with his depression.

“I was hiding out from the celebrity thing,” he said. “I was smoking way too much dope; I was sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnut … I was doing the same thing every night and numbing myself to sleep — the same routine: Couldn’t wait to get home and hide out.”

It wasn’t until he witnessed “extreme” poverty while on a trip to Morocco in the mid-to-late ‘90s that Pitt decided to quit smoking weed.

“I just quit,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I stopped grass then — I mean, pretty much — and decided to get off the couch.”

He stopped everything “except boozing” when he had kids

Brad Pitt attends the world premiere of ‘F1’ at Times Square in New York on June 16, 2025Credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty

Pitt told GQin May 2017 that he couldn’t remember “a day” since he left college when he “wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something.”

“Truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka,” he said. “I was a professional. I was good.”

But he said he decided to make some lifestyle changes when he began to build his family with Jolie, with whom he shares six children.

“You realize that a lot of it is … pacifiers,” Pitt said. “And I’m running from feelings. I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that. I mean I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family.”

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Following his split from Jolie, the Fight Club actor said that he realized he was “boozing too much” in 2016 and was happy to be six months sober at the time of the interview. Pitt said, “I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again.”

He opened up about sobriety after his split from Jolie

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the 84th Annual Academy Awards on February 26, 2012 in Hollywood, Calif.Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty

Pitt got serious about his sobriety following his highly publicized breakup with Jolie in 2016.

The Maria actress filed for divorce days after an incident aboard the former couple’s private plane. According to court documents, Pitt allegedly got into a drunken argument with Jolie while they were flying from France back to their home in Los Angeles.

During the dispute, a source said he was allegedly “verbally abusive” and became “physical” with Jolie and one of their children. In a 2024 court filing, Jolie’s lawyers alleged he was abusive toward multiple children.

Pitt denied the allegations, and the FBI and Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services concluded their investigations with no findings of abuse. However, he told The New York Times that the split prompted him to join a 12-step program.

“I had taken things as far as I could take it,” he said in 2019. “So I removed my drinking privileges.”

Pitt found support in a 12-step program

Brad Pitt attends the Madrid premiere of “Allied” on November 22, 2016Credit: Samuel de Roman/WireImage

In 2016, the Ad Astra actor joined a 12-step program and started attending an all-men group, which included Shepard. He said he found the meetings a “freeing” way to expose the “ugly sides” of himself.

“You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard,” Pitt told The New York Times. “It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.”

He credited Bradley Cooper for inspiring his sobriety

Brad Pitt and Bradley Cooper attend the 20th Annual AFI Awards at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on January 03, 2020Credit: Michael Kovac/Getty

In his acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor at the 2020 National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala, Pitt praised actor Bradley Cooper, who had presented him with the award.

“Bradley just put his daughter to bed and rushed over here to do this,” Pitt said. “He’s a sweetheart. I got sober because of this guy and every day has been happier ever since.”

Cooper himself has been sober for over two decades.

In August 2026, Pitt shared that he is no longer sober

In an August 2026 profile for Esquire, Pitt revealed that he’s drinking again after seven years of sobriety, though “in a more restrained manner.”

“I got overconfident a couple times, went, Yep, nope, not good for me,” he said. “Not in big quantities.”

Pitt went on to add that he’s able to have “a few” glasses of wine now, “but I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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