The world was shocked when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie called it quits in 2016. Two years later the Hollywood actor admitted to GQ Magazine that he had used drugs and alcohol for a large portion of his life, and that his drinking "became a problem" in his marriage.
Pitt ditched the alcohol and has worked at rebuilding his life. Now he has opened up about his recovery and how cathartic it has been to talk freely in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings that he had been attending for a year and a half.
"You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard," Pitt told The New York Times in a recent interview. "It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself."
The 55-year-old actor said he decided to stop drinking after pushing the boundaries with the people closest to him.
"I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges," Pitt told the Times. Joining AA was an important part of his sobriety.
"It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself," he said of the meetings.
This year is a stark contrast to the recent turbulent years Pitt has navigated. He clinched starring roles in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and "Ad Astra," two of the year's biggest movies, and has a far more positive outlook on life. He says he is channeling all his energy and emotion into his work.
"The ultimate place for my style of acting, as I understand it, is to get to a place of just absolute truth," Pitt told the Times. “I’ve got to be experiencing something that’s real to me for it to read real to you."