Brad Pitt Reflects on Sobriety Journey and Healing After Divorce from Angelina Jolie

In a candid podcast interview, the Oscar winner opens up about joining Alcoholics Anonymous, confronting personal struggles, and finding peace after years of public and private turmoil.

Brad Pitt is opening up like never before about his road to recovery, sobriety, and the emotional toll of his high-profile split from Angelina Jolie. Speaking on the latest episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the 61-year-old Oscar winner shared intimate reflections on his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, his post-divorce mental state, and the importance of vulnerability in healing.

“It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting,” Pitt admitted, recalling the period after Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. “I needed to wake the f— up in some areas.”

Pitt’s journey with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) began during that challenging chapter. Although he had previously spoken about his sobriety in a 2019 New York Times profile, the actor dove deeper into the emotional experience on the podcast, crediting AA as a place where he witnessed men “sharing their experiences, their foibles, their missteps, their wants, their aches — and a lot of humor with it.”

Having grown up in the Ozarks, where emotional restraint was the norm, Pitt said AA’s openness was “really special” to him. “It gave me permission in a way to go, ‘Okay, I’m going to step out on this edge and see what happens.’ Then I just really grew to love it.”

Shepard, who has long been open about his own struggles with addiction, recalled being at Pitt’s very first AA meeting, expressing concern that the actor’s celebrity might inhibit the authenticity of the group dynamic. But, he noted, “You were so f—ing honest. I was like, he must have a stubbornness like I have.”

Pitt laughed in agreement, adding that he was “pretty much on [his] knees” at the time and approached both AA and therapy with “desperation,” determined to confront his personal pain. “When I’ve stepped in s—, I’m pretty good at taking responsibility for it,” he said. “Now it’s a quest — ‘What do I do with this? How can I right this?’”

A Painful Chapter, a Long Road

Pitt and Jolie, 49, met on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 and married in 2014. They share six children: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne. The marriage began unraveling in 2016 after an alleged incident aboard a private jet, which Jolie claimed involved abusive behavior from Pitt. Though an FBI investigation and a child services inquiry were closed with no charges, the accusations cast a long shadow over Pitt’s public image.

Following a prolonged legal battle, Pitt and Jolie were declared legally single in 2019, with the final settlement reached in 2024, concluding years of disputes over assets and custody. Jolie’s lawyer noted after the settlement: “Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”

A New Chapter

Now, nearly a decade after the divorce filing, Pitt is moving forward. He appeared with girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 32, at the “F1” world premiere in New York City on June 16, 2025, following their red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Reflecting on his journey, Pitt said therapy, like AA, helped him open up in a new way. “You don’t come into AA because everything’s working out fantastic,” he said. “It’s not the winner’s club. Your hair has gotta be on fire before you go like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go hang with a bunch of dudes and talk about emotions.’”

Now sober, self-aware, and embracing a more grounded path, Brad Pitt’s story is not just one of Hollywood fame but of personal reckoning — a reminder that even the most revered stars are human, flawed, and capable of change.