Brad Pitt's alcohol addiction relapsed while 'running' from his feelings amid Angelina Jolie divorce
Brad Pitt did not have an easy time coping with the breakdown of his marriage with Angelina Jolie, which finally ended when the 'Maleficent' actress filed for divorce four years ago after an incident involving their son on a plane.
In a 2017 GQ interview, shortly after learning that he was going to be wifeless and a single parent, the 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' star revealed that while he had always been into a number of vices and addictions from his youth, he had managed to put a stop to it till he started "running" from his feelings toward his second wife when his alcoholism saw a relapse.
"I can't remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn't boozing or had a spliff, or something. Something. And you realize that a lot of it is, um—cigarettes, you know, pacifiers. 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. But even this last year, you know—things I wasn't dealing with. I was boozing too much. It's just become a problem. And 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 said.
The worst phase of his relapse came in September 2016 when he fought with Jolie about his drinking problem aboard a private plane and in the midst of it, reportedly assaulted his son, Maddox — who was 15 years old at the time — while he was heavily intoxicated. The incident triggered an FBI investigation and while no charges were filed against the actor, five days later, his wife filed for divorce.
“I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges,” Pitt said in an interview with The New York Times last year. He also admitted that after the divorce filing, Pitt spent a year and a half in Alcoholics Anonymous, recovering from his addiction and getting sober.
There was also a recent report of Pitt wanted to get back together with his first wife, Jennifer Aniston, after they got divorced in 2005, while in the middle of dating his then-girlfriend, Jolie. Apparently, Pitt's grandmother, Betty Russell, gave an interview where she also wished for the actor to get back together with Aniston again.
"I'm sure this is just a temporary thing. Brad and Jennifer are beautiful people. They've always been so happy. They are both precious and have too much love to throw it all away. They just need to spend a little time apart before they realize how much they miss each other. I'm praying for it," she said, Mirror reported.
Even media reports at the time suggested a possibility that the pair might be thinking about reconciliation as they were seen wearing their wedding bands weeks after announcing their separation. Pitt also attended Aniston's 37th birthday on February 11, 2005. However, despite the rumors, the pair did go ahead with their divorce on grounds of irreconcilable differences.