One of Hollywood's biggest stars is getting candid about his mental health struggles. Brad Pitt recently opened up to GQ about his battle with depression.
Following his split from ex-wife Angelina Jolie in 2019, Pitt endured a rocky few years. He shared that he battled "low-grade depression," but even before the divorce, the Oscar-winner shares that he "always felt very alone."
“I always felt very alone in my life,” Pitt revealed. “Alone growing up as a kid, alone even out here [in Los Angeles], and it’s really not till recently that I have had a greater embrace of my friends and family."
In taking back control over his life, the "Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood" actor made major lifestyle changes to his routine. He quit smoking and drinking, recognizing that he couldn't have "just one or two."
“I don’t have that ability to do just one or two [cigarettes] a day,” he told GQ. “It’s not in my makeup. I’m all in. And I’m going to drive into the ground. I’ve lost my privileges.”
Pitt joined an Alcoholics Anonymous group for a year and a half, which he recalls a "safe" space.
“I had a really cool men’s group here that was really private and selective, so it was safe,” he shared. “Because I’d seen things of other people who had been recorded while they were spilling their guts, and that’s just atrocious to me.”
Pitt looked to the arts to deal with his mental health struggles, even turning to the guitar during the early stages of the pandemic.
“I’m one of those creatures that speaks through art,” Pitt explained. “I just want to always make. If I’m not making, I’m dying in some way."
