Brad Pitt
“I’ve always felt very alone in my life”
© Steve Granitz/WireImage / Getty Images
Brad Pitt is the cover star of GQ Magazine’s August Global Issue. He can not only be seen on the cover, in the accompanying photo series he shows a new side of himself, in the interview he reveals his innermost soul life. And that sometimes seems pretty bleak.
Brad Pitt, 58, is considered one of the greatest in his industry. For more than 30 years, the American has slipped into new roles, surprised, enthusiastic, carried entire films with his presence and his performance. In a new interview he gave to GQ writer Ottessa Moshfegh, the US star opened up about the demons that keep haunting him, addictions he’s overcome and a darkness weighing on his soul.
Brad Pitt reveals his innermost self
“More thoughtful, focused and more like an artist than I imagined him to be” is how Moshfegh describes the man she meets at his rustic Hollywood Hills mansion. Brad Pitt describes the house as his haven. “I’ve more or less entrenched myself here,” said the 58-year-old.
They talk about everything, especially about him. Brad Pitt. “I’m on the last section, in the last semester or trimester. What should it look like? And how do I want to design it?” The Hollywood star opened the interview meaningfully. He appears thoughtful and sums up his life so far. Much has happened to him, much he has overcome. Smoking, for example. He gave that up during the pandemic. “I just can’t manage to smoke just one or two a day,” he admits honestly. He also gave up alcohol after Angelina Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. For a year and a half he attended Alcoholics Anonymous. “I had a really cool group of guys, very private and select – so it was safe there. I had seen what was happening to other people, like Philip Seymour Hoffman being filmed pouring his heart out in a session. That would be easy for me been awful.”
The 58-year-old is still working on other topics today. For example, he struggles with the omnipresent feeling of loneliness. “I’ve always felt very alone in my life. Lonely growing up, alone even out here.” According to Pitt, he wants to change something about that, consciously develop in a different direction. “It’s only recently that I’ve been more involved with my friends and family. How do you say it? It’s a quote from either Rilke or Einstein. In any case, it says it shows maturity and that you grow as you live with the paradox of feeling real pain and real joy at the same time.”
He says he feels comfortable in his house in the Hills, but city life seems to be getting to him. More and more often he flees to his house on the beach. To leave behind the ballast of the big, noisy and colorful city of angels. “When I drive out, I feel like I’m taking off my coat or something.” When he returns, the heaviness of Los Angeles weighs on him again. “As soon as I turn past Santa Barbara, I feel it coming. Shoulders hunch up and I can feel it. I’m not quite sure yet what that means and how I’m going to cope with it. Other than getting away and traveling a lot, doesn’t help much.”
Brad Pitt seems to be an introverted character. And that despite being adored by millions of people around the world. Or maybe because of that.