Brad Pitt Talks About His First AA Meeting After Divorce From Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt may be known for his iconic filmography, but recently, he’s been opening up about something a little more personal: his journey to sobriety, starting with his very first AA meeting post-divorce….
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 23: Brad Pitt attends the “F1: The Movie” European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 23, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Brad Pitt may be known for his iconic filmography, but recently, he's been opening up about something a little more personal: his journey to sobriety, starting with his very first AA meeting post-divorce. When Brangelina split in 2016, their breakup became tabloid fodder with everyone having an opinion. But behind all the paparazzi flashes and divorce headlines, Pitt was quietly dealing with the aftermath and facing some hard truths about himself.
Brad Pitt: “It Was a Difficult Time”
In an appearance in Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast (via ABC News), the F1 actor opened about his experience attending Alcoholics Anonymous: “I just thought it was just incredible -- men sharing their experiences, their foibles, their missteps, their wants, their aches, and a lot of humor with it. I thought it was a really special experience.”
Pitt added, “I was pretty much on my knees, and I was really open. I was trying anything and everyone. Anything anyone threw at me. It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f--- up in some areas. And it just meant a lot to me.”
The actor and film producer admitted to Shepard that he can be a “stubborn f—k” but when he messes up, he can be “pretty good at taking responsibility for it and owning up to it.” He added, “Now it’s a quest to what can I do with this and how can I right this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Be better, step up.”
A Year and a Half in AA
Pitt did not specifically say when he started attending AA meetings, but that he spent a year and a half attending the meetings after Angelina filed for divorce in 2016, with whom he shares six children: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox. Pitt reportedly only sees the twins periodically, while his relationship with his older children is “strained.”
In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Pitt said, “I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges.” He also added that opening to his recovery group is freeing and that “it was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.”
