WHEN Brad Pitt sat down with Hollywood podcaster Dax Shepard, he no doubt hoped to polish his gilded image and keep the chat on track about his new movie, F1.
But as he opened up on his issues with drugs, booze and addiction, and how his life spun out of control after his bitter split from actress Angelina Jolie, a darker picture emerged.
Brad was, in his own words, “on his knees” when he sought treatment for alcoholism following the end of his once perfect marriage.
And as he admitted he once started his day with a bong and four fizzy drinks, fans were given a startling insight into his past.
Brad, 61, said: “You know, 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.”
Brad admitted getting high on marijuana before breakfast during one “bugged out” year as he discussed how close he came to quitting acting.
On smoking, he said: “I’m done.
“Couple of years now.
“None — 30 years of smoking . . . I’ve had enough.”
He met Dax at a 30-strong, all-male Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Los Angeles, where they both live, revealing: “Everyone was so open.
“It gives you permission to say, ‘I’m going to step out on this ledge and see what happens’. And I really grew to love it.
“Anything could go, because some guys would be like, ‘Do you know what, I didn’t have such a bad week’ and (they would) talk about their wins, little failures, little successes.
‘A lot of insecurity’
“There’s always one guy, though, that just loves to hear himself talk. But it was really moving.”
The actor is now attempting to get his career back on track with the release of Formula One movie F1, which is out today, at the same time as he enjoys a blossoming romance with glamorous Ines de Ramon, 32.
In his new flick, he plays veteran driver Sonny Hayes, who comes out of retirement to rescue buddy Ruben Cervantes’ (Javier Bardem) ailing race team, years after a near-fatal crash.
British F1 ace Lewis Hamilton is a producer and the film, which has garnered mixed reviews, is directed by Joseph Kosinski and the rest of the team behind Top Gun: Maverick, except Tom Cruise.
Fans will note the parallels in what could be a case of art imitating life.
Sonny is shown as a washed-up “old man” who has fallen into gambling and only rediscovers his love for the sport when he faces competition from a younger driver.
I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f*** up in some areas
Brad Pitt
Brad now admits he was similarly lost after Angelina, 50, filed for divorce in September 2016.
She cited irreconcilable differences around the same time as the FBI and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services investigated Brad for alleged child abuse after an incident on the family private jet.
It was reported that the star had lost his temper when their son Maddox stepped in to stand up for his mother during a fight.
One source claimed the actor “was drunk” and the situation quickly “escalated”.
During the probe, Brad voluntarily completed drug testing.
Meanwhile, two of his kids stopped using his last name.
Brad, who was raised in Springfield, Missouri, was cleared of all allegations.
But his personal life was in turmoil, and led to him seeking professional help.
However, he recently revealed he was rapped for discussing his enthusiasm for Alcoholics Anonymous in a New York Times interview.
Explaining why he wanted to talk about the closed-door sessions, Brad told Dax’s Armchair Expert podcast: “It was a men’s group, it was AA, it was when I was first getting sober.
“I just thought it was incredible, men sharing their experiences, their foibles, their missteps, their wants, their aches and a lot of humour.
“I thought it was a really special experience.
“So I do this interview, and I got admonished by someone from the higher-ups, saying, ‘It’s anonymous’.”
Few could have predicted that Brad would end up in AA when so-called Brangelina first went public two decades ago in 2005.
The relationship was controversial from the start amid rumours they had fallen for each other on the set of Mr And Mrs Smith, at a time when he was still married to Friends star Jennifer Aniston.
First half of the career was a lot of insecurity and you’re always doubting
Brad Pitt
Meanwhile, Angelina was known for wearing a locket containing ex-partner Billy Bob Thornton’s blood.
She furiously denied an affair, saying: “To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive.
“I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that.
“I wouldn’t be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife.”
Heartbroken Jen later made clear her feelings when she told Vanity Fair magazine: “What happened to him after the separation — it’s his life now.
“I’ve made a conscious effort not to add to the toxicity of this situation.
“I haven’t retaliated.“
Angelina, who had already adopted kids Maddox from Cambodia and Zahara from Ethiopia when she met Brad, gave birth to their first child Shiloh in May 2006.
Pax was adopted in Vietnam in March 2007, and twins Knox and Vivienne were delivered in France in July 2008.
For years, the Pitt-Jolies were the image of the perfect rainbow family.
Angelina balanced being a mum with shooting critically acclaimed films, including 2008’s Changeling, and Brad continued to be box office gold, releasing hits such as The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Ocean’s Thirteen and Inglourious Basterds, despite hitting middle age.
He became Hollywood’s biggest star off the back of a “white trash” background in the Midwest, where he was raised as a Southern Baptist by his dad William, who ran a trucking company, and mum Jane, a teacher.
His brother Doug “was always getting in trouble”, according to Brad, who added: “Dad had me mowing the lawn at eight, you know.
“All my life I had a job.
“I remember he (my brother) got in fights before I did.
“I remember getting in a fight and grabbing a guy by the balls.
“It worked.”
Brad quit a journalism degree at the University of Missouri to try to make it in LA when a friend offered him a month’s stay in his dad’s flat in the unfashionable suburb of Burbank in the mid-1980s.
He had just $275 to his name and says: “First half of the career was a lot of insecurity and you’re always doubting.”
I don’t think about perception much anymore
Brad Pitt
After a long stint working as an extra, while struggling to get a Screen Actors Guild card, he almost quit acting, despite winning a breakout role on Thelma & Louise in 1991.
He said: “They would say, if you’re not working in five years, go home. I got that at year four. I had hit a point — 1994 is such a bugged out year.
“I’d had not such great experiences coming off a couple of jobs and I just wasn’t sure what I was doing.
“I had the weirdest summer. I had this girlfriend that was into reptiles, we bought 40 chameleons. I was living in Errol Flynn’s old bachelor pad, our house was like a terrarium.
“It was the most unhealthy time. I would wake up and have a bong load and four coca colas on ice, no food.”
Even today, Brad says his private persona is a world away from the actor you see on screen, explaining: “I’m not that guy that can be out and about in public with people.
“I have always enjoyed my solitude. Not loneliness, but the solitude. That can be with loved ones and friends and family and I really need it.”
Recently, he has been criticised for his fashion choices, even when out on the arm of his American jewellery worker girlfriend, Ines.
But Brad hits back: “I don’t think about perception much any more.
“I believe in what I’m doing, I understand my craft, I feel like I elevate the jobs I’m in and I put the work in. I work hard.”
