Brad Pitt has described himself as an “optimist,” but admitted there was a period in his life when he briefly thought about ending it all.
The two-time Academy Award winner reflected on one of the darkest chapters of his life in a new Esquire cover story published on Monday (August 10). Although Pitt did not reveal the exact cause of his emotional struggles, the actor has spent years involved in a legal dispute with his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, following their 2019 divorce after five years of marriage.
Since then, several of their biological and adopted children have sought to remove “Pitt” from their last names, while Pitt has requested access to records of Jolie’s income from 2017 through 2021. Their legal battle centers on the sale of Jolie’s interest in the French winery Château Miraval, which the former couple jointly owned between 2008 and 2021. Since 2022, the 62-year-old actor has been in a relationship with jewelry entrepreneur Ines de Ramon, 33.
Speaking with Esquire, Pitt made it clear that he “never suicidal in any way,” adding that taking his own life was never part of his “makeup.”
“In fact, if I have any afflictions, it’s probably being a congenital optimist. Which has helped many times, and it’s also gotten me—I’ve walked foolishly head-on into a Mack truck because of my optimism,” he continued. “Or, as my forever-funny friend David Fincher will say, Yeah, you see the glass as half full, but it’s half full of urine.”
Pitt went on to say that there was only “one little period” in his life when he briefly experienced suicidal thoughts because he “couldn’t see a way out.”
“The pain was so oppressive that—I wasn’t going to act on this, but I could feel—I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief,” he recalled. “And I thought, ‘Oh, okay, now I understand—I understand suicide, in the sense that it’s just relief. It’s just looking for relief from the pain. But I also think we have incredible survival instincts. And for me, that immediately kicked in, but it was just . . .”
He added, “Yeah. Like, listen: This shit ain’t easy.”
When asked to elaborate on what he had been going through, Pitt simply replied, “Family stuff,” adding that he preferred to “leave it at that.”
Before marrying Angelina Jolie, whom he met while filming the 2005 action movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston from 2000 to 2005.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, support is available. In the Netherlands, you can contact 113 Zelfmoordpreventie by calling 113 or through the online chat at https://www.113.nl/chat. If someone’s life is in immediate danger, call 112 right away.
