Brad Pitt is getting candid about a deeply personal chapter in his life—and the surprising bond he formed along the way.
In a new episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, the A-list actor sat down with host Dax Shepard to talk about his experience attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, where the two actually first crossed paths.
“Given the context in which we met, which is like really heightened honesty and vulnerability, does it make you nervous to have to talk with me in public?” Shepard asked.
“No, not at all. Quite at ease,” Pitt replied, before clarifying, “We can say men’s group, right?”
“I was going to say AA. You’re not supposed to say it, but I say it,” Shepard responded.
“It was AA,” Pitt confirmed. “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 humor with it. I thought it was a really special experience. Coming from the Ozarks, where we’re like, ‘Everything’s great,’ it really struck me.”
Pitt shared that Shepard had become something of an “elder statesman” in their group. “You go around in a circle—it’s kind of a spiral because it’s a really crowded room. Dax was usually near the end. He was really open, honest. He had a way of taking the evening’s theme and wrapping it in the funniest package. And it meant a lot to me. It really did.”
Shepard admitted that seeing Pitt walk into the room that first time was “pretty overwhelming.”
Pitt reflected on that season of life, describing it as a “difficult time” when he realized he needed to “wake the f— up in some areas.”
The actor, now sober for about nine years, had previously opened up about his journey in a 2022 interview with GQ, revealing he spent 18 months in AA meetings following his 2016 split from Angelina Jolie.
