Brad Pitt has spoken about a brief period when he felt suicidal during a new interview with Esquire.
The actor has been through a difficult stretch in the years since his split from Angelina Jolie.
Pitt and Jolie were together for more than a decade and married in 2014, with the marriage lasting just two years before Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016. The legal process dragged on for years, with a settlement not reached until late 2024. The former couple continues to be embroiled in disputes, including a legal battle over Château Miraval, the French winery they formerly owned together.
Alongside the end of that relationship, Pitt has also reportedly faced tension with several of his children, some of whom have moved to drop his surname. His daughter Zahara filed a petition to change her name from Zahara Jolie-Pitt to Zahara Marley Jolie. Maddox, his eldest son, has also dropped Pitt from his legal name. Additionally, Shiloh filed paperwork to legally change her name to Shiloh Jolie on her 18th birthday in May 2024, while Vivienne has informally dropped the surname. Only Pax and Knox currently use their original hyphenated last names.
Given that backdrop, it is not surprising that questions about his mental health have followed. While Pitt said suicidal thoughts were never part of his nature, he acknowledged there was one short period when the pain felt overwhelming.
“I was never suicidal in any way. It just was not my makeup,” he told Esquire.
“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. 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 continued: “Anyway, I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period. And in that one little period, I just thought—I just couldn’t—just didn’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.
“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.”
Pitt’s reference to Fincher points to their long-standing friendship and professional collaboration. The two have worked together on multiple films since their first collaboration on the 1995 crime thriller Se7en, followed by Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008.
More details are expected.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988, or use the online chat service.
988lifeline.org
You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.