Brad Pitt talks life after split from Angelina Jolie: 'I don't want to go on like this'
Brad Pitt’s new movie, Ad Astra, explores the relationship between a father and a son, which meant that the extraordinarily private actor ended up talking about his personal life while promoting it.
In a story that aired Sunday on NPR, journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Pitt if he had set out to explore any of the things that he’s gone through in his personal life in recent years — including a high-profile divorce from Angelina Jolie, a custody fight over their six kids, and getting sober, at the same time — on the big screen.
“I would be exploring it whether there was a script that allowed that or not,” Pitt answered. “A breakup of a family is certainly an eye-opener that as one — and I’m speaking in general again — but as one needs to understand, I had to understand my own culpability in that, and what can I do better. Because I don’t want to go on like this.”
Pitt and Jolie’s split in September 2016 reportedly happened because the leading man and one of the sons he shares with Jolie, 18-year-old Maddox, had an argument on a private plane while Pitt was reportedly intoxicated.
The Oscar-nominated actor was investigated for child abuse afterward, but the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services ruled that Pitt hadn’t committed child abuse in the incident. However, Pitt and Maddox, the eldest of his children, continue to be estranged.
The former couple additionally share Pax, 15; Zahara, 14; Shiloh, 13; and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
Another personal subject Pitt addressed in the interview is aging and his feelings about his later-in-life years.
“It seems universal that we all carry great pains and great feelings of loneliness and regrets,” he said. “I had a friend who worked in a hospice. And he said, the only thing that people talk about is their loves and then their regrets in love, dealing with love. I thought, man, that’s really interesting. If that’s our focus on the way out, better start working on that now.”
Pitt’s still in demand, but he said he’s already acting less and less than he did in his younger years. He admitted that he already thinks about “going out with such grace,” like David Bowie.
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