It’s rather interesting how most celebrities in Hollywood - particularly A-list stars - tend to hide their addiction to cigarettes. For a long time, many fans didn’t believe that Justin Bieber smoked until more and more photos would surface of him puffing his lungs away, which is sure to have taken many people by surprise.
But hearing that Bieber smokes is nowhere near as shocking as finding out Oscar-nominated actor Brad Pitt has also shared his struggle with cigarettes in the past. In fact, after his divorce from Angelina Jolie in 2016, the Mr. & Mrs. Smith star was said to have returned to his bad habits and reportedly smoked up to two packs a day.
The 58-year-old later went on and admitted in an interview that he’d been fighting his alcohol addiction, sharing that it ultimately cost him his relationship to Jolie — but the smoking is also said to have been an issue, particularly with his children who allegedly weren’t happy with their dad smoking so many cigarettes a day.
But just how bad had Pitt’s smoking habit gotten? Here’s the lowdown…
Does Brad Pitt Still Smoke?
It’s unclear if Pitt is still smoking now, but according to a report from Radar Online in 2020, the Hollywood icon was very much still enjoying his packs of cigarettes.
The year prior, he publicly revealed he had struggled with marijuana in the ‘90s, but it seemed that by giving up one addiction, he ended up forming another, which became alcohol and smoking cigarettes.
According to Radar Online, Pitt was still not over the nicotine by the summer of 2019, when his children were said to have gotten worried for their dad’s health. At the time, Pitt was allegedly smoking up to two packs of cigarettes a day.
“Brad was vaping for a while, but lately he’s gone back to smoking up to two packs of cigarettes a day, and no-one’s more worried about this than his kids,” an insider shared.
“They’re all extremely health conscious and have been taught from an early age that smoking is terrible, even though both their parents have been smokers on and off their whole lives.”
Pitt finally called it quits on the habit while quarantining during the pandemic. He realized it was time to put his health first, and he also started attending Alcoholics Anonymous to stay on top of his addiction.
What Has Brad Pitt Say About Smoking?
Pitt made it no secret in his 2019 interview with The New York Times that smoking was one of his favorite things to do in the ‘90s before he eventually began to “imprison myself” because he had become an addict to the plant.
“I spent most of the '90s hiding out and smoking pot,” the father-of-six admitted.
In the ‘90s, Pitt was already a household name thanks to hit flicks such as 1995’s Legends Of The Fall and Se7en, Interview with the Vampire, and 1999’s Fight Club.
Eventually, though, Pitt came to a point in his life where he knew that the constant pot smoking was only slowing down his attention span and the goals he had set out for himself both in his personal and professional life, prompting him to make some much-needed changes in his life.
He dated Gwyneth Paltrow from 1994 to 1997 before falling head over heels in love with Jennifer Aniston in 1998, whom he went on to marry in 2000.
The pair stunned the world following news of their divorce in 2005. But their split wasn’t as shocking as finding out the talented actor had gotten close to Jolie while shooting their action-packed flick Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005.
What Did Angelina Jolie Say About Breaking Up With Brad?
In September 2021, during an interview with The Guardian, Jolie insisted that calling it quits with Pitt was extremely difficult but she knew she had to pull the plug on the marriage because the chaos and friction between the two was beginning to affect the kids.
"I'm not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly,” she said while addressing her decision to file for divorce in late 2016. “It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children.”
“It’s not that I want to talk about anything really, because I just want my family to heal,” she added. “And I want everyone to move forward – all of us, including their dad. I want us to heal and be peaceful. We’ll always be a family.”
Brad Pitt seems to have officially moved on from his famous ex-wife. He is currently dating Ines de Ramon and has been since late 2022. Though they have not been dating for very long and have an age gap of roughly three decades, the relationship between Pitt and Ramon seems rather serious.