Brad Pitt says Bradley Cooper helped him get sober: 'Every day has been happier ever since'
Brad Pitt credits another Brad with helping him start his journey to sobriety.
The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star won Best Supporting Actor at the National Board of Review Awards Wednesday night, and began his acceptance speech with a shout-out to the award’s presenter, Bradley Cooper.
“Bradley just put his daughter to bed and rushed over here to do this,” Pitt said. “He’s a sweetheart. I got sober because of this guy, and every day has been happier ever since.”
Pitt spent a year and a half in Alcoholics Anonymous after Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from the actor in September 2016. The Ad Astra star has subsequently been open about his decision to get sober. “I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem,” he told GQ in 2017. “And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka.”
In September 2019, Pitt told the New York Times, “I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges.”
Cooper has also spoken about his decision to stop drinking; he quit in his late 20s. “I wouldn’t have been able to have access to myself or other people or even take in other people if I hadn’t changed my life, no way,” he told Barbara Walters in 2015. “And I never would’ve been able to have relationships that I do.”
Pitt has been racking up Best Supporting Actor awards on the road to this year’s Oscars for his performance as laid-back stuntman Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino‘s Hollywood opus. He won the Golden Globe in that category on Sunday, and is also nominated for a SAG and BAFTA Award for the role. He is expected to earn his seventh career Oscar nod (though only his fourth for acting) when the nominations are announced on Monday.
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