Brad Pitt Says Frank Ocean Music Helping Him Through Divorce, Sobriety
In addition to therapy and quitting drinking, it turns out Frank Ocean is helping Brad Pitt move past his recent personal troubles.
In a stunning catharsis interview with GQ Style, Pitt revealed that elusive singer Ocean had become quite important to him.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of Frank Ocean. I find this young man so special. Talk about getting to the raw truth,” Pitt told writer Michael Paterniti.
Also Read: Brad Pitt on Life Pre-Divorce: 'I Was Boozing Too Much'
“He’s painfully honest. He’s very, very special. I can’t find a bad one,” the “Allied” actor concluded of Ocean’s music.
Pitt’s fandom comes from a larger and recent understanding of R&B music, the 53-year-old star of the upcoming drama, “War Machine,” explained.
“I just got R&B for the first time. R&B comes from great pain, but it’s a celebration. To me, it’s embracing what’s left,” Pitt said.
It’s been a tumultuous ride for the actor and co-founder of reigning Best Picture winner (Plan B Entertainment’s “Moonlight”), as last September, Pitt’s superstar wife Angelina Jolie shocked the world by filing for divorce.
The subsequent fallout saw Pitt investigated by the FBI and Child Services stemming from an alleged conflict with his eldest son Maddox on a private flight from France to Los Angeles. The chaos was purely in contrast to the loving, charitable and stable Jolie-Pitt family brand.
Also Read: Brad Pitt Goes to Battle in Trailer for Netflix's 'War Machine'
In the same GQ cover story, Pitt elaborated on his drinking problems and the dark, “solemn” period of time without his family (final custody arrangements for he and Jolie’s seven children is still being hashed out, he said).
“You’ve played characters in pain. What is pain, emotional and physical?” GQ’s Paterniti asked for the spread, accompanied by a brilliant Ryan McGinley photoshoot at three of America’s national parks.
“Yeah, I’m kind of done playing those. I think it was more pain tourism. It was still an avoidance in some way. I’ve never heard anyone laugh bigger than an African mother who’s lost nine family members. What is that?” Pitt wondered.
“To me, it’s embracing what’s left. It’s that African woman being able to laugh much more boisterously than I’ve ever been able to,” he said.
The summer issue of GQ Style will be available on newsstands in New York and L.A. May 8, and nationwide on May 16.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Brad Pitt on Life Pre-Divorce: 'I Was Boozing Too Much'
Brad Pitt Goes to Battle in Trailer for Netflix's 'War Machine'
Angelina Jolie on Brad Pitt Divorce: 'We Will Always Be a Family'
