Now the Ad Astra star admits he doesn't want to be 'running from anything' now.
"I want to sit in it, I want to feel it, I want to get through the rough night. I found in doing so, you come out the other side with a more profound understanding, of yourself and a greater gratefulness of those in your life," he told CNN.
"And the birds and the trees and everything else."
The 55-year old also opened up to The Project's Carrie Bickmore about his substance abuse.
"We all carry deep pains to different degrees and regrets," the 55-year-old actor told Bickmore.
"We are very good, certainly in my culture, at burying those. I think (talking about) it leads to more well-rounded, certainly more comfortable existence with yourself and greater peace of mind and I find that you can enjoy the good stuff more," he added.
Brad - who shares Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with ex-wife Angelina - has become increasingly vocal about his experiences at Alcoholics Anonymous.
Chatting with the New York Times earlier this month, the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood star revealed the reason why he joined the twelve-step program
"I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges," he admitted.
In the interview, Brad also admitted to previous abuse of marijuana when he was a rising star in the '90s.
"In the 90s, all that attention really threw me.
"I really became a bit of a hermit and just bonged myself into oblivion."
