Brad Pitt had a difficult time after Angelina Jolie split from him in 2016, so much so that he gave up drinking and joined Alcoholics Anonymous.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, the actor opened up about how he used his “pain, grief and loss” in his new role in the movie Ad Astra – a film about a man’s journey across the solar system to locate his missing father.
WATCH: Brad Pitt joins Kanye’s Sunday Service
Brad told the publication that he wanted his performance to come from a place of “absolute truth.”
“The ultimate place for my style of acting, as I understand it, is to get to a place of just absolute truth,” he said.
“I’ve got to be experiencing something that’s real to me for it to read real to you.”
Initially, when the reporter asked Brad about his split from Angelina – with whom he shares six children – he initially said:
“I had family stuff going on. We’ll leave it at that.”
The interview also suggested that Brad used Ad Astra to work through some of the loneliness he might have been experiencing.
“The fact is, we all carry pain, grief and loss,” he said.
“We spend most of our time hiding it, but it’s there, it’s in you. So you open up those boxes.”
According to the publication, his colleagues on the set of the film believe Brad drew upon his own experiences to play the role.
“He definitely used the stimuli from his life,” Ad Astra director James Gray added.
“Now, I didn’t get personal with him about it at all — I don’t think it’s my business, or even my job — but he investigated the essence of the character through himself.”
Brad and Angelina reportedly split after they argued about his drinking while aboard a private plane.
The Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actor told The New York Times about his commitment to sobriety, saying, “I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges.”
Following their divorce, Brad spent a year and a half in Alcoholics Anonymous – with his recovery group comprising entirely of men.
“You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard,” Pitt said.
“It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.”
The Oscar-winner was seemingly moved by their vulnerability and trustworthiness, as no one from the recovery group leaked Brad’s stories to the press.
“It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself,” he said.
“There’s great value in that.”
Brad and Angelina allegedly fell in love on the set of Mr And Mrs Smith when Angelina already had son Maddox in her life and Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston.
Together they share Shiloh, twins Knox and Vivienne and Pax and Zahara.
Due to Maddox’s adult age, Brad does not have custody over him and they are reportedly estranged.
A source told US Weekly that Maddox has a particularly close bond with the Tomb Raider star, telling the publication: “Maddox doesn’t really see himself as Brad’s son.”
Brad was not present when Angelina dropped Maddox off at college in South Korea last month.
The 55-year-old was last seen at Kanye West’s Sunday Service over the weekend.
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