Brad Pitt has described the darkest thoughts he had while facing the breakup of his family after his divorce from Angelina Jolie, admitting there was a period when he considered suicide.
Ten years after his marriage ended, Pitt gave an interview to Esquire magazine in which he spoke openly about the emotional strain he went through. He said he was never suicidal except for one brief period, during which he simply could not see a way out. The pain was so overwhelming, he said, that although he was not going to act on it, he could feel the cold steel of a bullet against his head, and it felt like relief.
He said that moment made him understand suicide, in the sense that it is simply a search for relief from pain. But he also said he believes people have incredible survival instincts, and that his own instincts quickly began to kick in. He added that going through it is not easy, and that people are speaking with someone who won the lottery.
Family issues cited
Asked what led him to that point, Pitt attributed the pressure to family issues without elaborating, saying they could just leave it at that. Jolie's side did not respond directly despite Page Six reaching out for comment.
Divorce and custody battle
The relationship between the two Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-stars ended in 2016, when Jolie filed for divorce seeking sole custody of their six children: Maddox, 25, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Vivienne and Knox, both 18. Jolie's legal team alleged that during an incident on a private plane in 2016, Pitt behaved violently toward the children. An FBI investigation did not result in charges against him, though some of the children have taken legal action to remove his surname.
